Case study: Fidelity Life

“The paperless environment doesn’t just save costs, it also speeds up processes,” says Roy Norris, Operations Manager, Fidelity Life Insurance

• Paperless processes
• Better customer service
• Better internal communication
• Cost savings

Roy, can you tell us about the benefits you have experienced since working with eCom?

The service to our customers is so much better. We can get documentation across to third parties quickly because it’s all there in one place. I just go to the specific index from my computer and draw down the information I need.

Give me an example of what you mean.
Say a broker needs a copy of a proposal form or correspondence – we highlight what index they want, tag it and email it to them almost instantaneously. The documentation is in one place; it’s all there. The whole file does not have to be retrieved I just go to the quotation index, that’s it.

Or else, say a customer rings with a query with their policy. We’ll inevitably have some questions. Some are answered by going onto the database but others need to be referred to the file. Now we do not need to get a filing clerk to run downstairs and fetch the file because it’s there in the system.

Tell us a bit about Fidelity.

Fidelity Life was formed about 30 years ago by an ex National Mutual Life agent and has evolved as a wholly owned New Zealand company. We only sell through third parties; never direct. Our management structure is fairly flat; we have just over 70 people but are growing pretty quickly organically. Because we are small and we don’t have to go overseas, decisions can be made quickly.

The business is broken down into Operations (Client Services, New Business, Claims, Underwriting & IT), Actuarial, Finance, Sales & Marketing.

Life and disability are about 65% of our business while savings is the rest. Because of legislative pressures, savings is dropping off and life is the growth area. It used to be 60% savings and 40% life.

Where are you using eCom technology and processes?
We use Stellent technology to create a paperless environment. It started off as a scanning environment, where we do not have to store files on-site. The technology is used in new business, underwriting and client services. For example, new business proposals come in, they go to the underwriters and then they are scanned. Any letters through client services, emails, or anything we send out is put through scanning.

Are you saving money?
Certainly on storage space, a lot of which has now been converted into parking bays! We do not believe we have experienced the full benefits yet. We’re about to move all our documentation from other lines of business to the system, and that should improve things even more.

In terms of exact ROI, that’s very hard to measure in underwriting.

What’s going well and what’s difficult?
The indexing takes a long time. We have very large files that can be over 100 pages and have to be split into several indexes. We made the decision to do this ourselves knowing it would be a big job, and we weren’t wrong!

What’s going well? The things I’ve already mentioned of course. Another benefit is that underwriters can now work from home. That’s good for morale and makes for a more efficient business.