FWD GROUP
Strategic partnership with AWS drives innovation A key element of FWD’ s technological transformation has been its partnership with Amazon Web Services( AWS). When Sandeep joined FWD, different markets were using different technology partners, including AWS. Rather than standardising on a single platform, he decided to maintain relationships with various providers.
“ Rather than forcing standardisation on one platform, I decided we would leverage various partners,” he recalls.
“ For example, we initially signed a three-year agreement with AWS, and last year we renewed for another five years, reflecting the strategic importance of this partnership.”
Today, approximately 50 % of FWD’ s workload runs on AWS, including the FWD Omne customer platform. The partnership has evolved beyond cloud computing alone to include more advanced capabilities.
“ We’ re not just doing cloud, we’ re rationalising applications and creating Centres of Excellence from the beginning”
SANDEEP PANDEY, GROUP CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATIONS OFFICER, FWD GROUP
“ We’ re now exploring AWS services beyond basic infrastructure,” Sandeep explains.“ We’ re evaluating Amazon Bedrock for generative AI capabilities, using AWS services for code development and leveraging their analytics capabilities.”
The partnership with AWS has been instrumental in FWD’ s transformation journey.“ AWS has worked directly with our principals on cloud architecture and transformation strategies,” Sandeep says.“ They provide tremendous value beyond just services – they contribute meaningful expertise and mindshare to our initiatives.”
Future priorities and talent development Looking to the future, Sandeep emphasises several key priorities for FWD. Growth remains a central focus, with clear targets set for each market.
“ My role is ensuring our technology and operations capabilities enable this growth while maintaining our customer focus.”
Sustainable business practices are also crucial.“ We need to build a sustainable business with long-term value,” Sandeep says.
“ Our products represent long-term commitments to customers – we need to ensure we’ ll be here to honour those commitments not just next year, but for the next hundred years.”
The customer-led ambition continues to be at the heart of FWD’ s strategy.“ Our customer-led approach is now central to every executive’ s priorities,” Sandeep emphasises.“ It’ s no longer
114 September 2025