Unlocking the Best Path: Three Approaches to Effective Customer Communications Management

By Gautam Jit Kanwar, President, BelWo Inc. —

As insurers continue their digital transformation, many face the challenge of how to handle the complexity of producing and delivering communications through a policyholder’s channel of choice. To stay competitive, insurers must effectively manage customer touchpoints—whether it be print or email or SMS text on a mobile device. However, comprehensive customer communications management (CCM) systems that automate the process can be complex and are not completely self-managing. Reaping the rewards and earning the return on a technology investment still requires knowledgeable and experienced personnel to operate the system effectively. For many small to medium sized insurers, this is likely where the greatest challenge lies.

What is the best way to manage a CCM system and all the advantages automation brings to omnichannel communications? There are three approaches to consider: instructional, empowered and partnered.

The instructional approach

The first approach for managing customer communications is known as “instructional” because it primarily relies on the skills of technical specialists who receive continuous and comprehensive instructions from the individuals responsible for crafting and overseeing these communications. For instance, consider a scenario where the marketing department needs to communicate their requirements to IT personnel for a critical marketing initiative. The IT department might not have the necessary expertise in the areas of document layout or creation, and they might also lack familiarity with the subtleties associated with legal or marketing considerations. This method is frequently viewed as the least preferred option among the three, primarily because of the significant disparity in the skills and knowledge base of the people involved, which results in a continuous need for back-and-forth communication and fine-tuning. While insurers have IT departments, customer communications management (CCM) may just be a part of their main responsibilities.

The empowered approach

The empowered method is a recent trend in customer communications management. In this setup, IT experts oversee the CCM system, but it operates through an interface that enables document contributors and line of business owners to handle their own content. Essentially, this system allows business users to participate directly, while leaving the more complex technical tasks to the IT team. By extending content management capabilities to business users and ensuring smooth integration with IT operations and processes, this approach bridges some knowledge gaps in messaging and significantly cuts down the instructional back-and-forth time. Although it doesn’t necessarily consume more of the business user’s time, it does require them to learn some technical aspects of document management. The key outcome of this approach is that those closest to the customers gain full control over their document content.

The partnered approach

The third alternative transfers ownership and the accompanying guidance to an external partner known as a managed service provider (MSP). As the use of CCM solutions to create a better customer experience expands, MSPs specializing in insurance CCM offer a collaborative approach that understands and supports the industry needs of both IT and customer-facing staff. This partnership frees IT from tasks that may not be central to their roles. Just as a business might hire an MSP to set up and maintain telephone or email systems, a CCM MSP can support an insurer’s initiatives in many ways—from initial design functionality all the way to deploying, maintaining and operating the CCM software. This optimizes its use and helps insurers fully reap the benefits of their platform. Industry-experienced MSP partners gather crucial information by asking pertinent questions of everyone involved in the creation and development of customer communications. They also provide expert consultation to internal departments on the way forward. Managed services can be seen as an investment because as the partnership deepens over time, the benefits of the relationship grow.

Ultimately, the most effective strategy for handling your customer communications will be shaped by the specific needs of your organization. Whether these tasks are managed by your IT team, involve business user participation or utilize the benefits of managed services, it is crucial that your decision leads to reduced costs, enhanced value and quicker delivery of communications to customers.

About the Author

Gautam Jit Kanwar is president of BelWo Inc., a global provider of managed services specializing in customer communications management (CCM) delivery solutions that help companies meet strategic CCM goals, add value to every customer communication, reduce costs and significantly improve the workflows of mission-critical CCM processes.

About BelWo

BelWo develops, deploys and manages customer communications management (CCM) solutions for enterprises and print service providers worldwide. Companies of all sizes turn to BelWo to support complex CCM initiatives that range from smaller scale document applications to full-scale omnichannel digital experiences. As a solutions-focused partner with deep expertise in CCM, BelWo brings decades of experience in industries that include insurance, healthcare, financial and retail. For more information visit www.belwo.com.

Source: BelWo Inc. via Sterling Kilgore Inc.

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