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Case Study
Client Spotlight:
Enterprise Content Management Strategy Assessment
Leader in Individual and Employer Markets
KEY STATS
Our client has consolidated assets in excess of $100 billion. The retirement lines, which include individual annuities and employer markets, have their principal operations split between a central U.S. location and a northeast operation, with other functions serviced in two separate cities and facilities.
objective
The primary objective of this project was to develop an enterprise-wide correspondence and content management strategy (ECM). The strategy would be used as a roadmap for implementing the business and technology support elements requisite to a consistent, high-quality, and cost-effective customer communications program. Components of the strategy included:
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Development of current- and future-state models of the business and technical environment;
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Definition of a framework for understanding context; and
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Jump start to enabling needed organization, process, and technology changes.
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The state models were followed by a high-level cost-benefit analysis that would be used to guide the decision-making process for determining priorities and approvals during the implementation phase(s) of the project.
current environment
The Enterprise Content Management team had been working on an approved project for 18 months to build an enterprise-wide correspondence strategy. They identified the need for this specific project after uncovering various customer communications issues and associated inconsistencies. The communications issues encompassed e-mails, letters, prospectuses, confirms, statements, forms surrounding pre- and post-issue processes, and Web-based and CD-based information in support of sales and service. A variety of issues created challenges to productivity, service, quality, consistency, compliance, and cost management. These included: 11 different administration systems; a multitude of life and annuity application forms; the lack of a forms repository; questions about data integrity (which included client as well as producer addresses); multiple processing locations; lack of consistent use of the available tools for correspondence; and emerging use of e-delivery methods. While much work had already been done framing the issues, there was a growing sense of urgency to complete the strategy development portion. The company was eager to put the right business processes and systems into place and to begin realizing the benefits an ECM would generate.
project scope
The customer correspondence strategy development effort spanned multiple business divisions, a broad set of functional operations, and dispersed geographic locations. Product sets included group and individual life and annuity (including variable lines) from new business through client services and agency support. All end-customer-oriented communications—from sales materials to applications to bills—were reviewed. A four-step process was used:
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Conduct information reviews to establish baseline;
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Gather additional information to provide details;
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Develop recommendations with the team; and
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Present strategy and gain executive approval.
project results
The benefits of the project included:
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Timely completion of the initial strategy;
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An approach heavily based upon involvement and participation of company-wide staff;
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A process that ensured issues were addressed, options identified, and a feasible strategy presented; and
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A cost-benefit analysis of implementation.
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The resulting strategy document provided in detail:
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An executive primer on ECM, its meaning, and its importance to profit and service differentiation;
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A current-state map by location delineating over-lap and redundancies, pain points, and core issues;
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Three immediate foundational strategic issues that required executive intervention and resolution;
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A future-state map by location that showed any customer differences in solution or implementation;
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A technical architecture listing the software needed to achieve the desired end state;
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Organizational requirements and implementation challenges that would likely arise, with alternatives;
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Operating tenets for implementing the future state, along with a three-stage plan; and
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Nearly sixty additional issues and opportunities for improvement discovered and documented during the interview and discovery process.
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