Co-designing SACE’s future

SACE, the Italian insurance-financial company, has undergone a significant evolution in recent years that led it to add to its support of exports the support of investments in the domestic market and guarantees for green projects, contributing to the implementation of the Italian Green New Deal.

The customer has always been at the centre of SACE’s strategy, however, in light of these recent changes, SACE has made it a business priority to put itself at the service of Italian companies. This is why SACE has chosen to open up to companies by organising its first Co-design workshop, a one-day seminar aimed at designing better insurance-financial solutions, together with companies, that are closer to their needs.

The Co-design workshop was an important event that made SACE one of the first publicly controlled companies to realize such an innovative initiative that puts the customer at the centre, with the aim of brainstorming, designing and developing products that are best suited to its needs.

“At SACE, we strongly believe in talking to and listening to the companies we work with, an approach that becomes fundamental in an extraordinarily complex context such as the current one. –declared Antonio Frezza, Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer di SACE – The Co-design project certainly goes in this direction, with a special focus on SMEs, to which we want to dedicate a tailor-made offer of products and services. A real ‘toolbox’ to support their operation and growth. An important note that has already emerged in this first Co-Design workshop is that SMEs necessitate support to overcome the competitive and bureaucratic challenges, i.e. in the path to becoming structured and aware in facing risks and seizing opportunities in both domestic and foreign markets”.

The 11 firms involved have their headquarters throughout the Italian territory and have a high level of technological innovation, great sensitivity to sustainability issues and a strong international vocation. They are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, leaders in their sectors and Made in Italy excellences. They have either frequently utilized SACE Group’s instruments to insure their exports, or have requested a SACE guarantee without finalising the deal.

In detail, Co-design is an approach that involves a group of stakeholders in the idea generation and design phase of a concept, product or service, so that everyone can share their needs. An approach that fully reflects the values embraced by SACE of transparency and openness, as well as the objective of putting the customer at the centre.

Indeed, at the event held on June 22nd in Milan, companies were the real protagonists that were able to share their ideas, triggering an innovative process that will lead to the development of solutions perfectly focused on their needs.

This is, however, only the first in a series of appointments that, over the coming months, will see SACE meet and discuss with companies with the aim of breaking down the distance between institution and company, providing quality time, reflection and listening, after years of working at a distance and in an emergency, re-establishing a strengthened bond of trust.

The importance of strengthening this link has also resulted from the rapid and unpredictable changes in the international context, from the pandemic crisis to the geopolitical crisis. As a result, Italian firms are constantly facing new challenges as well as new opportunities.

Therefore, it is essential that SACE renews and deepens its relationship with companies, with a particular focus on SMEs, to accompany them in this complex moment, understanding their ‘new’ needs and modifying and enriching its solutions and the overall experience it offers. In particular, SACE is working on services to cover logistics and production problems, to support cost-cutting and much more.

The Co-design project is part of SACE’s commercial strategy, which not only is based on the centrality of the customer but is also developed along five main axes: digitalisation, with the continuous improvement of the offer and online experience dedicated to companies; the sales network, which is increasingly enriched with figures able to guarantee proximity and expertise to companies; the Made in Italy supply chains as the fulcrum of the Italian entrepreneurial system; Education, thanks to a training and skills development programme for companies; business matching, concrete support to facilitate the meeting between Italian SMEs and leading foreign buyers.