The Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) establishes its own corporate start-up within the Group with “viesure innovation center” (viesure). Under the management of Wiener Städtische Versicherung, the largest group company, the new company is focusing on future trends in digital customer service. The headquarters of the company will be the new innovation hotspot “Talent Garden Vienna”. It also cooperates with the startup300 network.
Cooperating with startups
For VIG, digitization takes a priority position in the “Agenda 2020” work program: “Our Group companies are working intensively on the digital transformation. Some of our insurance companies already cooperate with start-ups and use the symbiosis of established business experience with a new spirit of innovation and an unconventional approach. I am pleased that we are now launching our first start-up under the management of Wiener Städtische and positioning it in Austria. The creative results can also be used within the group, “explains Elisabeth Stadler, Director General of the Vienna Insurance Group.
The goal of the new corporate start-up is to make interaction with insurance customers easier, faster and more transparent on a purely digital basis. Among other things, this includes the creation of a digital ecosystem, the digitization of internal processes for the customer or innovative services with added value. “We are pooling our digital priorities in this new society while using external know-how with the innovative spirit of the start-up environment. This allows us to react even faster to changing customer needs, cultural change and changes in the market. viesure helps consolidate Wiener Städtische’s innovation leadership in the Austrian market, “emphasizes Robert Lasshofer, CEO of Wiener Städtische Versicherung.
About the new company
The new company will be based at the Innovation Hotspot “Talent Garden Vienna” on Liechtensteinstraße in Vienna’s 9th district. The intensive exchange with the start-up scene is accelerated by the corporate ecosystem partnership, which unites Wiener Städtische with “Talent Garden Vienna”. In addition, the close cooperation with the startup300 network offers the opportunity to test and develop new business models in the digital transformation. The #creatingtomorrow hashtag will test and drive tomorrow’s trends, new digital services and innovative technologies. The new company can be reached on the Internet at www.viesure.io.
The management of the start-up is part of Wiener Städtische’s broad digitization initiative headed by IT director Roland Gröll. viesure starts with a young creative team of highly qualified IT and insurance experts. Viesure is managed by Karin Kafesie and Dieter König – a team that has already successfully developed and implemented Wiener Städtische innovation projects. Karin Kafesie has many years of industry experience and is Head of Strategic Marketing and Customer Communication at Wiener Städtische. She also brings extensive expertise in customer centricity and customer experience to viesure. Dieter König has been involved with digitization and the use of state-of-the-art technologies for 20 years. He has extensive international expertise on innovation projects, which he led in various leadership positions with a global IT player.
Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) is the leading insurance specialist in Austria as well as Central and Eastern Europe. Around 50 companies in 25 countries form a group with a long tradition, strong brands and close customer proximity. VIG is building on its almost 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With more than 25,000 employees, the Vienna Insurance Group is the clear market leader in its Austrian and CEE markets and thus ideally positioned to exploit the long-term growth opportunities of a region with 180 million people. The listed Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company on the ATX index of the Vienna Stock Exchange; the share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange.
Also published on Medium.