Dealing with huge legislation change by putting the customer first

We helped Zurich implement the biggest pensions shakeup in a century.

Issue

When huge changes to UK pension rules came into force, it was going to affect over 220,000 of Zurich's customers.  The new legislation – while giving savers much more control over their pension funds – would also raise many questions and require entirely new functionality and processes in the administration and customer journey.

Insight

Being compliant was not enough, every part of the process had to be meticulously planned around the customer – and tested by real customers too.

Our approach

While there were several workstreams, all of them started – and ended – with the customer, to support them in making informed choices about their future.

• We reviewed and amended over 150 processes, eg, sending text and email claim form receipts, so customers know their request is being dealt with.
• We asked a group of customers themselves to review and test new services and processes. This covered the end-to-end journey from the initial point of contact to payment of the claim.
• Our customer service agents were thoroughly trained to ensure they were fully prepared for the variety of questions customers were likely to be asking.
• After forecasting the expected volumes of calls we would receive from customers, we recruited new staff to manage the increased call activity.
• We put in place a robust governance structure including a steering group with Zurich senior managers and weekly meetings between each of the workstreams.

The impact

When the new legislation came into effect, we were ready. In the run up – and the months following – we handled unprecedented levels of calls, enquiries and claims.

Our detailed planning – and regular reviews – meant we were able to deliver to the pre-agreed budget and provide outstanding levels of service, alongside preparing for these changes:

• the service was fully compliant from day one
• exceeded the target for responding to general servicing enquiries and requests
• exceeded the target for dispatching claim payments
•  we handled a 37% increase in customers wanting to start the claim process.