Case Study: Consolidation of customer service centres.

The Situation:

A Life Insurance Company with autonomous state based-offices was facing market share erosion.

Our Solution:

I investigated how each location was operating and the differences between locations. During this analysis I identified that a significant decision factor for new clients was the time taken to issue a policy and retention of existing clients appeared to be more sensitive to customer service satisfaction than premium cost.

Head Office set sales commission rules but had low visibility of state office operational processes and minimal data on client satisfaction.

My team conducted a process mapping of the “best” location which was coincidently the newest location and furthest from Head Office. A SME from a more mature market validated and enhanced the processes to cover the full range of products.

Focusing on the goal of reducing the policy issue time an automated system was provided and administration was centralised. The solution included investment in telecommunications and major technology system upgrade.

The Result:

One of the previous site operations managers provided training for sales staff and the new operating model and supporting technology was implemented smoothly. This resulted in reduced FTE across all locations, lowered operating costs, raised customer service and enabled new business growth to claw back market share without any increase in sales force.