The Story

  • Cheryl Kellman

    Accenture US, Sr. Manager, ALIP Quality Engineering Lead

  • Cheryl Kellman

    Accenture US, Sr. Manager, ALIP Quality Engineering Lead

  • Cheryl Kellman

    Accenture US, Sr. Manager, ALIP Quality Engineering Lead

  • Cheryl Kellman

    Accenture US, Sr. Manager, ALIP Quality Engineering Lead

  • Cheryl Kellman

    Accenture US, Sr. Manager, ALIP Quality Engineering Lead

  • Cheryl Kellman

    Accenture US, Sr. Manager, ALIP Quality Engineering Lead

Overview

The Accenture Life Insurance & Annuity Platform (ALIP) is a robust and configurable cloud-native digital insurance platform that offers life insurance carriers and annuity providers advanced capabilities for product development, new-business development, underwriting, policy administration, claims and pay-out, underpinned by data analytics.

ALIP has deep functionality out of the box, yet is highly configurable to meet the specific business needs of its Fortune 500 client base. The ALIP business unit uses Planview to optimize efficiency and bolster customer satisfaction during initial development and testing phases and then throughout the long- term client relationship.

The Results

  • Improved customer satisfaction
  • Faster end-to-end issue resolution
  • Improved employee productivity and engagement
“We have effectively unlocked dozens of hours of productivity each week, which we can now devote to solving more issues, faster. The efficiency Planview affords us supports ALIP’s ability to continue to lead the market.”

Cheryl Kellman Senior Manager, ALIP Quality Engineering Lead Accenture

Challenge: Wasting Human Capital on Duplicate Data Entry

ALIP’s global team of quality assurance specialists work to ensure the highest level of product quality for their clients. At any given moment, more than a dozen platform instances are being configured to meet specific use cases and business needs.

Prior to Planview, any issue discovered by the ALIP team during testing was manually logged in both Accenture’s own issue management system as well as its client’s system for transparency and collaboration. The manual effort required to keep both parties in sync took a toll on team productivity and customer experience.

“Retyping the data in two places was complex, inefficient and error-prone. And it often resulted in communication lags across our internationally distributed workforce,” says Cheryl Kellman, Senior Manager and ALIP Quality Engineering Lead.

ALIP chose to adopt the Planview Value Stream Management platform to automate this time-consuming, manual work and help eliminate the resulting delays. Additionally, Planview prevents loss in the communication of the message content and the details of the issue and its resolution.

Solution: Improving Customer Satisfaction with Real-Time Synchronization

As a keenly customer-focused organization, Accenture is intent on delivering excellent customer experiences. When Planview was introduced to replace manual updates with automated, near real-time synchronization and provide access to issue and resolution details, ALIP clients were deeply appreciative.

“Our clients are thrilled because as soon as we know something, they know it too. Both parties are benefiting from better communication during critical phases, improved data accuracy and faster turnaround times,” says Cheryl. “Our partnership with Planview ensures Accenture clients benefit from the highest levels of professionalism, responsiveness and service.”

Today, when a client employee logs an issue, the data is immediately synchronized to Accenture’s issue management system. When an ALIP employee updates the issue, it will update in the client system and the assigned client employee will be notified by email and receive updates as issue resolution proceeds.

Unlocking Capacity to Reinvest in Platform Development

By automating the flow of information with their clients, the ALIP team has restored hundreds of hours of productivity to its team of specialists, unleashing capacity to invest in new capabilities as well as improved quality and risk management.

“Not only are ALIP clients thrilled, but our teams love Planview. ALIP can now devote more time to solving more issues, faster. The efficiency Planview affords us supports our ability to continue to lead the market,” says Cheryl.

An ALIP client shared their perspective, too. “During our testing it became apparent that getting timely updates on our defects and change requests was not happening. As a result of the delay on updates, important decisions were delayed. Since this data drives work, time was of the essence and accuracy is critical to make accurate decisions. Once Planview was implemented, it resolved these issues.”

Smooth Collaboration while Protecting Security

The interoperability between Accenture’s issue management systems and that of its clients enables efficient and effortless collaboration while upholding strict and secure separation between all parties. Accenture and its clients each maintain complete control over what data is accessed and shareable between them, while completely protecting their internal tool and data structure.

Looking to connect with like-minded business and technology professionals?

The Flow Framework Community provides a professional, inclusive, and supportive environment for learning, questioning, and networking on all topics related to the Flow Framework, Flow Metrics, and value stream management (VSM). flowframework.org/community

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