Customer Engagement Manager, FINEOS
One issue I find surprising when I visit customers is how little of the FINEOS functionality they need to use to satisfy their initial business drivers. This can result in a lot of capability and therefore potential benefit not being uncovered. Guy McClintock and I used this as the theme for our presentation at last week’s Global Summit where we explored the ideas behind identifying just how much of the power of the FINEOS system our customers are using and how they may get more out of it.
The value of a technological asset is not fixed at the point you begin using it. It is true for most technology that the way it is used and how well it is used will vary significantly from place to place, with some users gaining significantly more benefit than others. With complex systems such as those used by insurers the unrealised value locked up in technology products can be huge. At FINEOS we are passionate that our customers, whatever their lines of business and modus operandi, gain the maximum value from their investment in FINEOS. So on the second day of the FINEOS Global Summit we presented practical ways in which FINEOS customers can unlock further value from their FINEOS systems. The FINEOS Value Proposition has evolved from the input and experiences of more than 50 customers around the world and FINEOS harvests ideas and requirements from its growing customer base to constantly refine our product suite to reflect the changing face of the insurance industry.
I decided my own family provided an example in microcosm of how the same technology can provide greatly varying levels of value depending on who uses it. People of my father’s generation use $650 smartphones to make phone calls – that’s it. Many would be quite happy with a $20 phone with a fraction of the capability. My little son however, uses his – or rather mine – for dozens of high-tech activities. In fact he was a little surprised to discover that he could also make phone calls on it. If the same asset can deliver significantly differing levels of value depending on how and what it is used for then having a clear understanding of what it can deliver is key to extracting optimum value from it. Since FINEOS is an enterprise software solution for many core insurance functions, it may not be easy to assess the value that one is extracting from it. To solve this problem we have developed the FINEOS Customer Heatmap which allows our customers to visualise the utilisation levels of multiple different components in the FINEOS product set. Importantly, the Customer Heatmap highlights areas of the FINEOS product that are underused by our customers and can be exploited to drive more value from their existing FINEOS implementation.
Many of our Customers have personalised the FINEOS Roadmap in order to ensure that they are constantly delivering value from their FINEOS asset. We advise customers to align their FINEOS Roadmap to their own business strategies, so that the two are interdependent. This allows the FINEOS Roadmap to pivot as the business strategies evolve. Assessing your current state through examining people, process and systems is the way to identify Pain Points. Pain Points, together with a good understanding of the FINEOS Customer Heatmap, will ensure that Opportunities are established. Once a solid set of Opportunities has been established, they need to be prioritised against the business strategy to ensure that delivering optimum value is always at the heart of any roadmap activity. A set of prioritised Opportunities gives a Future State vision, and a signpost to navigating your FINEOS Roadmap.
Knowing how FINEOS Customers have extracted value from their initial FINEOS implementation ensures that we can help our customers to maximise their usage and investment. We can provide practical, pragmatic advice and guidance in rolling out FINEOS to support additional lines of coverage, made easier by the fact that FINEOS is already pre-packaged for many lines of Life coverage. We have customers who have gained massive efficiencies through payments automation, for example by automating invoice processing. By fully using the Omni-Channel customer service functionality FINEOS customers can improve customer satisfaction through gaining a single view of the customer and delivering excellent customer service.
There are specific areas where FINEOS can help with the transformation required in implementing the FINEOS Roadmap. Firstly, FINEOS Customer Account Managers have a rich toolset for business casing, which can be helpful when getting approval to take on certain opportunities. Secondly, FINEOS Corporate University offers a wide range of services from Organisational Change Management support to online eLearning and Certification.
The key messages:
- FINEOS wants each customer to maximise the value of their asset, and has the tools and experience to make this a reality.
- Many customers are constantly delivering added value to their organisation by implementing a FINEOS Roadmap.
- The FINEOS Heatmap is a key tool in terms of assessing current value, and highlighting future value opportunities and will be provided to all FINEOS customers.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to learn more about this service.
