Sapiens names Krish Datta as APAC Executive Vice President

Sapiens has appointed Krish Datta as Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific, expanding the insurer software group's leadership in a region it views as a major market.

Datta joins immediately and will oversee the company's regional strategy, including sales, customer expansion and local operations across Asia Pacific.

The appointment comes amid broader change at Sapiens. The company recently secured a minority investment from a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, introduced its Insurance Agentification programme and opened an AI Customer Experience Lab at its London headquarters.

Datta brings more than 35 years of experience in enterprise software and platform businesses across Asia Pacific. He previously built SAP's South-East Asian business to more than USD $500 million in revenue, expanded Syniti's Asia-Pacific and Japan operation from launch to more than USD $30 million a year, and launched Credence.tech.

Earlier in his career, he worked on core insurance platforms across life, general and reinsurance markets at Apex Systems. That gives him experience in the sector Sapiens is targeting as it seeks to deepen its presence with insurers in the region.

Regional focus

Asia Pacific has become a more important market for technology suppliers serving the insurance sector, as carriers modernise core systems and test new uses for artificial intelligence in underwriting, claims and customer service. Sapiens has identified the region as a key growth area as it develops products built around what it calls agentic AI.

Its framework covers claims, underwriting and policy functions. Datta's role will include bringing that strategy to insurers across a market that spans mature insurance economies and faster-growing emerging markets.

Mike Ettling, executive chairman and interim chief executive officer of Sapiens, pointed to a long professional relationship with the new regional head.

"Krish and I have worked together across some of the most demanding markets in enterprise software, and I have seen first-hand what he can build. Bringing him to Sapiens to lead our APAC charge is one of the most important moves we are making as we take our agentic AI vision to insurers around the world," said Mike Ettling, executive chairman and interim chief executive officer of Sapiens.

James Hannay, chief revenue officer at Sapiens, also highlighted Datta's background in insurance technology and business building.

"Krish brings exactly the combination we need to accelerate in APAC: deep insurance technology roots, a track record of building enterprise platform businesses from the ground up, and a sharp instinct for where AI is taking the industry. He has seen the market from every angle - as a builder, as a dealmaker, and as an investor. I have no doubt he will drive significant growth and raise our profile across the region," said Hannay.

Insurance push

Sapiens supplies software to the insurance industry and has increasingly tied its market message to artificial intelligence. Its recent initiatives suggest it is seeking to combine insurance-specific systems expertise with newer AI tools as insurers look for ways to automate decisions and improve response times.

Datta said the insurance sector would be among the industries most affected by agentic AI and described Asia Pacific as a test case for that shift.

"Insurance is one of the industries where agentic AI will create the most profound change, and Sapiens is the partner that understands both the technology and the domain at the depth required to make that change real. APAC is not a peripheral market in this story: it is a proving ground. I am excited to join Sapiens at a time when we can help insurers make faster decisions, respond to risk in real time, and become genuinely autonomous enterprises, while making digital transformation a reality," said Datta.

The hire gives Sapiens a senior executive focused on one of the world's largest and most varied insurance markets, where established international suppliers and regional specialists are competing for insurers' spending on system renewal and AI adoption.