Summary

A leading international insurance company sought a methodical solution to evaluate and standardize their client onboarding procedures. We promptly responded by implementing their Value-driven Business Process Management methodology to streamline the process. To ensure consistency and understanding, a BPMN training program was conducted for all global teams. Through this collaborative effort, 27 existing processes were thoroughly documented within a period of four months, along with the identification of 114 areas for improvement. Utilizing the documented current processes, a comprehensive global model was developed for the optimized future processes.

Organization Background

The organization in question is a global leader in the insurance industry, offering a diverse range of services including insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance, talent management, investment advisory, and management consulting.With a widespread presence, the company boasts over 500 facilities across 130 countries and a workforce of 81,000 employees globally. The scope of this project specifically targeted the North America, UK, and Iberia branches, with participation from multiple operational teams from various locations around the world.

Business Challenges and Opportunities

Efforts to standardize the client onboarding process involved gathering detailed information from each region at the task level, followed by analysis, identification of improvement opportunities, and implementation with the assistance of the IT Operations team. This included streamlining process steps, automating manual tasks, optimizing communication channels, and enhancing documentation. Additionally, a centralized platform was implemented to facilitate seamless data integration, standardized workflows, and real-time monitoring and reporting, enabling data-driven decision making and continuous process improvement.
The result of these efforts has been a streamlined and efficient client onboarding process, with reduced errors, improved operational efficiency, and enhanced client experience. The standardization and automation of tasks, along with the implementation of the centralized platform, have brought greater consistency, visibility, and scalability to the process, empowering teams to continuously optimize and improve performance across regions.

Solution

Interviews were conducted with process owners and subject matter experts (SMEs) to thoroughly define the As-Is landscape of the process in scope using detailed BPMN 2.0 models. Concurrently, an issue register was maintained to document current pain points and opportunities for improvement and automation. Once the As-Is Processes had been signed-off by SMEs, three analysis approaches were deployed:

Based on this analysis, To-Be process models were designed to represent the Global standardization as well as regional variants. These To-Be processes implemented the chosen Automation and System Integration Improvement Opportunities.
The models were reviewed with both SMEs and IT to ensure alignment. In addition, a training program on modeling methodology was conducted to teach the differences between EPC and BPMN modeling methods and the systematic conversion from EPC to BPMN through collaborative exercises.

Results

A robust and fully costed business case was developed, resulting in the following benefits:

• The business was empowered to take ownership of the processes, as they were continuously involved throughout the project, increasing their engagement and investment in the outcome.
• To-Be processes were defined through user stories, effectively bridging the communication gap between the business and IT experts.
• Process models added context to the user stories, eliminating the risk of developer misinterpretation and conflicts.
• Project plans were more accurate, and the time required by developers for technical designs was greatly reduced.
• The risk of project slippage, budget overruns, or late-notice customizations was minimized.
• The detailed analysis conducted before development improved the efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance of the new system.

Figure 1: Transformation of EPC to BPMN methodology. The example focuses on Purchase Order Management.