Insurance Services Provider Processes Claims 20 Per Cent ...
|Overview | | |“Integrating our Web service with Microsoft Dynamics CRM means that we can offer customers fast, easy|
|Country or Region: The Netherlands | | |access to all their account information, in the format they have come to expect.” |
|Industry: Financial services—Insurance | | |Tino Scherpenzeel, Chief Information Officer, VVAA |
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|Customer Profile | | | |
|Established in 1928, VVAA is an insurance and| | | |
|financial services provider in Utrecht, the | | | |
|Netherlands. It has recently diversified its | | | |
|business to include banking, travel agency, | | | |
|and accountancy services. | | | |
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|Business Situation | | | |
|VVAA customers expect premium products and | | | |
|customer service. They also want competitive | | | |
|pricing. To provide this, VVAA needed to | | | |
|expand online and improve internal | | | |
|efficiency. | | | |
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|Solution | | | |
|In late 2006, VVAA implemented Microsoft | | | |
|Dynamics® CRM, supported by Microsoft® SQL | | | |
|Server® data management software, in a phased| | | |
|deployment across the company. | | | |
| | | | |
|Benefits | | | |
|Seamless Web service | | | |
|Faster claims | | | |
|Reduced overheads | | | |
|Better customer service | | | |
|Enhanced marketing and sales | | | |
| | | | |
| | | |VVAA, the Netherlands’ leading insurance services provider to the healthcare sector, wanted to |
| | | |introduce online services for customers and reduce the time employees spend on manual claim approval |
| | | |processes. In 2006, Tino Scherpenzeel, Chief Information Officer at VVAA, deployed a flexible, |
| | | |integrated customer relationship management (CRM) system based on Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. The |
| | | |solution integrates data from the company’s line-of-business applications to provide a basis for a |
| | | |new Web service. It also provides employees with the tools to create superior products and services |
| | | |that are personalised for each customer, based on individual financial needs. This allows staff to |
| | | |communicate with customers in a highly professional manner. Since deploying the solution, employees |
| | | |have increased the speed of claims processing by 20 per cent and the company has reduced overheads by|
| | | |5 per cent. |
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Situation
VVAA is an insurance and financial services provider for healthcare professionals and organisations in the Netherlands. Established in 1928, the company has diversified its business to include not only high-quality insurance products, but also banking, travel agency, and accountancy services.
The company’s headquarters are based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and it employs 1,000 people at 11 offices throughout the country. Since its inception, VVAA has enjoyed continual growth. Its success is based on a reputation for delivering excellent service along with products that serve the needs of professional healthcare employees—surgeons and doctors—rather than general healthcare workers. Tino Scherpenzeel, Chief Information Officer, VVAA, says: “Our premium products are aimed at the high end of the healthcare market where customer satisfaction is paramount. We have 92,000 customers in the Netherlands.”
Online financial services providers who sell cut-priced insurance and financial packages present the company with its chief business challenge. “More than 35 per cent of insurance bought in the Netherlands is purchased and managed online. Customers now expect insurance providers to offer an online service option and remain competitive. It’s crucial that VVAA can expand its offering to include Web-based services,” says Scherpenzeel.
The company’s other major challenge is to increase internal efficiency. The nature of the business means that many documents require several approvals in addition to going through stringent, clearly documented workflows. Scherpenzeel explains: “Employees spend up to 20 per cent of their work day trying to get the right stamp or signature for a piece of paper.”
Before Microsoft Dynamics was deployed, VVAA relied on an outdated, static customer relationship management (CRM) solution that limited the company’s strategic goals. Scherpenzeel explains: “We couldn’t implement a dynamic Web-based service because it would have been virtually impossible to link it to the customer-data held in various applications. Yet, we risked losing business and our foothold with premium customers by limiting ourselves to the person-to-person sales model.” Without a flexible, integrated CRM system, Scherpenzeel couldn’t automate workflows easily and employees couldn’t work as efficiently as they needed to.
As the existing CRM system neared the end of its life cycle in 2006, Scherpenzeel seized the opportunity to look for a scalable, service oriented architecture (SOA) based CRM solution, capable of supporting online customer services. He also wanted to streamline document workflows for employees as well as providing the business with the tools to gain greater insight into customers’ needs.
Solution
Scherpenzeel’s mission was to find a state-of-the-art IT environment for the company’s current and future requirements that could support the growth and the business needs of users and high demanding customers. In late 2006, he decided to implement a new infrastructure based on Microsoft technology, including Microsoft Dynamics® CRM, in a phased deployment across the company and all offices.
With Microsoft Dynamics CRM he found a scalable, flexible solution that integrates the company’s key line-of-business applications for insurance, finance, accountancy, and travel products to provide a 360-degree client and business view and better time-to-market solutions at a superior total cost of ownership. Scherpenzeel recognised that Microsoft Dynamics CRM could provide a solid basis for the company’s technical and strategic need—with an SOA that supports integration and adoption of business changes.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes a range of tools to help VVAA employees gain greater insight into customer behaviour, and streamline internal and customer service processes. For example, marketing staff can produce reports on different segments, develop products and services to suit different customer needs, and also plan and execute expert campaigns. Sales employees, including front-line service staff, can identify cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, manage accounts and contacts, and quickly consolidate data on dispersed products and services to provide customers with accurate pricing and quotes as required.
To reduce time spent on highly complex and manual data entries and approvals, Scherpenzeel used Microsoft Dynamics CRM to support the business automation of different departments.
Based on the solution’s success, Scherpenzeel decided to upgrade Microsoft Dynamics CRM to the latest release and take advantage of improved performance and scalability to support an additional 600 users by the end of 2008.
VVAA also plans to integrate an existing third-party CTI application into the CRM system by the end of November 2008. The solution, called Call Line Identifier, identifies the telephone number of an incoming call and matches it against information held in the CRM database. If the callers are existing customers, their information will immediately be displayed on agent’s screen. The company aims to create a logical contact centre as part of a multi-channel, multi-purpose organisation serving a variety of customers and business areas—in a logically consolidated and highly collaborative environment. VVAA now has a well-designed contact centre that serves as the intelligence centre for market research, customer experience, and business efficiency.
Benefits
With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, VVAA can provide a high performing collaborative, operational and analytical infrastructure based on Web services and SOA. In addition to streamlining business processes, the solution ensures more accurate and efficient claims and approvals processing. Employees are now better equipped to deliver highly personalised customer services and improve customer satisfaction. Sales associates have a 360 degree view of clients’ and business and can provide value-added service and suggestions, increasing revenue through cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
Integrated Solution Forms Based on SOA
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an integral part of the success of the company’s SOA strategy for two main reasons.
First, it ensures that customers receive a seamless online experience, regardless of enquiry or application. Once they have entered their name and address into an application, they receive a personal customer number. Every time thereafter, when they enter their personal number, the system immediately displays the full details of their accounts, activities, and enquires. They can then find out about services, modify payment, policy or account details, and purchase other services and products online. Scherpenzeel says: “Integrating our Web service with Microsoft Dynamics CRM means that we can offer customers fast, easy access to all their account information, in the format they’ve come to expect.”
Second, all customer searches on the Web site are documented by the VVAA CRM system. Scherpenzeel says: “As soon as a customer logs on, the CRM system starts collecting information on their activity and storing it in our knowledge base. This data provides the business development team with tools and intelligence they need to design highly responsive new products and services.”
Employees Process Claims 20 Per Cent Faster and Reduce Overheads by 5 Per Cent
With automated workflows, employees spend a lot less time gaining approvals for claims and payments and make fewer errors. Scherpenzeel says: “Employees process customer claims 20 per cent faster with the automated workflows. In fact, we’ve reduced our resource overheads by up to 5 per cent since deploying the solution.”
Employees Deliver Better Customer Service
Employees are equipped with the data to deliver highly personalised customer service and answer queries quickly and easily. For example, they can bring a “soon to be expired” policy to a customer’s attention and suggest they renew it before it runs out. “Employees can also identify opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling, alert people to new policies and products, and make ‘soft’ sales pitches based on existing purchase data,” says Scherpenzeel. With Call Line Identifier, customers will also spend less time on the telephone explaining who they are and their personal claims and services history, while employees will get up to speed with the customer’s query faster—resulting in greater customer satisfaction.
Comprehensive Customer Data Improves Marketing and Sales Operations
With all sales data held in a central repository, employees now have a 360-degree view of customer profile, history and purchases and can develop personalised products and services. “We can create highly specialised products to suit different customer profiles. For example, for a head nurse, a veterinary practice manager, or a hospital surgeon. We have also configured our CRM system so customers are automatically updated with the latest products and services relevant to their segment.” Once the Web service is fully deployed, information, such as new campaign and product launches, will automatically be sent to the customer’s account.
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
dynamics
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“More than 35 per cent of insurance bought in the Netherlands is purchased and managed online…It’s crucial that VVAA can expand its offering to include Web-based services.”
Tino Scherpenzeel, Chief Information Officer, VVAA
| |
“This data provides the business development team with tools and intelligence they need to design highly responsive new products and services.”
Tino Scherpenzeel, Chief Information Officer, VVAA
| |
“Employees process customer claims 20 per cent faster with the automated workflows. In fact, we’ve reduced our resource overheads by up to 5 per cent since deploying the solution.”
Tino Scherpenzeel, Chief Information Officer, VVAA
| |
| |Software and Services
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 |Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 | |
All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published November 2008 | | |
For More Information
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For more information about VVAA products and services, call (3130) 247-4252 or visit the Web site at:
vvaa.nl
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