Sberbank Life Insurance Unifies Internal Workflows on a Single Digital Platform
Sberbank Life Insurance has completed the rollout of a unified platform for internal business operations using the Russian low-code platform ELMA365. The project consolidates multiple business functions and previously separate systems into a single digital environment. As a result, document approvals have become several times faster, while employees can now manage a higher volume of work.
The new digital workspace brings together eight business areas, including document management, procurement, budgeting, contract administration, support for investment and medical advisors, and business travel management. Employees now work from a single platform instead of transferring data manually and switching between seven disconnected information systems.
One Platform Instead of Seven Systems
As the company expanded, so did the number of its internal applications. Business processes ranging from electronic document management and procurement to contract administration and travel requests evolved across separate information systems. Employees routinely worked in multiple interfaces, transferred data manually and tracked task completion across different applications. That environment became increasingly complex and resource-intensive, prompting the company to launch a project to create a unified employee workspace based on ELMA365.
Rather than replacing individual applications one by one, the company adopted a platform-based approach that consolidates internal services into a single ecosystem with common operating rules, transparent process oversight and room for future expansion.
Regulatory Compliance Comes First
Developing and deploying the platform required extensive preparation. During the initial phase, the project team conducted more than 40 interviews with key users, documented operational scenarios and designed the future platform's process architecture. The ELMA365 deployment then introduced an in-house electronic document management system, procurement and budgeting workflows, digital workspaces for investment and medical advisors, and integrations with the company's corporate information systems. A significant part of the project focused on meeting information security requirements, defining a role-based access model and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
Today, 657 employees at Sberbank Life Insurance use ELMA365. During the platform's first year in operation, it processed more than 110,000 documents, while document approval times fell by a factor of four to five. Automation of high-volume routine operations also reduced the workload of investment advisors, and the insurer eliminated paper-based document workflows wherever legislation permits. Company representatives say workflow changes can now be implemented within days instead of months.
Platform Models Are the Future
Sberbank Life Insurance plans to continue expanding the platform by migrating project management from Jira to ELMA365, extending integrations with corporate systems, introducing a mobile application for employees and deploying AI assistants to support everyday tasks.
According to representatives responsible for low-code development at Sberbank Life Insurance, the initiative has evolved far beyond replacing individual applications. It has become a broader program for developing the company's internal digital services, giving the organization greater control over business processes while allowing it to expand digital capabilities independently.
Looking ahead, broader adoption of unified digital environments across companies within the Sber ecosystem and among competing financial institutions could accelerate document processing, improve the productivity of insurance and investment professionals, and reduce operational errors. Industry experts expect these platforms to incorporate artificial intelligence, mobile applications, advanced analytics and automated process monitoring tools at an accelerating pace.
The ELMA365 implementation at Sberbank Life Insurance illustrates a broader shift among Russian companies from automating individual tasks to adopting platform-based operating models, where a single system connects employees, documents, databases, enterprise applications and document workflows into one integrated environment. At the national level, projects like this could strengthen the domestic enterprise software market while reducing the financial sector's dependence on foreign IT products. Over time, Russian low-code platforms may also find export opportunities in CIS countries, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where organizations are seeking cost-effective and adaptable enterprise software. To compete internationally, however, these platforms will need to be adapted to local regulatory frameworks and international information security requirements.
