Equipping CGU with a bold and innovative digital direct sales channel
The Challenge
In September 2013, CGU had three clear objectives, driven from CEO Peter Harmer:
- Help CGU develop it's innovation capability
- Learn more about CGU's SME customers
- Help CGU become #1 in the SME market
CGU Digital Direct was a project not only designed to increase market share, but it was also an important cultural piece. CGU want to prove to everyone their ability to be able to quickly deliver and innovate, and use that to inspire others within the organisation towards innovative and creative thinking.
A lot was at stake – this was CGU’s first major direct sales approach, enabling SME customers to get a quote and purchase online. Additionally CGU wanted to show of their wares, and they felt time to market was critical in order to ensure their lead over the competition in the SME market. A bold and direct approach such as this was also key to modernising their brand.
There would be a highly compressed timeframe to deliver, and their chosen partner would have the added challenge of having to coordinate four other contributing vendors, and internal CGU departments to allow integration with their systems and workflows.
"Working with Aptiture for many years on successful projects, we knew they were well equipped to deliver this important platform."Scott Gunther, National Manager, Customer & Partner Experience at IAG
Our Approach
With our reputation for being able to deliver a high quality, secure and reliable solutions in a short timeframe, CGU knew Aptiture were the only vendor that could make this possible. Having worked with us on over 50 projects in the last 8 years, CGU trusted in our abilities and track record. We would need to manage agile teams consisting of multiple parties, and take a cooperative and constructive approach to working with various vendors in the clients best interests. Their selection of a vendor also hinged on someone with experience developing enterprise systems that can handle high numbers of transactions.
Taking on the largest delivery role in the project, it was really up to us to ensure they were able to meet the deadline.
We immediately got to work on requirements, consulting with a huge number of people with various responsibilities within CGU and mapping processes, inputs and integrations.
CGU’s traditional business model has historically relied on intermediaries, and taking a direct sales approach was a significant evolution for them. We helped CGU develop more efficient processes surrounding the direct sales approach.
We took an agile approach (scrum), and used it to manage multiple teams across different vendors and CGU departments.
The Solution
Starting only 3 months before Christmas we were able to achieve their goal of selling their first policy online before Christmas, which was considered a great achievement given the complexity and size of the project, the number of integrated systems, and the size of the project team
By working closely alongside CGU staff we were able to empower them through knowledge transfer throughout the project - furthering skills, knowledge and capabilities of CGU staff.
The delivered solution included the following:
- Ratings engine
- Quote and bind capability
- Policy and document generation
- Online payments
- Integrations with Salesforce, underwriting platforms, and other CGU systems
- Web front end and live price quote
- Workflow engine
- High availability infrastructure
The platform has been a huge success and CGU continues to engage us to further develop the system, add products and features to service customers both direct and through intermediaries.
Our team delivered a combination of creative, technical and strategic capabilities.
The launch of Digital First has delivered several benefits across CGU.
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exceeded lead capture expectations
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customer experience rating9/10
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exceeded sales expectations
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delivered cross sell opportunities
