CASE STUDY
UK insurer shifts culture, boosts customer loyalty
Accenture led a workforce culture change, supported by technology, to drive customer retention and revenue for a large UK insurance company.
Challenge
In a changing, competitive and high-churn insurance market, our client, a large UK insurer, faced significant challenges with customer retention. Customers weren’t sticking around, and those that were were buying fewer products. The insurer’s salesforce was impeded by legacy technology, which made it difficult to get prompt access to data and valuable insights.
To add to the pressure, our client was acquired in 2018 and had agreed, as part of the sale, to find ways to increase revenue in the 2019 fiscal year. It needed to make rapid, short-term improvements that also set it up for sustainable long-term success. Insurance customers increasingly expect personalized, digital services and they’re willing to switch providers to get them. Our client needed to shift its workforce culture to become customer-centric, and it required the right technology to support this shift and the services its customers desired. We were up for the challenge.
Strategy and solution
There were two key components to this transformation: people and technology.
Cultural change is not easy. It requires breaking down barriers and silos within the organization. One insightful initiative we led with employees was a “bubble-bursting” exercise which helps people identify problems and false assumptions related to their work. With training and improved technology systems, employees can make data-driven decisions, and engage with customers at the right time, with the right offer.
Shifting workforce culture
People drive change. We worked with employees to improve workforce engagement and effectiveness, helping them understand how their work impacts the overall business. We also trained contact center agents and reorganized IT’s QA and governance teams.
Building supportive technology
To improve sales performance and customer engagement, we built:
- An advanced end-to-end analytics system on Google Cloud Platform.
- A marketing campaign management application.
- A customer retention application.
Transformation
Bringing out the best of people and technology enabled our client to overcome key challenges. It’s now in a much better strategic position and is delivering a vastly improved experience for its insurance customers.
3.5% increase in customer retention
This number is expected to increase to 7-9% through optimized machine learning. Revenue-per-client has also increased.
Enhanced customer engagement
Customers receive better targeted offers and communications, driven by data insights.
More effective salesforce
With the right tools and training, the salesforce will drive revenue and uncover further income opportunities.
Agile IT
IT can now test and deploy new initiatives more quickly—within weeks rather than months.
Meet the team
Frédérique Deau-Blanchet
Managing Director, Lead – CFO and Enterprise Value UKI, Accenture Strategy
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