Period: 2013–2014
Project Type: Technology and Business Process Optimization
Customer: Property and Casualty Insurance Company
Description:
Due to the compliance requirements, printing and mailing critical insurance policy documentation directly to clients and insurance agents is an important part of the day-to-day process of every insurance company. By the time the project in question was launched, several insurance products lines had already moved to an external print and mail service provider. Unfortunately, due to some changes in the structure of that vendor organization, the quality of service deteriorated over the period of 1 year. A decision was made to find another vendor who would be able not only to take over the already outsourced lines of business, but also to eventually perform printing and mailing of all policy documents for this insurance company.
My role: Project Leader
Tasks accomplished:
Organized and conducted a formal RFP process, including a Vendor Conference
Coordinated requirements gathering and documentation
Facilitated preparation and implementation of a weighted scorecard to select the vendor
Facilitated the decision making and contract signing
Visited production sites of the 3 finalists
Prepared and conducted a formal Program kick-off
Initiated the program planning and implementation
Facilitated and managed all technology work and integrations, while supporting issue resolution for the integrations in Production environment
Prepared and executed the cut-over plan for the pilot with the new vendor
Developed the roadmap for the implementation of the next approved Lines of Business
Conducted Lessons Learned and project closure activities
Budget: $350,000
Project Team (12)
Printing and Mailing SME (Consultant) (1)
Project Manager (1)
CIO (1)
Developers (2)
Testers (3)
Internal Print and Mail Specialist (1)
Underwriting Team - Business Representatives (3)
Duration: 15 months
Outcome:
After a formal RFP process was conducted, a new vendor was identified and contracted. An approach was chosen to use one of the low-risk, low-volume lines of business as a proof of concept. Additional challenges, besides the challenges associated with onboarding and integrating a new vendor and the need to establish new processes, were internal to the insurance company. The organization did not have a unified way of generating documents. Different lines of business were creating documents differently, some of them still using manual processes. The planning effort required splitting the process into phases; the first phases included outsourcing the lines of business that already had automated document generation established. Alignment and technology integration challenges were addressed through scope management and frequent communication. As a result, the pilot was successful, and one of the critical lines of business was implemented. The planning of the subsequent phases was initiated as part of the closure.
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