The HELIOS System Helps to Insure | 27. 04. 2011

Aon Central and Eastern Europe a.s. has been present on the Czech market since as early as 1992. Its main business activity consists in brokering in the field of insurance and re-insurance. In 2010 the companies Aon Benfield Praha a.s. and AON Benfield Bratislava s.r.o. joined the AON structures. This step resulted in making processes more efficient, above all in accounting and reporting, and in making use of the synergies of both the companies. This fact was also the main reason for purchasing a new information system – HELIOS Orange.

It goes without saying that in previous years the company did utilize a certain type of an information system, because a highly sophisticated industry of insurance cannot do without it nowadays. However, the older system came to lag behind the AON´s requirements, mainly as regards controls and also the planned merger. In view of this it was necessary to respect the line structure of the company and to report for the company as the whole and at the same time for individual Lines of Business (insurance/re-insurance).

“Therefore we were looking for a system which we could to a certain extent set ourselves according to our own requirements,” says Kateřina Kaszper, company´s CFO, and adds: “This means to add or to remove a field and similar changes. The original system did not enable this, that´s why we had to consult an external advisor for any change, even the simplest one,” adds Ms. Kaszper.

The reason for changing the system did not lie solely in the currently accomplished merger of the companies AON Benfield Praha a.s. and STACH Pojišťovací management s.r.o. (STACH Insurance Management LLC), but also in a planned alliance with the company Hewitt Associates s.r.o. The AON´s management also demanded, among others, a superior customer support.

Within the selection procedure five producers of economic and information software for medium-sized companies were addressed. The main criterion of the selection was the guarantee of the line division because of the necessity of monitoring insurance/re-insurance, then also references and personal experience, provision of online customer support, possibility of a remote access, presence of the supplier in Slovakia, where the company has its business unit and training and support on implementing the system. Last but not least the price of the system was naturally an important criterion too. 

Having thoroughly pondered all the issue, the AON management chose the HELIOS system by Asseco Solutions.

“The decisive factors were in the end very positive references on the basis of personal experience of users, a highly professional approach of both the consultants and the sales executive and the price of the system,” states Ms. Kaszper.

The contract was signed on 23 September 2010 and in October 2010 the implementation started. The starting of the system in the regular operation took place on 1 January 2011, while some partial functionalities are still being resolved. At present the modules Accounting, Invoicing, Bank, Property and Accounting Standards for Reporting in US GAAP are implemented at AON.

When asked what the new customer expects from the system, three of its principal users were ready to answer:

“By implementing HELIOS Orange we have succeeded in making internal processes more efficient and in improving controls, which are crucial for an international company of our size,” says Ms. Kaszper.

“We are very satisfied with the work of the consultant. We also appreciated the possibility of Hotline and mainly its accessibility and online connection. As an improvement I suggest creating an online manual in English too,” proposes Pavlína Kotorová, Head Accountant.

Kristýna Juricová, Accountant, expressed her opinion too: “The HELIOS program enables a better orientation in the company´s accounting, its advantage also consists in data relationship and coherence, possibility of setting reports, work with balances, better control of matching payments, data filtering and also in an individual choice of data according to the needs of a user.”

Aon Central and Eastern Europe a.s.

Aon Stach Česká republika spol. s r.o. was incorporated into the Register of Companies on 18 September 1992. Its seat is in Prague and its main business activity is brokering in the field of insurance.

The year 2010 was a significant one for the company because of including the companies Aon Benfield Praha a.s. and AON Benfield Bratislava s.r.o. into the AON structures. This resulted in making the processes more efficient predominantly in the sphere of accounting and reporting and in making use of the synergies of both the companies. On 4 January 2010 the company was renamed to Aon Central and Eastern Europe spol. s r.o., which was executed above all in view of the planned merger of the companies Aon Benfield Praha a.s. and STACH Pojišťovací Management s.r.o. (STACH Insurance Management LLC), as well as owing to the fact that the company Aon Benfield Praha a.s. is active in the entire region of East and Central Europe. The name change was followed by the legal form change to a joint-stock company (a.s., plc), this change was incorporated into the Register of Companies on 1 October 2010. During the years 2010 and 2011 further inclusion of the re-insurance broker into the AON structures will be (and has been) proceeding and the processes will further be streamlined.

Another 2010 highlight was the announcement of the worldwide acquisition of the company Hewitt Associates, one of the leading global players in the field of personnel consulting and outsourcing. In 2011 the inclusion into the AON structures will be taking place.

On 29 February 2008 the company established an organizational unit in Slovakia under the name Aon Stach Česká republika  spol. s r.o., organizačná zložka Slovensko (Organizational Unit Slovakia). It is mainly engaged in brokering in the sphere of insurance. In 2009 a corporate name change proposal was submitted in Slovakia, the change has been effective since 22 January 2010, the new corporate name is Aon Central and Eastern Europe, organizačná složka (Organizational Unit). 

For more information please visit www.aonstach.cz

Asseco Solutions, a.s.

Asseco Solutions, a.s. is the biggest producer of company information systems (ERP systems) on the Czech and Slovak market. Its software applications are distributed on other Central-European markets too. It is engaged not only in the development, but also in the implementation and support of specialized systems for companies of any size in miscellaneous spheres of business. The product portfolio ranges from information systems for the broadest array of companies, engaged in manufacturing, trading or services, via products for the sphere of public service to products covering specialized needs of accommodation and catering facilities. All the systems are supplemented by a wide array of services and partner programmes and besides the basic modules and functionalities they also provide specialized solutions for individual spheres, so-called “branch solutions”. Asseco Solutions is a holder of the ISO 9001:2008 quality certificate and member of the multinational ASSECO Group.

At the end of 2010 Asseco Solutions had the staff of 479. The 2010 turnover exceeded CZK 648 million.

Asseco Solutions Mission

We help companies to be successful in their business. Thanks to our services they can fully engage in their activities, information systems are our task. At any moment we honour the relationships with both our customers and employees, we stick to the reputation of a trustworthy partner.

For more information please visit www.AssecoSolutions.eu 

ASSECO Group

The Asseco Group was established in 2004 by creating a strategic partnership between Asseco Poland (formerly Comp Rzesów) and Asseco Slovakia. In view of the market capitalization the Group belongs to ten biggest quoted IT companies in Europe. Economically it ranks among the strongest European software companies – in 2009 it occupied the fifth position in The Truffle 100 rank, which analyses 100 most successful software companies on the basis of the revenues from own software. At present the Asseco Group is an international cluster of prosperous European IT companies, which provide comprehensive IT solutions for all the economic segments in many European countries. The pool of its clients is formed both by strong multinational banking and financial corporations, public institutions and international corporations on one hand and by small and medium-sized companies on the other. At the end of 2010 the Asseco Group employed over 13.500 persons throughout Europe.

For more information please visit www.asseco.com