Insurance. White Paper. Why Contact Centers have to Evolve to Customer Engagement Center?

Transcription

1 Isurace White Paper Why Cotact Ceters have to Evolve to Customer Egagemet Ceter?

2 About the Authors Sudhakar Bellam, Head, Busiess Process Maagemet ad Itegratio Practice, Isurace ad Healthcare Sudhakar is a Eterprise Architect ad leads the Busiess Process Maagemet (BPM) ad Itegratio practice of Tata Cosultacy Services' (TCS') Isurace ad Healthcare uit. Sudhakar specializes i leveragig BPM, case maagemet, ad itegratio solutios to eable leadig orgaizatios to trasform customer egagemet, automate back office operatios, ad improve busiess agility ad operatioal efficiecy. Sudhakar has over 20 years of IT idustry experiece ad is a TOGAF cosultat as well as a certified Pega ad IBM platform expert. Sudhakar has a master's degree i Machie Desig from the Idia Istitute of Techology, Kharagpur. Sambeet Mishra, Head, Eterprise Cloud Solutios Practice, Isurace ad Healthcare Sambeet leads the Eterprise Cloud Solutios Practice where he focuses o devisig strategies for cotact ceter trasformatio, aget empowermet, mobile eablemet, customer relatioship maagemet (CRM) moderizatio, ad app ratioalizatio. With over 20 years of idustry experiece of which over 10 years ivolved workig o Salesforce.com, Sambeet today works with key TCS isurace ad healthcare cliets i North America, leadig strategic techology iitiatives ad drivig iovatio programs. Sambeet is a Certified Salesforce Product Cosultat ad has experiece i implemetig iovative CRM solutios for compaies with a large customer base across geographies. Sambeet holds a master's degree i Busiess Admiistratio from the FORE School of Maagemet, New Delhi, Idia.

3 Abstract Faced with fierce competitio from o-traditioal players, the isurace idustry is compelled to explore ew aveues for customer egagemet ad retetio. Customers today expect cosistet, relevat, ad persoalized services. Recogizig the steep rise i demad for this superior customer service, 40 percet of orgaizatios ow use dedicated customer experiece resources while 85 percet support multi-chael customer 1 iteractios. Traditioally, isurers have leveraged the call ceter model to hadle service requests from customers ad agets. However, with rapid techology strides ad the opeig up of myriad chaels of commuicatio, isurers realize that holistic customer egagemet, ad ot just reactive customer service, is the eed of the hour. A customer egagemet ceter (CEC) takes customer service to a whole ew level, by ot merely resolvig requests but also recommedig the ext best approach for cotiuous egagemet across the customer lifecycle. It combies call ceter service with ext-geeratio techologies ad applicatios for ehaced CRM. Digitizatio has sigificatly helped reduce the huma elemet i customer iteractio through ituitive, high-ed techology. The CEC offers a strategic approach that balaces persoalized huma egagemet with moder coected techology to help establish stroger customer coect. This whitepaper delieates the treds ad challeges faced by isurers i their jourey towards settig up a CEC. We recommed the key compoets of a ext-geeratio CEC, ad highlight the beefits of settig up this customer-focused framework. [1] Deloitte Cosultig LLP, 2013 Global Cotact Ceter Survey Results (March 2013), accessed November 11, 2014,

4 Cotets Why Isurers Need to Better Coect with Customers 5 What Is Drivig the Trasformatio? 6 What Today s Customer Egagemet Ceter Must Accout For 6 Stregtheig Customer Egagemet 7 Realizig Strategic Value ad Operatioal Efficiecies 9 Esurig a Successful Trasformatio 11 Coclusio 12

5 Why Isurers Need to Better Coect with Customers The isurace idustry is at a critical jucture. With digitizatio chagig the way customers acquire iformatio ad iteract with isurers ad agets, traditioal call ceters are fast becomig a thig of the past. Today's customers are better iformed - access to iformatio across multiple chaels makes it easy for them to compare products ad services, ad bargai for quality customized services. Customers are also willig to chage loyalties if their demads are ot met, makig it imperative for isurers to embrace trasformative strategies to improve customer acquisitio ad retetio. These strategies ivolve a dramatic chage i the way customer service is perceived - from beig a mere value additio to a strategic busiess growth driver. The idustry is fast recogizig this tred. Research idicates that 62 percet of orgaizatios cosider customer 2 experiece offered through cotact ceters as a competitive differetiator. Leadig isurace providers are ivestig i settig up cotact ceters - essetially customer hubs - which ot oly offer iformatio ad resolve customer complaits but also support sales ad marketig iitiatives. While the role of the CEC may vary from orgaizatio to orgaizatio, its broad fuctio has bee well articulated by Garter: A customer egagemet ceter (CEC) refers to a logical set of techologies ad busiess applicatios that are egieered to provide customer service ad support, 3 regardless of the iteractio (or egagemet) chael. A leadig property, casualty, ad life isurace provider did ot have a commo pre-sales or poit-of-sales platform to help agets with sales processes. This ofte led to delayed customer respose ad subsequet loss of market share. The isurer required a oe-stop-shop sales system to trasform ad streamlie the sales ad operatios processes, icrease distributio reach, ad expad the product portfolio i compliace with data regulatios. After implemetig a agecy system, the isurer migrated existig captive ad co-registered agets ad agecies to the ew system. By offerig access to the sales app o mobile phoes ad tablets, the isurer witessed improvemets i aget efficiecy as well as realized ew cross-sellig ad up-sellig opportuities. This is just oe istace of how a CEC trasformed Where previously call ceter moderizatio ivolvig the upgrade of the busiess. telephoy ad etwork ifrastructure, ad outsourcig of busiess process capabilities was sufficiet, isurers are ow adoptig a more holistic approach to effectively trasform the cotact ceter. Today, the focus of the cotact ceter has shifted to uderstadig the customer to offer a uique egagig experiece. [2] Deloitte Cosultig LLP, 2013 Global Cotact Ceter Survey Results (March 2013), accessed November 11, 2014, [3] Garter, IT Glossary, 5

6 What Is Drivig the Trasformatio? For effective customer egagemet ad issue resolutio, isurace providers eed to optimize their use of data, people, ad techology. This is especially importat i light of the treds that have gaied promiece i the isurace idustry: Customers seek cosistet, roud-the-clock egagemet optios: Today s customers value the quality of service over almost everythig else. Whe cosumers cotact a isurer, they expect their cocer to be satisfactorily resolved, seamlessly ad quickly. This is irrespective of whether the service has bee provided by the isurer or by ay third party o behalf of the isurer. There is greater acceptace of digital techologies: Accordig to a recet study by McKisey & Compay, about 73 percet customers use the iteret to gather iformatio (up from 55 percet i 2008) while the rest use call 4 ceters, either for stadaloe research or to supplemet their iteret research. The cotact ceter is o loger a stadaloe etity i the isurer s value chai. It must support the isurer s overall customer experiece strategy ad busiess priorities by complemetig the services ad support delivered through digital chaels to drive holistic customer egagemet. Faster access to itegrated data is essetial: Isurers are icreasigly usig custom Applicatio Programmig Iterfaces (APIs) to eable rapid access to data that resides i disparate orgaizatioal systems. Custom APIs help orgaize ad itegrate data across silos to create a complete view of the customer. Agets ca quickly access this cosolidated data ad respod to customers with the relevat iformatio to ehace customer satisfactio. What Today's Customer Egagemet Ceter Must Accout For Customer egagemet has evolved sigificatly from the days of eed drive, reactive customer support to becomig a key success measure. To serve its purpose as a busiess eabler, the CEC must therefore keep pace with: Mobile techology: With more customers embracig mobile techologies, isurers are compelled to simplify ad adapt their products ad processes for this ew distributio chael. A customer ca start a trasactio o the smartphoe ad the cotact the CEC to complete the trasactio or for support o a issue. I either case, the aget should be kowledgeable about the product the cosumer has selected, ad have real-time visibility ito the data already provided so that they do ot ask the cosumer the same questios agai. It is also essetial to eable all trasactios o the mobile chael so that the cosumer does ot eed to cotact the aget for a particular trasactio. [4] McKisey & Compay, Wiig Share ad Customer Loyalty i Auto Isurace, Isights from McKisey s 2012 Auto Isurace Customer Isights Research, accessed o 15 November 2014, F~%2Fmedia%2Fmckisey%2Fdotcom%2Fcliet_service%2Ffiacial%2520services%2Flatest%2520thikig%2Fisurace%2Fwiig_share_ad_custo mer_loyalty_i_auto_isurace.ashx&ei=sjbvvkwgcsrkuqt53yk4da&usg=afqjcngy06zqgqwd3jcl17eo60lakhugyg&bvm=bv ,d.c2e 6

7 Social media: Idustry players see social media emergig as oe of the most powerful cotact chaels, secod 5 oly to . Sice isurace is a highly regulated idustry, legislative ad regulatory chages will be required before isurers ca use social media to aswer specific queries o beefits, eligibility, or claims as they do over the telephoe today. However, the CEC ca allow isurers to leverage this chael to better uderstad a cosumer's expectatios whe they cotact the isurer. I istaces where it is permissible, isurers ca cosider trackig requests submitted o social forums, cotact the cosumer through a more traditioal chael, resolve the situatio ad the post o the etwork that the issue was resolved. Eve a simple message from a cosumer o a social platform that discusses the isurer's efficiecy ca have far-reachig impact. Collaborative tools: To effectively reach out to Geeratio Y ad Milleia customers, isurers eed to evaluate iovative optios beyod s ad chat. Cosumers who are already used to Siri, Google Now or Cortaa ca questio the effectiveess of a call ceter iteractive voice respose (IVR) or that of the fial aget who picks up the call. Optios such as virtual avatars ca help promote more iteractive egagemet with the cosumer irrespective of the chael (web or mobile) ad provide a more cotextualized experiece. Techiques such as atural laguage processig, voice ad text aalytics, Big Data aalytics ad machie learig make these ideas a reality for isurers to take advatage of. Levels of customer awareess: To cater to the moder empowered customer, isurers eed to develop a 360- degree view of the customer that ca allow greater levels of customizatio ad persoalizatio. They should be able to glea isights from the abudace of data o customers, evets, ad demographics. Customers are used to persoalized offers such as those by leadig retailer Amazo. While isurers may ot be able to deliver this extreme persoalizatio, they ca maximize data miig opportuities to stay relevat ad competitive. Stregtheig Customer Egagemet To achieve its iteded purpose, the CEC eeds to go well beyod support for issue resolutio to promote marketig opportuities, resultig i customer acquisitio ad retetio. The CEC should itegrate moder techology tools to trasform iboud call ceters ito high-performace omi-chael customer egagemet chaels, ad should: Eable customer aalytics to ehace customer support: By offerig a 360-degree view of the customer s various relatioships ad iteractios across chaels, idepedet of product lies, customer aalytics ca truly empower the isurace service aget. Service represetatives ca gai access to cotextualized recommedatios for cross-sellig ad up-sellig opportuities by applyig aalytics o the customer s iteractios ad buyig patters to derive a Customer Life Time Value measure. This will help sell the right product to the right perso, thereby icreasig customer cofidece ad buildig ad maitaiig a log term relatioship with the customer. Customer aalytics ca also help i chur prevetio by offerig huma iteractio over a digital chael video chat, telepresece, or phoe call. Isurace websites ofte provide a live chat sessio optio for customers for [5] Deloitte Cosultig LLP, 2013 Global Cotact Ceter Survey Results (March 2013), accessed November 11, 2014, 7

8 quick issue resolutio ad feedback. By mergig the customer's history with the customer's social profile, isurers ca predict the chur risk. Armed with this isight, isurers ca defie strategies to mitigate this risk. Leverage Next Best Actio (NBA) recommedatios to drive busiess growth: This key eabler ca help optimize ad persoalize every customer iteractio regardless of the chael. The NBA ca power the cetralized decisio hub that guides both iboud ad outboud customer commuicatios i real time. At the heart of NBA lies a predictive ad adaptive aalytics powered egie (as compared to static aalytical models), which ca optimize every customer iteractio i real time. While predictive aalytics uses past customer iteractio history to aticipate the expected customer behavior ad suggest the relevat service or product, adaptive aalytics lears from every customer iteractio ad cotiuously improves the success of propositios. A promisig techology, NBA ca empower carriers ad agets to idetify ad preset the right products at the right time. The NBA cocept across marketig, sales, ad service chaels is depicted i Figure 1. Iteret of Thigs (IoT) / Machie to Machie (M2M): A cocept which will stregthe future of Cotact Egagemet Ceter by updatig Aget systems via automated or semi-automated messages from coected devices. The future scearios of risk prevetio could come from vehicles, machies or smart homes itegratig with isured risk portfolio. The CEC will be a key compoet i eablig & sustaiig the ecosystem collaboratio amog cosumer, parter etworks & the carrier. Tasks ad actios will happe i real time elimiatig the depedece o workflows through multi-party collaboratio usig M2M iteractio ad updates beig set to Aget Cosole at CEC. Deliverig cross touch poit customer experieces drives eed for ew capability ad IoT plays a importat role i lettig a Aget view real time data from sesors & coected devices. It provides them a early advatage to coordiate ad iteract with multiple parties ad give customer a better service experiece. IoT ad M2M ca help chagig customer service ad agets from reactive i to prevetive mode. Iteractio optimizatio (Call Script) Retetio Aget Decisioig Service Persoalizatio Targeted Offerigs Testig / Validatio Marketig Next Best Actio Sales Guided sellig Relatioship maagemet Cross-sell/Upsell Figure 1:. A Overview of the NBA Recommedatio 8

9 Realizig Strategic Value ad Operatioal Efficiecies The CEC ca eable several operatioal efficiecies through itegrated techology ad real time iformatio updates. The seamless data itegratio ad itelliget, ituitive cotrol ca drive faster decisio makig while presetig cross-sellig ad up-sellig opportuities. To drive busiess trasformatio, the CEC must offer: Itelliget routig: A egagemet ceter's primary objective is to deliver value to each iteractio - whether it is simple issue resolutio, request for more iformatio, or a potetial sellig opportuity. To achieve this, it is essetial that each request is treated uiquely, ad routed to the perso best placed to respod to it. While this may seem easy i priciple, i practice, several iterplayig factors ca reder this task complex. A request ca origiate from a idividual or a machie, o ay of the chaels made available by the isurer. By capturig the source ad cotext, ad aalyzig the meta data, the CEC should route the customer request to the appropriate recipiet. For istace, if the isurer has advertised i traditioal media, it is importat that leads origiatig from that campaig are directed to the customer service represetatives (CSRs) who speak the appropriate laguage. I additio to the source, the cotext should also be cosidered i determiig the type ad priority of the request. Isurers ca use several strategies to idetify the source. These could be as simple as providig differet cotact umbers for the differet campaigs ad recogizig the umber the request was iitiated o, or leveragig locatio based services offered by mobile carriers or iteret providers. Oce the source ad cotext are determied, a set of busiess rules should be applied to the meta data to determie the priority of the request ad the recipiet to whom it has to be routed to. For istace, a request origiatig from Google Adwords may be assiged a lower priority tha a request from a hotlie umber. The determiatio eeds to be made at machie speed ad acted upo based o set rules. Itelliget cotextualized routig ca be achieved either idividually or through a combiatio of IVR capabilities ad cotact ceter techology platform fuctioality, ad will ultimately play a strog part i determiig customer satisfactio. The Desktop of the Future: Simply routig the request appropriately is ot eough - the ext hurdle i improvig egagemet is the CSR's traditioal desktop, comprised of several iterfaces itegrated to multiple backed systems, local databases or spreadsheets, with sticky otes aroud the moitor. Trasformig the traditioal desktop ito the desktop of the future through simplificatio of the techology ladscape ad associated busiess processes ca help isurers: Better egage with the customer, irrespective of the chael such as web, call, mobile, or social media Eable straight through processig of requests origiatig either from the cosumer, or a machie or sesor associated with that cosumer, which could rage from wearables ad smart watches to itelliget fire alarms Derive a 720-degree view of the customer by combiig the iteral (data withi eterprise) ad exteral 6 perspective [6] Tata Cosultacy Services, Data i the Digital Era Drivig New Busiess Models ad Results for Isurers, 9

10 Realize comprehesive cotextualized kowledge maagemet with the ability to record case articles o the fly ad share it with a wider commuity. Kowledge maagemet will esure cosistecy i solutios provided ad reduce call resolutio time, resultig i call volume reductio. Advise the CSR o the NBA recommedatio, for a service or sale request Leverage dyamic dashboards with aalytics from Big Data, predictive modelig, voice calls, icludig traditioal busiess itelligece reports. The dashboards provide real-time iformatio to eable iformed decisio makig. Promote collaboratio amog CSRs with the ability to reach out to customers through a customer commuity. This commuity could be a forum for CSRs to share their experiece, challeges, ad lear from a wider team, evetually leadig to meaigful coversatios. Workflow automatio: Ofte, the resolutio of service requests ivolves collaboratio or hadoff to back office staff such as isurace uderwriters or claim adjusters. With the CEC eablig a robust workflow ad case maagemet capabilities for workflow automatio, isurers ca: Trigger ad assig service requests to the back office users Eable straight through processig with rules drive workflow processes Support dyamic case maagemet ad collaboratio with back office users i real time for expert advice Esure better visibility ito the back office case status to offer customers accurate iformatio about their request status ad expected resolutio time Seamless itegratio of backed systems: For efficiet cotact ceter operatios, it is critical to seamlessly itegrate backed systems. This eables cosolidatio of busiess data from across systems to make it available to the cotact ceter agets i real-time. Service orieted architecture (SOA) ca eable real-time iterfacig with chaels, back-ed systems, ad third-party services. Some of the covetioal isurace call ceter solutios have bee itegrated with backed applicatios through poit-to-poit or batch orieted iterfaces to exchage busiess critical data. The seamless itegratio with backed systems will eable isurers to empower CSRs with accurate ad complete iformatio about the customer to: Reduce call resolutio time Reduce the umber of systems of egagemets Eable 'oe call' resolutio 10

11 Combied, these will help isurers realize ew efficiecies ad more importatly, deliver o the promise of customer cetricity through improved customer service. A large North America based life ad retiremet commercial isurer struggled to maage their multiple applicatios for customer servicig. This led to icreased call hadlig ad waitig periods, poor first call resolutio rates, iaccurate ad icosistet reportig ad dashboards, ad icreased traiig expeses. The isurer required a uified view of their customer across systems with itegrated kowledge maagemet systems. Followig the implemetatio of a Cotact Ceter, the isurer ow offers customers a omi-chael experiece with voice, social, web, ad machie iteractios. Call resolutio times have reduced by 20 percet while the time take to brig CSRs oboard has reduced from 6 weeks to just oe week. Esurig a Successful Trasformatio Although the cotact ceter trasformatio promises to deliver wide-ragig busiess beefits, there are several potetial migratio challeges isurers eed to pla for, before they udertake this jourey: Migratio is costly; take it oe step at a time: The simplificatio of busiess processes ad backed systems, ad the ability to seamlessly itegrate these with the CSRs' desktop systems are some of the most resource itesive challeges that a isurer must address. Sice trasformatio is a log-draw out activity, oe of the best practices to follow is to deliver the capability i iteratios. Deliverig a façade layer that separates the desktop from the iterfacig systems i the iitial iteratios is particularly essetial. Data maagemet i trasitio is difficult: For operatios spread across busiess uits ad geographies, it is difficult to maage data stacks ad esure that the right iformatio is available at the right time. Defiig the right eterprise data strategy could be the key to address data maagemet challeges such as: Master data maagemet Data goverace ad owership Metadata maagemet Data life cycle ad archival Data quality maagemet Data security ad storage User Experiece Strategy: Providig cosistet ad Ituitive user experiece to customers ad agets is oe essetial part of the overall trasformatio jourey. Providig sigle desktop, sigle customer view, reducig systems of egagemet esurig agets have all the iformatio they eed to serve customers. Customers eed ope access to iformatio ad user experiece i collaboratio, automatio, self-service, kowledge maagemet plays importat role i overall Customer egagemet. Agets experiece i call guidace, customer stats, dowstream iformatio at right coect poit is key to provide trasformatio solutio to customers. 11

12 Review ad revise to esure compliace with regulatios: With the rapid icrease i fraud cases, ad regular chages to statutory laws ad regulatios, isurers eed to costatly review ad update systems ad busiess rules to esure compliace. Coclusio I the Cotact Ceter Satisfactio Idex 2013, 46 percet respodets stated that their first choice for issue ⁷ resolutio ad other service requests was somethig beyod the customary phoe call. CEC focuses ot oly o resolvig the customer issue but o improvig customer satisfactio ad drivig customer loyalty through value creatio ad active egagemet for log term sustaiig relatioship. CEC eables Orgaizatio, agets ad customer service to be more agile ad proactive. CEC focuses ot oly o customer service but also o agets' productivity. It helps to acquire, retai ad trai agets ad allows them to mie their busiess book ad be vigilat of their product performace to sell ad serve better. CEC budles collaboratio, data, kowledge maagemet, persoalizatio, automatio ad user experiece to provide cuttig edge to Orgaizatios to stay ahead of the curve. Towards this ed, isurers are strivig to uderstad ad better relate to customers i their jourey towards risk protectio, while actively egagig with them at every step. Though the path is strew with challeges ad could be relatively log oe, eterprises that ca make the successful trasitio from call ceters to CECs will realize beefits at each milestoe of the jourey with happy customers, icreased reveue, ad a efficiet workforce. Ad the trasformatio jourey starts ow. [7] CFI Group, Cotact Ceter Satisfactio Idex 2013, accessed o 11 November 2013, 12

13 About TCS' Isurace Busiess Uit With over four decades of experiece i workig with isurers globally, TCS delivers solutios ad services to help isurers meet risig customer ad aget expectatios, address o-traditioal competitors, maage low ivestmet yields, ad drive growth i emergig global markets. TCS has built a umatched track record i eablig isurers trasform, ehace busiess agility, improve operatioal efficiecies ad icrease customer egagemet, while esurig regulatory compliace. 7of the 10 world's largest isurers ad over a hudred isurers globally parter with TCS. Our state-of-the-art iovatio labs ad global solutio ceters, ad cuttig edge solutios ad techologies set cliets apart from their competitors. We leverage the combied expertise of our idustry traied ad certified (LOMA, LIMRA, CPCU ad so o) cosultats to support the etire value chai for Life, Auities ad Pesios, Property ad Casualty, Health, Commercial ad Reisurace compaies. Cotact For more iformatio about TCS' Isurace Busiess Uit, visit: global.isurace@tcs.com Subscribe to TCS White Papers TCS.com RSS: Feedburer: About Tata Cosultacy Services (TCS) Tata Cosultacy Services is a IT services, cosultig ad busiess solutios orgaizatio that delivers real results to global busiess, esurig a level of certaity o other firm ca match. TCS offers a cosultig-led, itegrated portfolio of IT ad IT-eabled ifrastructure, egieerig ad TM assurace services. This is delivered through its uique Global Network Delivery Model, recogized as the bechmark of excellece i software developmet. A part of the Tata Group, Idia s largest idustrial coglomerate, TCS has a global footprit ad is listed o the Natioal Stock Exchage ad Bombay Stock Exchage i Idia. For more iformatio, visit us at IT Services Busiess Solutios Cosultig All cotet / iformatio preset here is the exclusive property of Tata Cosultacy Services Limited (TCS). The cotet / iformatio cotaied here is correct at the time of publishig. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, trasmitted, posted or distributed i ay form without prior writte permissio from TCS. Uauthorized use of the cotet / iformatio appearig here may violate copyright, trademark ad other applicable laws, ad could result i crimial or civil pealties. Copyright 2015 Tata Cosultacy Services Limited TCS Desig Services I M I 03I 15