Digitalising an insurer’s communication streams
THE REQUEST
Every year, the life insurance department of a major insurance company sends more than 100,000 letters to banks, intermediaries and customers. However, the system that the department used for doing so was out-dated and it needed to be phased out. The old method involved typing, printing and sending the letters manually and the insurer wanted to digitalise the entire process in the form of a communication portal. The question was: how? Thanks to our experience in digitalisation, we were approached and asked to phase out the old system and realise a time-saving per sent letter.
OUR APPROACH
This project had run into problems earlier, because the insurer tried to do too much, too soon. Our approach was to break the project down into more manageable parts, working with a minimum of viable products to add value for the business as quickly as possible.
Clean-up
After carrying out an analysis of the total letter library, we ascertained that the old system had approximately 1,200 different types of letters. We then evaluated which of the letters could be consolidated, or perhaps even deleted completely. After doing a major clean-up, we were left with 200 different types of letters.
Pega/StreamServe
We started with the letter that was sent most frequently. By focusing on this letter first, we were immediately able to visibly add value to the business. A template with fixed fields was used. These fields included the label logo and spaces for name-and-address details and the date. For the letter’s variable fields we used Pega/StreamServe to create a question-answer model. The user is required to answer a number of questions and, based on the answers to these questions, the system establishes the exact composition of the letter. Once all fields have been filled in, the letter can be sent with the push of a button. It is then placed on the customer portal or sent for central printing. The same process was followed for the 200 different letter types.
A foundation on which to build and optimise
We believe in offering pragmatic solutions to our clients. By migrating the letter production to Pega/StreamServe, we have laid the foundation on which the insurer can continue to build and optimise. Furthermore, using coaching sessions and workshops, we have trained the insurer’s employees to make the necessary system adjustments themselves.
THE RESULT
Now, instead of being done manually by the user, the 200 letter types are processed in Pega/StreamServe. From the previous standard production time of eight minutes per letter, the insurer now spends an average of less than three minutes, a time saving of more than five minutes per letter! Some of the letter types have been configured so intelligently that they can be sent automatically, without the need for any manual intervention. At the moment the calculated time saving is about 8,000 hours per year, but this is expected to rise to 10,000 hours.
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