How Allianz boosts customer experience while reducing costs

Allianz aims to create more uniformity in the service portals available to customers. The insurer wants to fully leverage the possibilities of digitalization while simultaneously reducing costs. The idea is to digitize simple tasks as much as possible, as this is what customers value. At the same time, it ensures that there is human support available for more complex tasks.

In today's world, customers expect nothing less. As consumers, we experience a wealth of possibilities on our smartphones and other devices every day. This has led to high expectations: consumers expect companies to have immediate answers to their questions, that changes can be made with just a few clicks, and that all of this is available 24/7. Intuitive and simple.

Allianz has been aware of the opportunities presented by digitalization for years and has various portals and apps in place. When a policyholder can easily handle most questions, changes, and notifications themselves, it benefits both sides. The consumer is satisfied with the ease of use, and the insurer benefits from an efficient approach. A nice byproduct of this efficiency is that employees have more time to focus on what truly matters to the customer.

However, Allianz had been using a multitude of portals in the Benelux region for different insurance domains and customer groups. There was a significant lack of uniformity, both from a user perspective and in the underlying technology. This fragmentation was undesirable not only for customers (and intermediaries) but also led to unnecessarily costly maintenance and management.

This fragmentation, along with its adverse consequences, prompted Allianz to reach out to EY. The collaboration began with a thorough inventory. Martijn Ollefers (Allianz) stated, “To get good answers, you need to formulate the question as clearly as possible, and we first conducted a solid investigation into what was going on. First diverge, then converge. EY excelled at this, with a keen sense of sensitivities but without being distracted.”

In a world where technological possibilities can change dramatically from one day to the next, it is neither feasible nor desirable to outline a blueprint for a digital customer portal. Patrick Ruijs (EY) remarked, “It’s better to clarify certain principles and ensure that you initiate continuous improvement based on those principles. This way, an organization can respond to new opportunities without being constrained by a blueprint.”

For Allianz, this began with mapping the current situation. What systems are currently in use? What functionalities do they offer? How are these systems experienced (internally and externally)? What are the costs associated with these applications? What are the ambitions for the future? The EY team conducted a series of interviews to clarify the starting point.

According to Ruijs, the real work began afterward: “Such an inventory provides good insight, but then it’s essential to set priorities. Simply put: which applications have a future and which do not? Various interests come into play here.” To make these assessments effectively, it is crucial to evaluate the facts as objectively as possible. This includes insights into current usage volumes, technology status, costs, strategic fit, and other factors. Ollefers added, “It’s about eliminating gut feelings. We need to let the facts speak for themselves. EY approached this very seriously with an analysis of all available materials and a series of interviews.”

The result of this phase was a beautiful future design. You can best compare this to retail. Allianz had a multitude of stores, which are now consolidated into a shopping center with a nice central entrance and uniform appearance. Some of these stores will be closed, others will no longer receive investment and will be placed at the back. The more important ones will have a prominent position at the front, and some will even have their own entrance.

Next, it was crucial to turn this future vision into reality and not get stuck in the analysis phase. After all, a strategy is primarily about taking action. Ollefers stated, “The beauty of this process is that we truly involved the outside world at every stage. We ask our customers what they find important and continuously collaborate with our intermediaries. Listening to them is the only way to achieve real improvements.”

Thus, it was about decisiveness and outside-in thinking. It was natural to set this up in an agile manner. By assembling teams from internal staff and external users and allowing them to work on concrete improvements in short sprints, a lot of energy was generated. EY contributed expertise in design thinking to ensure that customer portals and other applications seamlessly align with user needs. “Agile actually requires a lot of discipline,” Ruijs noted, “you are constantly validating whether you are on the right track. That’s precisely what makes this approach so strong.”

The next phase of the project is the actual development. Ollefers has no doubt that customers and intermediaries will soon experience digital interactions with Allianz as increasingly seamless. Their satisfaction, and thus the Net Promoter Score, will improve. “We cannot quantify that yet. But the mere fact that people feel heard in this project creates a lot of satisfaction. We are already noticing that.”

This achieves the primary goal – satisfied customers. However, according to Ollefers, there is also a valuable ‘byproduct.’ “First of all, we have learned how to work in an agile manner through this project. We have mastered that now. Secondly, with the help of EY, we have gained sharp insights into the roles and associated competencies we need for a future-proof organization. This is essential, as these improvements are not just about technology but also about people.”