Customer Service Redesign in Non-Standard Insurance

Business Issue:

This $400 million dollar non-standard auto insurance carrier had implemented a new management system which resulted in a higher volume of phone calls into the Customer Service department than anticipated, more than the current staff could handle effectively. The business issue needing resolution was to:

• Understand the root causes of the customers’ issues
• Identify resolutions to the customers’ issues, and the proportion of call volume that implementing the resolutions would relieve
• Understand how and when the current technology enhancements could assist in resolving these issues

Actions:

• Performed an operational assessment including:
• Conducted fact finding to identify and validate problems which were driving inbound calls
• Obtained additional metric information by using call surveys
• Conducted direct observations and time studies of each transaction
• Determined which transaction types caused the most significant handling delays
• Aligned root-cause issues with an updated list of technology defects to ensure 100% coverage
• Developed a staffing model to increase effectiveness of call handling in the immediate-term
• Identified operational improvements that could be made to reduce any new calls to Customer Service
• Identified and implemented backlog strategies across several transaction types to become current

Results:

• Expanded the current call handling team to reduce hold times and increase speed-to-answer
• Created awareness for the executive team on the status of the current environment and release fixes
• Validated the prioritization strategy used by the implementation team to prioritize technology releases
• Provided process assurance to reduce backlogs and decrease incoming call volume