Editorial Jon Davies

Welcome to the Summer 2012 edition of the Voice. Yes, believe it or not it really is Summer, even if it hasn’t felt like it much this year! this edition of the newsletter contains a variety of articles featuring your FS colleagues here in the UK, with the usual mix of business news and personal interest stories. there is something of an adventurous theme to this edition,

containing as it does, two different tales of epic nautical endeavour, coupled with an account of Jim Mcallister’s airborne antics.

I particularly enjoyed reading Conor Mulhern’s description of the Devizes to Westminster 24 hour canoe marathon, attempted by Nick Blackford and his friend Rory. This race is a true test of physical and mental endurance and Conor’s article reveals an epic battle to overcome time, tide, pain and exhaustion. Meanwhile Nick Fribben’s own account of his yacht racing success is wonderfully descriptive and really seems to convey the atmosphere of the event.

There’s also a special feature celebrating the success of the CSC team that triumphed in the recent UK Corporate Games. ‘Team CSC’ defeated close rivals ASDA and Vodafone to win the title, securing wins in six separate events along the way. With a total of ninety-five medals, CSC now holds the record for winning the highest number of medals ever at the UK Corporate Games. Congratulations to everyone from CSC that took part in the event – especially the FS EMEA contingent!

CSC’s inSUranCE MattErSthis summer saw the successful launch of a brand new online newsletter aimed at CSC’s insurance clients and prospects in EMEa. the first ever edition of CSC’s “insurance Matters” was issued to over 5,000 organisations via email in June.

The inaugural newsletter is the first in a series emails exploring the insurance industry’s compelling business issues. it provides an opportunity for CsC to share our views on how these can be addressed and how our industry expertise and wide range of capabilities can help insurers to respond effectively.

Future editions of insurance Matters will also feature a variety of associated CsC information, news updates, published articles, and links to other areas of interest. You can read CsC insurance Matters on C3, in the FsG eMea group.

thE VoiCEFS EMEa UK EMploYEE nEWSlEttEr

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tranSForMation UpdatEin the last edition of the Voice we spoke about Mike lawrie’s visit to royal pavilion and his hopes for the future of CSC. he talked of his 90 day plan and the necessity for change. We are currently embarking on the ‘Get Fit’ stage of our turnaround Strategy and i wanted to take this opportunity to ensure that we share a common level of understanding.

Below are Mike’s key messages from his latest briefing:“our go forward operating model is designed to give us the best possible structure to execute on this strategy and attain our vision. But before we jump into some of the changes that will take place, let’s talk about how the model can impact our performance and why it is so critical to our success.

so why do we need to make changes now? The primary reason is our operating model was too complex, making it too hard for people to collaborate and share ideas across business units, and deliver solutions effectively. it was not easy for us to move on opportunities in the market place because we were not clear on who was responsible for what.

this is the new operating model that we are implementing:

So how are we implementing the operating Model?This is a process of change, not an overnight implementation. We have established a Change Management office and 6 project work-streams, each led by our leadership teams to ensure our implementation stays on course and does not adversely impact the business.

i am often asked what people can do to support the strategy. in addition to being a part of the conversation on our future and changes we must make, i ask that you support one of our highest impact programs, the Cost Take-out.

We have set a $1 billion goal to drive profitability and begin to increase our investments in key aspects of our business. This goal is big and ambitious, but absolutely necessary to make our company healthy again. some actions include holding on new hiring and implementing commonsense expense controls, such as booking travel at least 14 days in advance. We all play a role in supporting key transformation programs in order to strengthen our business.”

More information is available on the Forward together link: https://c3.csc.com/groups/csc-strategy

Mike’s management team has been announced and we are in the process of determining the organisation structure for each of his direct reports. i will share with you the detail as soon as i am able as i am very aware that each of you needs to know what impact this has on you.

Times of great change can be unsettling and stressful but i would personally like to thank you all for your continued support, hard work and loyalty which is very much recognised and appreciated.

Fs eMea uk eMploYee neWsleTTer The voiCe

thE ConnECtEd ConSUMEr and thE FUtUrE oF FinanCial SErViCESa technological revolution is transforming the financial services industry. it is empowering consumers to connect with each other and with financial institutions in new ways. this change is driving opportunities around the world, most notably for lower income consumers with limited access to services.

CsC’s leading edge Forum recently published a report authored by FsG head of strategy, patrick Molineux. Written for a financial services industry audience, the report provides an informative overview of trends to enable the reader to react appropriately to the advent of the connected consumer.

The report identifies four key elements responsible for driving this technological change: mobile devices, microfinance, new media, and data mining. The report reveals how these are connecting people on a massive scale, breaking down barriers,

bringing financial services to people regardless of income or location, and providing rich insights about consumers.

Mobile devices are changing the face of financial services, by revolutionising processes such as payments and insurance claims. in africa, mobile phones are now the primary factor enabling the provision of financial services to around two billion people.

Microfinance products, available via smart cards and mobile devices, are playing a lead role in bringing financial services to lower income consumers. overall, micro is about bringing financial products, such as loans,

insurance, and savings programs to all people.

new media are transforming how consumers manage their finances. social media amplifies the voices of consumers, giving them greater influence, while peer-to-peer payments and online lending enable more seamless transactions.

The explosion in consumer connections is creating unimaginable volumes of data. The challenge is to mine this to unlock new insights for developing products and expanding into new markets. leveraging big data in this way could fundamentally alter our understanding of risk and of financial services itself.

You can read the report in full or download a copy from www.lef.csc.com.

thrEE riVErS ViCtorYniCk FriBBensin his spare time, nick Fribbens of the Fs practice is a keen amateur sailor. in June this year, aboard his yacht, The lady Jane, nick and his two fellow crew members were winners of the Three rivers race, hosted by the horning sailing Club. here nick shares with us his memories of the day.

We woke up to the wind bending trees. old ladies had been advised to stay indoors to avoid being blown away. The race was delayed from 11:00am to 4:00pm, as the wind was due to drop from 20 gusting 30 knots to 16 gusting 20 knots and settling down to a pleasant 10 knots through the night.

We rushed to consult our tide tables. a change of route was required. at the 15:30 briefing we were told that there was to be a further hour’s delay. Back to the tide tables! Then we checked and re-checked the navigation lights as usually we were home well before lighting up time. That was not going to happen this year.

We took to the water first and found that the conditions were eminently manageable. kevin and i were sailing flat out while paul kept looking behind for the opposition. There was none. Then the penny dropped. We had started on the five minute gun, not the start gun. We turned round and sailed back to much humorous applause. however, our ‘practice’ start stood us in good stead, we ran through and overtook a boat after five minutes, despite it starting fifteen minutes in front of us.

as we left horning the wind increased and we had one or two ‘interesting’ gybes as we flew down river. From then on we all sat very still when we gybed and let the boat settle onto its new tack. We were able to glimpse at least two marsh harriers. We passed the resplendent Moonshadow, we were flying, but Moonshadow was staying with us or maybe even going faster!

The sunset was spectacular and although kevin passed me his camera i was unable to get a clear shot in. We progressed slowly and heard

a cuckoo calling. This caused great debate in the boat in front as to whether this was a cuckoo or an owl, not country folk.

The port and starboard lights went on and we reached for the sandwiches that we had promised ourselves. however, the wind picked up and sandwiches had to be put on the floor as our speed increased and time between tacks decreased. We passed the point where we had spectacularly capsized the previous year.

We asked the guard boat how we were doing and got the reply, ‘quite well’. What did that mean? paul glimpsed an otter but it dived out of sight before kevin and i could see it. We saw no sign of any other competitors as the wind began to die and the light fade. The gibbous moon rise was pretty, but the moon offered very little extra light.

The wind almost died completely and we had to work hard to keep the boat moving. it was too dark for kevin to see the bank from the back of the boat so paul and i had to call when

to tack. as we reached the outskirts of horning the tide finally turned and we completed the final leg in slack water and at slightly more than drifting pace. approaching horning sailing Club we heard excited voices proclaiming that a boat was coming. We crossed the line first.

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MarKEt ModErniSation MUSt taKE plaCE at thE CUltUral lEVEl

in a summary of his recent article featured in leading trade publication insurance day, FS EMEa Consultant, Michael Cook, explores why modernisation has such a critical role to play in the future of the london Market.

The support for london Market modernisation is widespread. how to achieve modernisation and how far-reaching this should be, however, varies from one camp to the next.

recent headlines have underlined the open disagreement between some market heavyweights about the change required, specifically regarding project Darwin, the next phase of claims transformation.

a reassuring development in the approach to london Market reform is the appetite for change at the cultural level. in the past there have been a number of major projects that failed to deliver and were expensive to execute. Clearly, the london Market has learned from past mistakes and is striving to deliver change through realistic projects, with tangible and significant benefits attached.

Clients’ needs are changing as their lives and businesses change. The world is also changing to embrace new risks, particularly cyber and data risks and, at the same time, there are entirely new markets appearing both for existing insurance and reinsurance products and new forms of insurance, such as microinsurance.

however, it is not only the needs of the customer that are changing; customers also want change to the way business is conducted, whether it is through more online engagement or interactions via mobile devices. They also want self-service and flexibility – not only in the products available, but also how and when these services are delivered.

The modern world requires quotes in seconds (not days or weeks) and changing coverage in minutes (not days). personal lines insurers have faced these challenges for a while now and most are responding well. These insurers have embraced a whole range of new technologies and business processes to deliver what the customers need. however, it was not achieved without challenges and mistakes along the way. For many years, personal lines insurers focused on operational efficiencies to the detriment of customer service.

achieving this required significant change in operating models,

processes and technology. now those that have undertaken this transformation are reaping the rewards. The same wave of change is moving through the small to medium-sized enterprise commercial market as well. More and more insurers are offering products on the internet, with instant decisions on coverage, rates and changes.

With the london Market being the largest specialist commercial market in the world, it remains to be seen if it will be immune to these changes as it is, of course, very different from the commoditised world of personal lines insurance. The fact remains the changes in customers’ needs are different for this market but nevertheless they are changing.

The only question for the insurers in the london Market is whether they want to respond to these changes now or face the risk of being outpaced as these changes continue to increase.

CSC CorporatE GaMESCongratulations to the victorious CSC team that triumphed in the recent UK Corporate Games. the 2012 games were held in preston over the weekend of 14th and 15th July and were well supported a wide variety of sportsmen and women from across CSC.

With a total of 95 medals from our 200 competitors, ‘Team CsC’ defeated close rivals asDa and vodafone to gain the title of uk Corporate Games 2012 Champions. CsC secured wins in a number of separate competitions including rugby, running, soccer, squash, swimming and Table Tennis.

Fs eMea’s own nigel Gatehouse played a pivotal part in this year’s overall win, captaining the CsC team to victory in the men’s 11-a-side soccer competition. Meanwhile kevan Teale was part of the winning squash team and also picked up the over 40’s Gold. steve riley also contributed to CsC’s success, by competing in the hockey tournament.

CsC now holds the record for the highest number of medals ever gained in the uk Corporate Games regardless of team size. The previous record holder was vodafone with 80 medals from a team of 240 competitors.

next year’s event will mark the 25th anniversary of the uk Corporate Games, which will take place in Coventry between 4th and 7th July.

Fs eMea uk eMploYee neWsleTTer The voiCe

dEVizES to WEStMinStEr Conor Mulherntalk to most people about a famous rowing race on the river thames and they’re likely to assume that you’re referring to oxford v Cambridge and the university boat race. not many will have heard of the gruelling devizes to Westminster canoe marathon, or the Everest of rowing as the ‘dW’ is known by those with experience of the event.

i have supported my friend and CsC colleague, nick Blackford, for over 10 years, on a variety of his feats of sporting endurance. When nick asked me if i would help him undertake a rowing challenge, i signed up almost immediately.

i only started to understand the magnitude of the undertaking once nick explained that it takes at least 24 hours of non-stop rowing to complete the 125 mile course, which starts on the kennet and avon Canal in Wiltshire and ends on the tidal Thames in the heart of london. nick further revealed that to negotiate the locks on the course that the crews have to haul themselves and their kayaks out of the water on 76

separate occasions and that the race requires two separate support crews for each set of rowers.

The two kayakers, nick and rory, spent six months in training for the event, typically rowing around 40 miles per week, throughout the winter, on a cold and treacherous river Thames. Meanwhile the support crews worked with the rowers, to prepare for the locks and portages and where to meet during the race, to keep them fed and updated on their progress. Detailed maps were produced, sat navs programmed, tides checked, spares and tools packed, and a huge quantity of food and drink was prepared to keep the rowers and support crews going throughout the day and night.

so at 6:30am on easter saturday, while most sensible people were still asleep, we eight adventurers found ourselves arriving in Devizes. at 7:45am, exactly as planned, nick and rory’s kayak crossed the start line. at this point the two support crews separated and we each headed to the first of the twenty four planned

meeting points. Based on the training and three shorter races we had taken part in during the weeks leading up to the DW, we felt confident that nick and rory were in good shape.

Despite rory injuring his shoulder early in the race and falling into the canal at one of the stops, the guys reached the Thames at reading at 7pm on saturday. They were still on target to make it to Teddington lock before the changing tide would prevent them continuing. however, as the night progressed the guys started to fall behind schedule. it became clear that rory was in real pain from the injury he had sustained and that this was slowing the boat down. nick and rory continued on early into sunday morning, battling hard to get back on track, but at each stop it was becoming clearer that rory was in significant and increasing pain.

The guys arrived at old Windsor lock at 3am on sunday morning with just enough time to make it to Teddington at high tide. however, by now rory’s injury was so serious that he could barely get out of the kayak. it was clear

that for the safety of the crew, kayak number 316 would be unable to continue on to Westminster.

about half an hour before nick and rory were forced to retire, legendary oarsman, sir steve redgrave also pulled out of the race at old Windsor lock. nick and rory may not have finished the entire course, but they could draw some comfort from the fact that they had covered the same ninety miles as the five-time olympic gold medal winner.

although there was an obvious sense of disappointment, this wasn’t as great as i had expected. in addition to all the preparation, the team had worked together during the event for 20 hours, through day and night, over a distance of ninety miles. as we drove alongside the Thames back into london at 5am, with the kayak on the roof rather than in the river, we still had an overarching sense of satisfaction.

StEVE roGErS – JUBilEE FUn rUnMy local running club, Waverley harriers, were presented with a challenge last november, to help organise ‘a right royal race’ in the form of a Godalming Jubilee run. the main purpose of this event was to raise funds for our chosen charity, Sport Godalming and the ‘Go For Gold’ fund, which supports local olympic hopefuls and had four candidates for london 2012.

The obstacles and challenges of organising the Jubilee run were a little daunting at first, but we just couldn’t say no. The welcome support of the local town council and the appointment of a professional race director ultimately proved key to the success of the event.

on the day of the race, over 800 runners turned up for Fun run, 5k and 10k distances, not bad for an inaugural event. The weather was fine and the sunshine brought out a large local crowd to cheer on all the participants. My three year old son James managed to ‘gallop’ most of the Fun run, perhaps a future olympic event?

The whole day was a great success for the town. There was something of a carnival atmosphere and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. on the day, the earl and Countess of Wessex came along to meet everyone and to thank the race organisers. We’ve already been asked to repeat the event in 2013 for one of the May bank holidays.

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29th SiCS USEr GroUp ConFErEnCECsC’s flagship reinsurance administration system, siCs, has been long established as one of the market leading products in the industry. each year CsC hosts a major event for siCs users, drawing together clients from all around the world. The siCs user Group Conference is now in its 29th year and this year, representatives of thirty companies attended the two day event held at the Corinthia hotel in Budapest.

The 29th siCs user Group Conference encompassed a wide variety of informative sessions providing delegates with opportunities to catch up with recent product developments and future plans, as well as the chance to network and share experiences with other users and subject matter experts.

The agenda included a number of guest speakers, such as swiss re, who presented on the business benefits that they have realised using electronic messaging. This was followed by an interactive presentation by omega, who demonstrated how siCs data can be extracted to mobile devices. The event was sponsored by CsC partner Cordys, who co-hosted a workshop demonstrating the Counterparty Management solution.

a key attribute of the siCs user Conference is the valuable opportunity that it presents for delegates to network with fellow personnel from their industry. This year’s event provided delegates with more networking time and introduced a “networking” break-out stream, which saw delegates participating in small round-table discussions.

This year the conference introduced some exciting new sessions showcasing siCs innovation. These included Data analytics, Task Management, Web services, and the siCs rating engine. our siCs clinic was open throughout the two days, allowing our delegates to book one-to-one meetings with one of our subject matter experts.

The closing keynote sessions were presented by CsC’s Mark Masterson, who spoke about ‘Big Data’ and Dan Walker, a climate specialist, who discussed how risk managers can use long-term analytics to more accurately assess and mitigate potential risks.

The conference was rounded off with a fantastic gala dinner, which is always kept secret from the delegates beforehand. This year, delegates were treated to a tour of Budapest en route to their dinner venue, before arriving at the fabulous kiscelli Castle overlooking the city. The magnificent building was a monastery until 1784, but is now a museum and one of Budapest’s leading attractions.

This year’s siCs user Conference was a great success and we have received some wonderful feedback from delegates, who praised the venue and the conference agenda in equal measure. planning has already begun for next year’s special 30th anniversary event, which will be held in london.

daVid WinS Golddavid Kohn, of the FS EMEa Consulting group, has been awarded a Gold president’s award. david was recognised for his outstanding contribution to CSC’s banking and payments activities and his key role in our recent contract win at Barclays.

David is a highly regarded subject matter expert who has helped CsC to develop great client relationships. in addition David has often contributed to successes that lay outside of his core role. Whilst congratulating him on his award, Fs eMea president steve Mitchener, thanked David for his unrelenting support and diligence that helped to make the Barclays deal possible. steve described David’s loyalty and dedication to CsC and his service to the customer as unmatched.

prESidEnt’S aWard For ian SiMpSonian Simpson, of the zurich Global life team, has been awarded a Silver president’s award for his key contribution to the project to implement zurich’s Global Manufacturing platform.

Zurich’s Global life strategy is to create global products and processes to support its global business through a number of regional servicing hubs. Critical to achieving this goal is the Global Manufacturing platform – a combination of ZGroup/Zlife/vp/Ms and Cordys.

ian leads the team that is responsible for creating the global releases. so far four releases have all been delivered on time and on budget. This success is highly regarded by Zurich and as a consequence their trust in CsC as their strategic partner has grown.

This success would not have happened without ian and his willingness to remain focused, engaged and professional in what are often testing, changing and politically charged circumstances. ian is pictured receiving his president’s award from steve Mitchener.

Fs eMea uk eMploYee neWsleTTer The voiCe

EntEr thE portal – Joe asleTTIn 2011 a new road traffic accident (RTA) portal was introduced in the UK, to help support the processes around low value personal injury claims

(£1,000 to £10,000). Originally promoted by the Ministry of Justice, the portal is managed by the Motor Insurance Bureau and jointly owned by solicitors and insurers, with each profession holding a 50% stake.

Fs eMea Consultant, Joe aslett, recently wrote an article about the portal which was featured in leading industry publication insurance Times. here, Joe’s abridged article highlights the improvements brought about by the rTa portal and explains some of the key benefits.

The introduction of the rTa portal has given claimants faster access to the claims process, reducing time cycles and improving fairness. With the right systems and processes in place, many insurers are embracing the changes, and acceptance of the portal’s benefits is practically unanimous.

But this rapid speed has made insurers less likely to examine claims in depth. sadly, therefore, some dubious claims are processed without question. as we know, it didn’t take long for the unscrupulous to latch on to a relatively easy way to make money. even sadder is the fact that honest citizens pay the price, through increased insurance premiums.

The uk whiplash phenomenon, is unsustainable. Moves are afoot to adopt either the German system, which rules out accidents occurring at less than 10 kph (6.2 mph) or to ban recoverability of additional liabilities. This has yielded great benefit in scotland, where we see a vastly lower incidence of whiplash per capita.

While both proposals are positive, insurers still face a struggle to reduce claims leakage and improve efficiencies. it’s almost certain that from 2013 the rTa portal will include claims of up to £25,000, and in time it will expand to include employers and public liability claims, bringing 90% of all injury claims into the portal’s remit.

The impact of this will greatly increase the flow of claims from the portal to insurers. so how can insurers gear up to cope? links to fraud databases, workflow management systems and other similar tools can provide more comprehensive, efficient and effective business processes. another upside is the invaluable management information for the organisation, giving greater insight into trends, problem areas and tactical and strategic intelligence.

it’s inevitable, in the current economic environment, that highly skilled claims teams are a luxury. That’s why installing software to maximise claims handling efficiencies now will give insurers the preparedness to meet this challenge head on. allied to this are the seldom-voiced but equally desirable benefits of returning the industry to its original aims: to deliver excellent service to honest customers and to uphold fair settlements for injured parties.

NetherlandsSingapore

It was my first trip to Singapore since 1993 and the journey in from the airport made two things abundantly clear. Firstly, a lot had changed since my last visit and the skyline was even more impressive than I remember. Secondly, it struck me that the taxi drivers are in just as much of a hurry these days, as I bounced around the back of the cab trying to locate the seat belt.

I was in Singapore to work with Aru Maylis and Sundar Ramamurthi who are the ZGROUP and Group/Asia SMEs respectively. For those who don’t know, ZGROUP is the Zurich version of our Group/Asia platform that Zurich has deployed in LATAM and in the UK.

More specifically I was there to understand the Member Billing functionality developed within Group/Asia, so that we can define the requirements and map out how ZGROUP could be enhanced to support Zurich’s propositions for the LATAM market. It also doubled as my fast track introduction to the Group platform. Thankfully Aru and Sundar kept that in mind and we had a productive and enjoyable week that achieved its objectives.

My time there coincided with a visit by Mike Lawrie, who gave an open update on CSC matters with all of the staff.

Whereas my previous trips to Singapore had been for holidays in the region, this was my first business trip and gave me opportunity to finally meet a number of people that I had only ever dealt with by email or phone.

One such person was Peter Wong who arranged the Friday night out. After some beers he took four of us for a meal at the Tawandang Thai restaurant, which has its own micro brewery and house band.

The food and the entertainment were both very good in their own ways, though the band had a tendency to perform Abba songs or to sing Happy Birthday, seemingly randomly to groups of diners. In an attempt to liven up the music and with Gwynfor Shepherd in our party, I asked if they could play something by his fellow countryman, Tom Jones. What I had not bargained for was that the five of us would end up finishing our meal to the strains of ‘Sex Bomb’.

Neil Small

posTCarD FroM SinGaporE I’ve recently made two client visits to the Netherlands, staying first in Tilburg (about an hour and half south of Amsterdam by train) and then Zwolle (to the North East, again a fairly lengthy train ride away). However, the journeys both passed quickly, as I used the time to get to know colleagues from our reinsurance team and discussed preparations for our upcoming work.

We were helping two different reinsurance clients by carrying out operational process reviews, understanding the client’s ambitions and seeing where we can help them improve their businesses.

Our hotel in Tilburg, the Mercure, was recommended by our clients and it turned out to be a fairly good choice. The main downside was a nearby clock in the city centre that struck on the hour, every hour, all through the night!

Dinner on our first night was in a restaurant just across from the hotel. The biggest challenge to getting there and back safely, was having to navigate the many, many cyclists!

Our Tilburg client has an amazing office environment, with some rooms designed specifically to spark creativity. One room had white light panels in the floor, walls and ceiling (I felt like I was in an episode of Star Trek). Meanwhile, other work areas were intimate, curved, enclosed spaces. There was also a room with interesting carpet-covered desks!

Our second client engagement took us on to Zwolle, where our hotel was located away from any loud clocks. Unfortunately the hotel was also located well away from Zwolle itself and very close to a nearby construction site. So, my colleagues and I would set off by taxi each evening to explore Zwolle.

Zwolle is a small and fairly attractive city, situated the River Zwarte Water. The cobbled main square has a huge, impressive church that was built in the 14th century. We managed to find plenty of interesting places to eat and discuss the day, over a glass or two of wine.

Gill Manley

posTCarD FroM nEthErlandS

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rECoGniSinG and rEWardinG ExCEllEnCE – Jo vennThe Recognising Excellence scheme has been designed to reward CSC employees who show great purposefulness, ingenuity and passion

at work. Each of the successful nominees receives an award of Supercheques.

The following members of the Fs practice have been recognised for their efforts on Fs projects:

John Simpson - Capita liFE/MVS replatforming.Despite the challenges of this project, John has shown great commitment and dedication, building and reinforcing trust with the client. This reward recognises his perseverance in the face of adversity.

amit Suralia and dave dyer - Capita liFE/MVS replatforming.Dave and amit have both been key to some very significant elements of this project. in particular during their trip to india, on which they provided critical support to CsC india colleagues.

Chris Stidder - Capita liFE/MVS replatforming.Chris encountered many obstacles and challenges that were beyond his control and outside of his original brief. Chris continued to dig deep, and his commitment should be applauded.

Michelle roles - Smart teamMichelle has helped significantly to reduce the effort of producing monthly returns. she is always positive and enthusiastic and sets a great tone within the team.

helen Scott - SiCS User Conferenceorganising a customer conference is challenging and requires a huge amount of effort. helen showed great dedication and attention to detail which made her first major event a real success.

tanya Bourne - SiCS User ConferenceTanya showed excellent customer focus and the feedback from our customers and colleagues was very positive.

Saurabh Gupta, amit Senapati and amit Garg – avivapleasing large corporate customers is an ongoing challenge, and you are doing just that. There are now real growth opportunities as a result.

Mary hampton - KBCi bidMary’s enthusiasm and focus has enabled us to get the answers we needed and she has tracked every document, so that we have produced the very best we can. Mary really did step up.

tim hughes - aViVa Bidsterling work, beyond the call of duty in terms of sales support for GraphTalk a.i.a.

The following members of the Fs practice have been recognised for their efforts on non-Fs projects:

John WoodsThe successful removal of the old rack type servers from the Bristol Data Centre helped to save £36k per annum in floor space charges let alone the additional support and maintenance charges.

Shyam agrawalexceptional client feedback, attaining a quality result against tight deadlines whilst meeting DCM targets and absorbing a significant number of client change requests.

Bilsay Ercanput in significant extra effort against his normal workload. Bilsay’s hard work and passion helped achieve 100% health and safety Compliance award in 2012.

Mike Woodfordhuge personal commitment, flexibility and dedication to ensure the successful delivery of ‘Carter release B’.

Gethin thomashelped to successfully deliver the saxophone proof of Concept, creating a detailed strategy for the migration of legacy applications. The project was highly commended by the senior sponsor.

paul Cookexcellent support for the redesign of the BDl, ensuring that the new version was rolled out successfully against a very tight timeline.

oliver dungeylead the technical team to ensure that the latest release of the BDl was a success and that we achieved our goals. Constantly sought better ways to do things.

luke Biddellsupported the redesign of the BDl and enhanced the search facility with sorl. The timescales where tight yet you managed to deliver more.

JiM MCalliStEr taKES to thE SKiESJim Mcallister shares his first experience as a glider pilot with us, as he explains how he celebrated a personal milestone in style.

My wife, helene, decided recently that an appropriate way to celebrate my 60th birthday was to send me up in the sky in an aircraft without an engine – otherwise known as a glider.

after months of procrastination, the big event was arranged for sunday 13th May at the Booker Gliding Club, based out of the Wycombe air park, near Marlow in Buckinghamshire.

The gods were with us and the persistent rain of the previous month cleared away to be replaced with excellent flying conditions. i had an accompanying fan club, comprising of helene and our two daughters and our four little granddaughters. i think the girls enjoyed playing on the top of the double-decker bus that houses the gliding club control centre as much as they did the gliders.

suitably togged up with warm jumper, cap, sun block and shades, i (not so) elegantly flopped into the cockpit. one of my granddaughters asked if the other seat was for “the grown up”? To which the answer was, yes! My instructor, Jerry, was very patient and took me through all the pre-flight checks and explained the controls.

The take off was quite bumpy as the towing plane pulled us across the grassy area that passes for a runway for the gliders. surprisingly, the glider became airborne within just a few seconds – and considerably before the tow plane did. We were taken up to 2000 feet before being released and at the mercy of gravity and the mystery of “lift”. apparently, the trick is to keep the nose of the glider in a slightly downwards “attitude” to get sufficient airflow over and under the wings to generate lift. as soon as we were nicely levelled off and travelling at around 50 knots, jerry handed over the controls to me.

Jerry then directed me to make some turns and we soon located a good thermal. i banked left and we started to spiral upwards despite our overall downwards “attitude”. We were able to climb to 2,600 feet and then levelled off and went a little further afield. Time passed quickly and soon it was time to come back to earth. Jerry re-took the controls and we circled over the M40 and quite low over a housing estate on the edge of high Wycombe before coming in to land at nearly 60 knots. a few bumpy seconds later and we were safe and stationary.

all that remained was to tow the aircraft back to its starting position ready for the next flight. all in all, my glider flight was an experience that i will treasure for a long time and i would strongly recommend to others.

Copyright © 2012 CsC. all rights reserved. printed in the uk. august 2012.

CSC ‘oldiES’ SECUrE CriCKEtinG ViCtorYOn a Tuesday evening in mid July, I played in the annual challenge between CSC’s cricketing elder statesmen and their more youthful rivals. I had also participated in this grudge match last year, when it was billed as ‘Managers v Graduates’. However, as that previous encounter had resulted in an entirely one sided affair (with the managers romping to victory) the criteria were changed this year to ‘Under Thirties v Over Thirties’, to allow the youngsters a wider selection.

The venue for the 16 overs a side match was once again the Crown Taverners Cricket Club besides the Crown and Cushion public house at Minley. This picturesque little ground is definitely worth a visit on a sunday afternoon, if you enjoy watching cricket with a glass in your hand.

The temperature was still in the high seventies when play commenced. The over thirties batted first, having lost the toss. at several points throughout the innings players and spectators watched in fear for their vehicles, as the car park was peppered by the ball. Due to a mixture of excellent batting and variable bowling, the over Thirties

team posted the challenging total of 179 for the loss of six wickets from their sixteen overs. For the statistically minded, that’s a run rate in excess of eleven an over (nearly two runs every ball).

after a quick turnaround, the under Thirties took to the field full of optimism, but were soon in trouble. perhaps their youthful impetuousness came through, as they suffered a run out off the very first ball of the game. unfortunately for the youngsters, a procession of quick wickets then followed. Despite one or two cameo performances with the bat, coupled with some generous bowling near the end, the under Thirties team were eventually all out for 115.

Congratulations go to the over Thirties who used their experience and guile to out fox an enthusiastic under Thirties side that was a little short on fire power. The match was actually an extremely good natured affair, with both CsC teams placing the emphasis firmly on enjoyment. The evening was rounded off with a barbecue, some liquid refreshment and an impromptu game of football. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it a success.

CoMpEtition - olYMpiC WordSEarChas Britain celebrates a great summer of sport, we have chosen a wordsearch with an olympic theme as the prize competition for this edition of the Voice. See how many olympic words you can identify from the grid. once again there is a prize of £50 worth of Super Cheques to the winner!

The winner will be selected at random from the correct entries received before Tuesday 1st October 2012.

Please post you completed entries to Jon Davies, FS EMEA Marketing, T4 F2.

name:

email address:

annoUnCEMEntSWelcome to...ariane Durr who has joined the Zurich Global life team.

Farewell to...David Freedman, sue evans, Teresa Taibo, andrew Diaper and andrew szczepanski who have all recently left CsC.

Milestones...Congratulations to ian ross who recently celebrated his 50th birthday.

Win£50!

CSC at thE BritiSh inSUranCE aWardS

In July, CSC hosted a table at the prestigious British Insurance Awards, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Now in their 18th year, the awards showcase top class performance from within insurance and seek to reward achievement and raise industry standards.

our guests for a fantastic night of star-studded entertainment and celebration were drawn from a combination of CsC’s clients

and prospects and included representatives of Direct line, l&G, lloyds of london, nFuM, unum, rsa, Canopius, scottish Widows, and Zurich. This year’s awards were compered by comedian Jimmy Carr, who kept the audience thoroughly entertained throughout the evening with his unique and sometimes controversial style of wit.

success at the awards has become the benchmark by which the industry judges itself. The judging panel is made up of experts, commentators, political figures and trade union representatives, each of whom has genuine industry expertise. This year the CsC sponsored Claims awards went to Zurich for the design and delivery of new tools to combat fraud. scott Clayton, Claims Fraud & investigations Manager from Zurich, joined us at the table and was on hand to collect the award.

From left to right: Jimmy Carr, Scott Clayton (Zurich), Steve Short (CSC).

pooJa FiGUrES it oUtCongratulations go to Pooja Ghandi, who was the winner of the prize Sudoku competition in the last edition of The Voice.

pooja’s entry was one of 20 correct solutions received before the closing date and was drawn at random from the other correct entries.