Sanlam Namibia has improved access to policy information and thereby enhanced its customer service and consulting capabilities through the implementation of SDT Life as the user interface with financial services exchange Astute.
The Namibian financial services company accesses Astute through Sanlam South Africa's headquarters.
The project involved collaboration between Astute, SDT Financial Software Solutions, Sanlam South Africa and Sanlam Namibia.
"Sanlam Namibia is the first organisation in its market in Namibia to apply Astute's functionality," says Wessel Kotze, training consultant at Sanlam Namibia.
"As such, the company now has a strong advantage over its competitors and is able to more efficiently and effectively service customers and empower brokers. The implementation also benefits Astute as it introduces great functionality to a virgin market; while SDT continues to demonstrate its capabilities to support the financial services industry."
Prior to the SDT Astute implementation, Namibian brokers and individual customers needed to complete a lengthy and complicated process to access policy details. The new system allows information to be gathered online. Brokers simply enter a client's initials, surname and date of birth (an identification number can be optionally added to improve the search) to retrieve all policy information from all connected insurance companies.
Sanlam Namibia has 60 registered users of the SDT Astute interface, with an additional 10 broker houses also registered. Main users include advisors, call centre agents and marketers. It is maintained on-site by Sanlam Namibia and supported remotely by SDT.
"Using the old, manual system for gathering policy information cost Sanlam Namibia a great deal in productivity, resources and unnecessary administrative expenses," says Astute's Angelo Hatzikyriacos. "It resulted in an inefficient business that provided only restricted services and consulting facilities to its clients. The situation was untenable."
Freda du Toit, SDT executive director, continues: "While the SDT Astute implementation was complex and required considerable coordination in managing all four companies involved, the solution has empowered brokers and staff to effectively do their jobs and it has enabled clients to become more involved in the management of their policies and portfolios. When policy information is requested, there are no longer any unnecessary delays in extracting the right data. Better still, the information that is delivered is accurate and up to date."
Located in Windhoek, Sanlam Namibia employs 140 people and 60 marketers. It services an 80 000-strong client base.
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