Fernando Rios, CEO of RIMAC Seguros y Reaseguros (RIMAC), a leading insurance company in Peru, had been driving an intensive digital transformation at the company since 2018. By modernizing its IT infrastructure and support applications across critical business units, Fernando sought to deliver a superior customer experience through faster response times, enhanced security, and improved business continuity and resiliency, especially throughout the pandemic. By 2022, the company had built a strong foundation from which to scale up its advanced analytics and AI capabilities to enhance its value propositions beyond insurance and focus on delivering well-being. This was in line with its newly articulated corporate purpose, "We protect your world; we promote your well-being." Two questions remained uppermost in Fernando's mind: How can RIMAC accelerate the democratization of the benefits of AI and advanced data analytics? / How will AI capabilities drive the company's well-being agenda in the next three years?

This case traces the journey of the AXA group, one of the top three insurance providers globally from 2016 to 2019 under the leadership of newly appointed CEO, Thomas Buberl. During this period, the insurance industry faced strong headwinds - persistent low interest rates, weak financial markets, evolving customer expectations, new types of risks associated with cyber, health and natural catastrophes, as well as widespread disruption from the new breed of insurtech players. Buberl's strategy rested on two pillars - focus to drive efficiency in the company's core business and transform to prepare it for the digital age by developing new capabilities and value propositions to allow it to shift from a payer-to-partner business model. Buberl's biggest move, contrary to market expectations, was a pivot in AXA's portfolio from life and savings to commercial property and casualty (P&C), achieved through the US$15.3 billion acquisition of US-based XL Group, making AXA the largest P&C player globally. Other moves included increasing its focus on the health insurance segment, accelerating growth in Asia, and launching a new business unit - AXA Next - to build an innovation ecosystem focused on developing services and business models beyond insurance. However, competition from both traditional insurers and niche players was intense as a wave of M&As swept across the industry. The rules of the game were changing fast. Could AXA maintain its leadership position? And if so, how?

The case discusses how Pepperfry, India's largest online furniture retailer, disrupted the furniture and home decor market while overcoming the challenges of India's weak infrastructure, age-old methods of buying and selling furniture from local carpentry shops, lack of consumer trust in e-commerce and a massive geography. By 2018 Pepperfry had grown exponentially to control over 60% of the online furniture business in the country. However, several questions regarding its current and future trajectory remained. First, despite controlling costs and significantly expanding revenues, it was not profitable. What could it do to achieve profitability? Second, in response to the demands of the market, Pepperfry embarked on an omnichannel strategy, establishing 34 studios in Tier 1 cities with targeted expansion to 70 studios by 2019. How could it manage this added online-offline complexity, while still staying on track to break even? Finally, the competitive space had significantly heated up, with the arrival of IKEA (September 2018), and with Flipkart's (acquired by Walmart) growing focus on the furniture segment. Did Pepperfry have the systems, brand name and agility to respond to these challenges? Or will the disruptor be disrupted?