FWD Insurance Transforms Finance Operations with Alteryx Analytics Automation

As one of Asia’s fastest-growing insurers, FWD Insurance is known for changing the way people feel about insurance. But equally transformative is what’s happening behind the scenes in its finance and actuarial teams. Rapid growth across multiple markets brought with it a surge in reporting demands, regulatory complexity, and operational pressure.

Shirley Yeung, Director of Finance Transformation, saw an opportunity to evolve beyond spreadsheets and manual workflows. “We needed to build a smarter, more agile finance function — one that empowered people to focus on insights, not inputs,” said Shirley.

Manual reporting limited speed and insight

FWD Hong Kong’s finance and actuarial processes were heavily dependent on manual data processing across multiple systems. Month-end reporting stretched across days; scenario testing involved countless handoffs, and performance data often lagged behind business needs. Teams relied almost exclusively on Excel and frequently leaned on IT for automation, which slowed responsiveness and created bottlenecks.

The Finance Transformation team, acting as a bridge between business and IT, played a crucial role in connecting disparate data sources and enabling seamless integration into a unified datalake for finance and actuarial functions. This consistent, high-quality data became the foundation for advanced analytics and automation.

An automation movement powered by Alteryx

Alteryx became the foundation of FWD’s transformation. They started small, focusing on high-impact use cases like month-end reporting and journal entries. “Alteryx’s intuitive interface made it easy to start building workflows,” said Shirley. “That early success gave us the momentum to scale.”

The early wins were dramatic. Reporting and scenario testing that once took days were reduced by over 95%, with results now available in minutes. In financial operations, cash management and investment trade processing times dropped by 75%, while data preparation work was cut in half, and error rates fell by 80%.

Shirley’s team focused not only on implementing the platform but also on building a culture of champions. Through workshops, peer mentoring, and certification programs, employees began to see the value of automation.

From reporting to strategic insights

Using Alteryx, FWD automated complex actuarial and financial processes — like ILAS and RBC reporting — that once took days and required multiple handoffs. Now, these workflows are streamlined, auditable, and executed in a fraction of the time.

FWD’s new KPI Dashboard, a real-time and interactive dashboard, has transformed how performance data is shared and used across the organization. The cross-department integration was completed in just six months and gives business leaders instant access to performance data.

But the true impact is beyond time savings. Employees evolved from data consumers to data creators, and finance now plays a more strategic role across the organization.

With Alteryx Server implementation underway, FWD is embedding governance, scalability, and automation at the core of its finance operations, ensuring the transformation continues to evolve alongside the business.

Building predictive capabilities and AI readiness

With Alteryx embedded at the core of finance and actuarial operations, FWD has laid the foundation for governance, scalability, and collaboration — ensuring the transformation continues to evolve alongside business needs. The team’s datalake and centralized data structure, built in collaboration with IT using Databricks, enable Alteryx to connect directly with enterprise data, powering automated analytics across the organization.

Looking ahead, FWD is exploring predictive capabilities and AI readiness.

FWD’s journey shows how transformation is about more than tools, it’s about people. By combining leadership support with grassroots energy, Shirley and her team turned finance into a catalyst for agility, innovation, and strategic insight. With automation and analytics embedded at the core, FWD is now equipped to lead the future of the enterprise.