As one of South Africa’s leading diversified financial services businesses, Alexforbes continues to evolve to meet the needs of modern users. Like many organisations, it is focused on adapting to changing market demands by streamlining legacy systems and investing in its future. Under Jan Bouwer’s leadership as Chief Information Officer, Alexforbes’ technology and IT systems transformation has accelerated significantly.
Bouwer entered the IT industry after university and went on to work with Andersen Consulting, which later became Accenture. He spent 23 years there, largely in the public sector, where he developed extensive experience managing large-scale projects. One notable initiative was the modernisation of the South African Revenue Service’s tax and customs systems, a nine-year project that delivered significant benefits.
After a two-year break from corporate life, Bouwer joined BCX, where he gained experience across retail, consumer goods and digital platform solutions before taking up his role at Alexforbes.
Driving Change at Alexforbes
When Bouwer joined Alexforbes, the Executive Committee had already initiated a strategic expansion into the retail market to diversify growth. This presented new opportunities for Group Technology, the business’s IT division, to support the evolving strategy.
“Expanding into the retail market was a sound business move,” Bouwer explains. “Alexforbes can now engage its member base of 1.2 million more directly, offering a wider range of services and opportunities. It was important to consider which channels would best serve our members and new customers alike.”
Shifting Relationships
Alexforbes has also refined its approach to vendors, streamlining partnerships and identifying core providers. Acting as true partners rather than traditional vendor-client relationships has been key to driving transformation.
Enterprise architecture capability has been significantly strengthened alongside improvements across solutions, data and security architecture. “Reviewing our entire environment made us focus on what capabilities were needed and the right methodology to introduce new technology sustainably,” Bouwer says. “We built a capable in-house team and collaborated with external partners to establish a new effective way of working.
“Alexforbes had invested in IT, but this investment is now strategically directed at modernising our application landscape,” he adds. The business, traditionally focused on institutional clients, is now positioning itself to serve both institutional and retail customers.