7 September 2020: Genasys Technologies has undergone an external brand refresh as part of its strategy to continue the global expansion of its operations and further cement its place as a leading insurance technology provider in South Africa.
The company has deep roots in the South African market but is still in the early phase of its global expansion. “Based on the maturity of our processes and products, we are poised for rapid growth in other parts of the world,” says founder and CEO Steve Symes.
“Genasys will continue to be an insurance technology provider that leverages the best of established and new entrants through the early adoption of Nocode and an Open API architecture, with the solidity of a proven platform,” says Symes.
The rebrand includes an overall new modern look: A redesign of its logo and the company website; strengthening and simplifying the company name by dropping “Technologies”, to just be known as Genasys going forward, and consolidating its product offerings under the Genasys umbrella.
In line with the company moving to become a global role player in the insurance technology sector, Genasys is also merging its South African and UK websites, which now exists under the URL, www.genasystech.com.
“The Genasys refresh comes at a pivotal time for insurance around the world, as the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of insurance technology by the global insurance industry, who are in a rush to streamline their operations and stay relevant,” Symes explains. “Insurance technology providers are no different. We have to remain nimble, or Agile, to stay on top of our game and offer our partners the tools to grow and streamline their processes and enhance their digital sales capabilities”.
Customer of One
South African-born Genasys has undergone various transformations in its 23 years of operations. The name Genasys is a portmanteau, a blend of the words “generating systems”, but the company started doing business as Gen-A-Sys CC.
“From the outset, we approached systems development with a Computer Aided Systems Engineering (CASE) mindset, which starts with design and generates code,” says Symes.
There were other insurance platforms available in 1997 but the critical design element for Genasys was a client-centric model. “The single-view-of-customer across all classes of insurance business is widely used today, but at the time most systems were policy-centric,” Symes explains. Genasys’ first product was called Customer of One, which emphasised the importance of customer centricity
The company’s first three customers were an insurer, a broker, and an underwriting management agency (UMA), or managing general agent (MGA) as it is known in other parts of the world. “Based on the quick uptake by South African insurers, we knew we had something different,” says co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Craig Olivier.
The first years are critical for any company. Genasys went through a period of intense growth and balance, says Symes. “We quickly learned that business was not only about developing systems but also hinged heavily on building and sustaining relationships,” he says. “We were also acutely aware of growing pains and preferred controlled growth rather than implode under the pressure of precipitous growth, which has been many a company’s downfall.”
“As our clients got bigger, our product and services had to keep up and mature rapidly, while we ensured that we did not lose the agility of a startup,” says Olivier.
On being Agile
Agile in its truest sense means to be able to move quickly and easily. In recent years, the technology sector has annexed the word to mean the frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans. “We were agile before it was a thing,” says Symes.
In 2016, the company decided to go international and opened its London office in 2018, with current Managing Director Andre Symes relocating to the UK full-time to oversee their UK operations.
“In the last two decades, we have implemented many changes in the company, some more noticeable than others, to continue delivering value to our partners. This latest move is another step in the evolution of Genasys, in which we aim to expand into new territories, gain market share in existing territories, and further enhance our partner agreements,” Olivier concludes.
View the Genasys Rebrand with video and Press Release
