Digital transformation takes time and resource to get right. During the COVID-19 pandemic both were in short supply, but that didn’t stop LV= General Insurance. In fact it spurred them on to achieve even greater success. We talked to Martin Faux, Head of Digital Platforms, about how his team maintained momentum and scored some unexpected digital firsts.
Tell us about what makes LV= different
We want to be Britain’s best loved and that means putting our people first and placing our customers at the heart of everything we do. Around 7 million people trust us to protect the things that matter to them most - from homes and holidays to cars and pets - and to support them when the unexpected happens.
We want to make insurance as simple as possible, so our customers can focus on enjoying their lives. Digital transformation is key to achieving this and providing a great customer and colleague experience.
How are customer expectations changing?
Customers increasingly want to manage policies and claims when and how they want. We need to find a way to empower them through self-service but still maintain a relationship. It can be easy to lose that emotional connection when introducing new digital channels and processes.
We test all our new initiatives on customers to make sure we get the balance right and stay true to our brand values. We take the same approach with our broker network. For example, we spent time understanding their pain points when developing a new online portal. Built on Experience Cloud, the solution will help simplify common tasks, such as raising a cover note and tracking customers’ claims, for more than 3,500 broker users.
Tell us more about the new broker portal
It’s been truly transformational - not just for our brokers but also for our internal teams. They can now have the right conversations at the right time with brokers, which will help us build stronger relationships and drive greater growth. As well as empowering brokers with self-service features, the portal provides near real-time visibility of the status of customers’ insurance claims. This is a big deal for brokers; the feedback on the portal has been fantastic.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact your digital roadmap?
The shift in working practices and priorities accelerated our plans, which meant we had to adapt and change quickly. But the team actually loved the extra challenge! To inject a bit of fun into the working day, we organised a range of online social activities; we even set up quizzes for the kids to give parents a break from trying to balance family and work commitments during lockdown.
As a result of the pandemic, we achieved some unexpected digital firsts. With Salesforce, we can adapt our plans more easily and progress new ideas more rapidly to meet evolving business and customer needs.
Can you tell us more about some of those digital firsts?
Making a claim has always involved a conversation with one of our team, but the pandemic forced us to rethink this approach. And it’s been a revelation!
For example, we decided to introduce an option for customers to submit simple home insurance claims via a Salesforce online form. Up to 25% of all home claims are now being processed this way. This helped to free up our customer service team at a time their working environment had changed and they were facing their own personal challenges as a result of COVID-19 lockdown measures.
We also deployed Service Cloud Live Agent to some of our claims team and business partners, such as car garages and insurance assessors. Live chat made it easier for them to collaborate on claims and ensure customer pay-outs were not delayed during lockdown.
What are your tips for making digital work?
Digital transformation is not just about implementing new technologies; it’s about optimising your processes and empowering your people and looking at your business operating model. It’s important to focus on supporting colleagues on their digital journey - whether they work in customer service or marketing. It can be difficult to define what you want from a digital transformation, so focus on the outcomes rather than system capabilities to ensure you meet customer and colleague needs.
From sourcing a quote to making a claim, LV= General Insurance is on a mission to transform the insurance experience with digitalised processes and personalised journeys. Find out how its trailblazing approach has helped to boost customer engagement, team productivity, and sales here.
