August Employee Spotlight - Damini Singh

Hi, I’m Damini Singh, and I work for RDT as a product owner. I began working here just over five years ago, starting out as a business analyst.

I’ve spent my career working mostly in financial services and insurance, from credit card companies to life insurance, and now general insurance.  

The work at RDT ranges from regulatory compliance requirements resulting from CCD (consumer credit directive) and HM Sanctions, to implementing Landscape policy administration and claims modules for household and motor insurers. I have also been involved in website changes for our clients and also building new modules, such as campaign management, as web-based solutions.   

Right now I’m responsible for the integration of Landscape with Kofax, the new document output solution at RDT. This will replace Landscape’s current Word-based ‘standard letters’ solution.  I am also working on designing a product for household insurers using external enrichment sources for improved quote management and underwriting.

Working at RDT has been and continues to be an interesting journey. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the way we work, building new products, and encouraging innovation. The adoption of Agile methodology a few years back has completely changed the way we work. Working with development teams using agile/scrum processes in two week iterative sprints has improved our productivity and the quality of what gets done. As a product owner, it has enabled me to work more closely with our clients, as there is much more visibility during the entire process, leading to improved customer engagement.

Agile Sprint Planning

In our previous article on Agile meetings we discussed how we prepare user stories for the teams. Let’s look at what happens next.

Sprint Planning

Once a user story has been prepared and given priority in the product backlog the team will take this work into the sprint planning meeting. This session is where the team plans out what must be done to deliver it. This will include tasks around design, development and testing, including performance. Some of these sessions can get quite technical and detailed so we need to make sure it is facilitated well, which is the job of the scrum master. It’s likely that a lot of questions will crop up, so having the product owner at hand is recommended.

Global Insurtech attracts £1bn of venture investment in the first half of 2016

If proof were needed that insurance technology – or insurtech – is a growth industry, a glance at the latest Pulse of Fintech report will confirm it. KPMG International and CB Insight’s quarterly blog analysing global venture capital trends states that more than £1bn in venture capital was invested in insurtech in the first half of 2016. It also shows that while insurtech has surged, investment in fintech firms fell by nearly 50 per cent during the same period.

August Employee Spotlight - Neil Regan

Hi RDT User Group community.  I’m Neil Regan, RDT’s Project Portfolio Manager.

I joined RDT in July 2005 (11 years ago!) at which point we employed around 10 people.  As you are aware RDT has changed significantly in this time and we now employ over 100 employees in 3 locations.

Prior to joining RDT I had worked in various industries as a Software Engineer and then as a Project Manager.

I have a strong belief in continuous improvement and learning, which is why I’ve carried on earning qualifications during my working career. These include management qualifications, PRINCE2 and most recently DSDM Agile Project Management qualification.

My role at RDT allows me to provide a practical, experience-driven approach to applying program and project management methodologies within the project and program environment.  I have led a number of large projects through to successful delivery. 

Mini Boucher at RDT for the day

Today we were very lucky to have a little helper in the office! Sophia Boucher was here with her Dad (Michael Boucher, our Group Product Owner) for a school project!

Recruiter Spotlight - Emma Box

I started my role as recruiter at RDT in June, so I am still fairly new to the surroundings and the people, though I have loved every minute so far. I am in the recruitment team at Outset, a service business that works closely with RDT, so when they needed assistance with some vacancy projects, my 15 years in the recruitment sector came in handy.

RDT's new and improved employee benefits are announced

Today our staff have been hearing about the enhanced employee benefits that they now have access to.

They include a cycle to work scheme, with assistance to buy bicycles - and this will also help to keep us fit! - a dental insurance scheme, access to even better healthcare benefits.  We also have options to help us to reduce our household bills and outgoings and much more besides.

The information provided at the sessions has been well received by RDT's staff, who have been able to learn about the benefits in small groups as sessions have been held throughout the day.