Industry Financial Company Takaful Malaysia is a leading as well as pioneering takaful operator to offer takaful businesses, or Islamic insurance, in Malaysia. Takaful is an Arabic word meaning "guaranteeing each other" or joint guarantee. The company celebrates 20 years of operations this year. Employees 1,800 IT staff 30, plus 15 contract staff Annual IT Budget US$4.2 million

On making it to ZDNet Asia's Smart50 list, Zolkiffly Aziz, general manager at Takaful's IT and Actuarial division, said: "It is a real honor for us because Takaful has always viewed IT as a business enabler and we strive to get the most benefit from it. We also take great pride in the fact that we are using IT to enhance the level of service we offer to customers."

The system automates Takaful's business processes like policy administration and claims processing, thus reducing paperwork and streamlining business processes to further increase the employees' level of efficiency.

Before the new implementation, Takaful Malaysia ran on an in-house IT system. The system, however, couldn't meet the growing needs of the company.

Tata Consultancy Services, one of Asia's largest IT services companies, was selected to build and develop the IT system. Worth RM 8.7 million (US$2.4 million), the contract was awarded in August 2004.

Aziz noted: "With the Takaful Integrated System, Takaful Malaysia can reach out to its subsidiaries and associates in South Asia and Middle East, and other takaful operators in the Islamic insurance business."

Although it is too early to fully quantify the efficiencies achieved from the recent implementation of this new system, Takaful Malaysia has already started to reap some benefits.

"Procedures such as renewal of insurance policies and refunds are carried out much faster now. Business efficiency has greatly improved," said Aziz.