Danish insurance and banking institution Alm. Brand was founded in 1792. Today, the financial services group is flourishing in the age of the connected consumer. What’s the secret to such longevity — and adaptability? The company not only has a long history, but it's "mastering the digital age."

According to two Trailblazers from the company, it all comes down to putting the customer at the heart of everything Alm. Brand does.

At Dreamforce, Thomas Erichson, EVP and Chief Digital Officer,  and Joachim Wahl, VP, Head of IT and Salesforce Tech, treated attendees to a peek behind the curtain at the company’s creative and effective marketing.

Thomas noted that technology such as the Internet of Things and real-time marketing puts control in the hands of the client — even (or especially) for the insurance industry. “The customer chooses how they work with you,” he said. “You can design the customer journey all you want [but] it’s their journey. Be ready to understand customer behavior,” because marketing in the digital age means being able to turn on a dime. That’s why Alm. Brand prides itself on putting the consumer first.

“We lost some intimacy with the way the world went digital,” Thomas added. “But we can bring it back with the right kind of technology.”

To enter — and lead in — the digital age, the financial group turned to Salesforce for a single, cross-department solution, connecting marketing with sales and service. The implementation began with Service Cloud, then expanded department by department until Alm. Brand had empowered the entire staff, whatever their role, to better serve the customer. (Ninety percent of employees use Salesforce to perform their job.)

“We’re proud to have a 360-degree view across banking, insurance, and pension for the first time in 225 years,” Joachim said. This includes:

• Personalized, cross-channel marketing with Marketing Cloud

• Social media/ad campaign integration from Advertising Studio

• Customer service case management in Service Cloud

• Lead and opportunity tracking in Sales Cloud

• Mobile client data for traveling sales reps in the Salesforce app

• New client onboarding in Community Cloud

Alm. Brand marketers also use Journey Builder to design, implement, and manage customer journey campaigns (such as welcome journeys for new clients). So far they’ve increased customer satisfaction by 35% with such journeys. Email journeys based on website interactions, with several built-in behavioral splits, have also proven to be a hit: Open rates for these range from 66%–75%.

Thomas and Joachim said that Salesforce partners worked closely with them in the beginning of their digital reinvention (and still do), although today, the two executives are the go-to experts on the platform. In their roles at Alm. Brand, they plan to expand the company’s Salesforce use until everyone is set up for success — together — and connected. “We’re trying to get adoption for our administrative roles and so on,” Joachim said.

Salesforce also helps the company stay on the same page and move faster around the globe. “For our fixed and co-located (remote) teams, the productivity feedback loops get smaller and smaller,” Thomas said.

Besides introducing new teams to the platform, Thomas said Alm. Brand will continue to invest in discovering new ways to discover, connect with, and serve clients in Salesforce. “It’s ongoing,” he said. “We need to adapt and grow with it. That’s really important.”

Meet the Trailblazers at Alm. Brand: Watch the story here.

Dreamforce 2017 had more strategic content and Trailblazer use cases for financial services marketers than ever. Couldn’t make it to the conference? Missed that special breakout session? We’ve got you covered. This blog is the second in a series of financial services session recaps. Check out the rest of our coverage.