Leading insurance and funeral service provider, AVBOB Mutual Assurance Society recently completed an IT upgrade, which resulted in significant customer service improvements and a 75% operational cost saving.
Driven by a need to process applications faster, reduce losses and overall operational costs, AVBOB implemented a Galdon Data solution, which dramatically improves the overall business processes.
On average AVBOB received an average of 300 policy applications per day (6 000 per month), which took seven days to process. Administration costs were high due to the 20 data capturers employed, telephone costs from branch to branch for verification or incomplete information, and documents lost on route from one of AVBOB`s 28 assurance branches.
To improve its customer service and reduce operational costs, AVBOB required an implementation that would process policies faster with less people, track documents from the source to prevent loss, provide electronic transfer facilities to reduce shipping costs and improve data integrity.
AVBOB selected Galdon Data`s proposed solution that was practical, met corporate objectives and allowed for product flexibility.
The deployed solution resulted in a faster turnaround on policy applications, taking one day to process as opposed to seven. The number of data capture`s was reduced from 20 to 8 and most importantly, customers received better service as a result of eliminated document loss, improved turnaround time and the ability to have a signed contract within one day.
When addressing AVBOB`s needs, Galdon Data addressed the current manual information practices and aimed to streamline the entire business process. The solution consisted of a Business Rules engine - responsible for continuous workflow, a Validator - data integrity validation and TELEform - the electronic data-capturing engine. The document (application and supporting information) is tagged at the branch and scanned to the existing wide area network (WAN). The scanned image is deposited across the WAN to the Pretoria head office.
Manual data capturing, largely replaced by TELEform, is completed at a subsequently reduced capture time of 85%. Within the process, AVBOB decided to make the application form more comprehensive to capture additional information and improve data integrity. Despite this, the overall operating cost was reduced by more than 60%.
While the information is being captured it is simultaneously referred to Validator for critical checks such as the supply of a valid identity document. Any incomplete information is automatically sent to the sales person electronically for rectification. As a result, the sales person now has the responsibility of correcting or including the information missing as their commission depends on it. Once the updated information is entered back into the system, it is sent for final validation. Once complete, the workflow engine automatically transfers the application form to generate a policy. Eight data capturers now process 500 forms, consisting of 10 pages, each within one day.
"Galdon Data`s solution has changed the way AVBOB does business. We cannot afford to be without it as it has contributed significantly to our productivity and cost reduction. It`s also made us more competitive," says Niek Krynauw, Manager: IT programming, AVBOB.
Abnoba CEO, Fairoz Jaffer believes that AVBOB`s eagerness to embrace change has played a big part in the IT upgrade success. "In extremely competitive times, most companies are facing globalisation or competition and reduced margin/profitability. DPA adds value by reducing cost, improving productivity and contributes to improved customer service," concludes Jaffer.
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