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Case Study
Top Ten Life and Annuity Company
Transformation to a Customer-centric Organization
Our client, one of the largest life and annuity companies in the United
States, had experienced rapid growth in variable products over the
last decade. The company had built its market reputation on product
innovation and had established their organizational focus on product
management. Along with the challenges of a maturing annuities
marketplace and changes in the national economy, the company was
hearing increased dissatisfaction from its producers and business
partners. Focusing on the Customer
Following a strategic review of the company, management decided that their
current organizational focus on products must change, and their focus
must be to become more customer-centric. They launched a series of
marketing, sales, technology and operations initiatives to begin the
transformation. However, senior management was concerned that the
basic organizational structure of the company was no longer
appropriate and a different structure would be required for them to
become truly customer-centric.
The client engaged the Robert E. Nolan Company to assist them with
understanding the organizational implications of their desired
transformation. Nolan consultants first met with company management to
obtain background information and to define and agree upon the project
approach. They reviewed the new strategy plan and conducted one-on-one
interviews with key stakeholders. Next, Nolan consultants worked with
the teams to develop high-level process descriptions to identify
shifts in process steps, accountabilities and decision making. Next
they analyzed the results to identify impacts on the organizational
structure. They identified a series of alternative structures to
discuss with the management team, including marketing, product
management, sales and operations.
Keys to Success
Several factors are required to successfully align an organization, including:<
 | Clear, shared and understood objectives and metrics, roles and
responsibilities, and accountabilities; |
| The right people in the right jobs; |
| Processes that are measured and managed for performance from the
outside-in; |
| Critical competencies must be sustained; and, |
| Organizational structures that are supportive. |
The general conclusions based on the interviews, process design and
analyses had two main themes:
- Organizational structure does not solve process or competency
problems. Success comes from fixing broken or poorly
designed and inconsistent processes. Success also requires competent
and adequately trained staff.
-
Organizational structure combines resources efficiently around
important causes and provides a focus for achieving critical
objectives and goals. Functionally oriented resources make sense
because this structure provides for maintaining functional excellence,
critical mass, and the ability to balance staffing, all which are keys
to achieving a customer-centric focus.
Results and Impact
The principle project recommendations were to align and organize company
resources based upon the dominant responsibilities of the resource,
and the extent to which accountabilities should be across customers
rather than products.
Nolan also recommended that markets (consumers/contract holders), products,
and producers/firms (customers) deserve dedicated resources that will act
in a checks-and-balances fashion. They will be corporate
truth-tellers with respect to competitive position, performance, and
emerging strategic needs and opportunities.
Lastly, it was recommended they modify the process by which the company makes
decisions to fund strategic investments across markets, products, and
distribution channels. |
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