PROBLEM:
A large insurance company servicing property & casualty insurance, life and health insurance, and consumer finance was looking to eliminate their in-house operation. They had an in-house application development group that supported their composition and production using DocuMerge, and did their inserting and matching of policy print manually. To remain successful they needed to meet challenges including:
- Speed fulfillment of policyholder documents to clients, while ensuring accuracy
- Redesign their policy packages to improve readability while introducing new logo/brand designs
- Improve customer service with automated production processes that speed turnaround time
- Upgrade agents/customer service reps to e-document viewing for better, faster customer service
The company questioned whether to invest millions of dollars to totally automate and revamp their obsolete Print Distribution Center and in-house production group - or implement outsourcing as the solution.
SOLUTION:
RR Donnelley BCS responded to an RFP with a strategic approach to their challenges that included:
- Shifting work from the client's in-house Print Distribution Center to BCS ... to cut costs, improve efficiency, and increase insertion accuracy.
- Assigning a creative/production team … to take over and expand on the design, composition, production and execution processes that had been handled in-house. BCS would totally redesign all policy documents for a new look and automate the process of preparing individual policies.
- Creating a system that could easily and efficiently migrate them to electronic viewing of customer policies and communications ... to dramatically reduce paperwork and increase efficiency.
The in-house Print Distribution Center was closed and work shifted to BCS facilities. (BCS utilizes policy assembly systems on the market including DocuCorp DocuMaker/DocuMerge, Document Science xPression, HP Dialogue, and InSystems.) Within BCS and RR Donnelley reside the abilities to address all critical needs that are common within the insurance industry.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT:
Benefits included the following:
- Use of multiple bin high-speed imaging systems cut printing/personalization time dramatically.
- Automated inserting cut processing time, decreased errors and introduced a more professional presentation of products - a single professional-bound booklet.
- New quality control steps were added using barcodes and readers to ensure complete integrity and accountability. Mistakes were eliminated. Statements are matched with policies for postal efficiencies.
- New designs enhanced package and automated the policy production for faster turnaround. Updated logo/branding enhanced image brand identity giving greater impact.
- Documents were clearer and easier to read reducing calls to call center for clarification.
- Page count for forms, policies and correspondence was reduced using innovative design and technology - while reducing costs for the client.
- Creating a system to allow appropriate personnel to retrieve and share documents and communications electronically, including a PDF forms library for agents to retrieve and view static policy forms.
All this saves time and money. Examples include the following:
- Closing the company print center resulted in a 15% cost savings over previous operating budget.
- Automation realized through redesign resulted in mail consolidation for postage and handling savings.
- Ability to match statements with policies for mailing efficiencies resulted in $100,000 component and postage cost savings.
- Turnaround times were cut dramatically.
- Moving agents from paper documents to PDF files saved over $1.2 million in annual print savings
The client has been pleased with their outsourcing decision that resulted in higher quality communications as well as savings of time and money. Process improvements continue to result in efficiencies and effectiveness.
PROBLEM:
This company is one of the U.S.'s top five providers of life insurance policies, annuities, mutual funds, and other investments. They have been a long-time customer of RR Donnelley, relying on us for forms and forms management.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley law (Nov. 2000) imposed three main requirements that all financial institutions had to communicate to all of their customers within six months:
- Initial notices to customers about their privacy policies, describing the conditions
- Annual notices of their privacy policies to their current customers
- A reasonable method for consumers to "opt-out" of disclosures to nonaffiliated third parties
The company wanted to combine this new mailing with an existing annual envelope package mailing containing a generic letter and an annual policy brochure. The following factors were concerns:
- Producing and mailing 4.5 million mail pieces within 90 days
- Managing opt-out response cards, not included in the existing mailing
- Personalizing the letter (the previous communication was generic)
- Managing an annual, personalized communication
- Selecting a sole source service provider to streamline the production process
SOLUTION:
RR Donnelley BCS provided a sole source solution that includes the following services:
- Printing the shells and ink-jet imaging the letter and response cards on the pre-printed shells
- Programming and imaging a barcode on the response card that contains the recipient's personal information such as (name and address) to streamline back-end processing
- Inserting a personalized letter, a generic letter, an annual policy holder brochure, and a BRE into a 6-inch x 9-inch envelope
- Managing the responses as part of a sole source solution (including opening and scanning the responses, and providing an electronic file back to the customer)
- Managing postal requirements (including establishing a P.O. Box for responses, attaining mailing permits, and determining list processing requirements to maximize postal discounts)
The BCS group produced and mailed 4.5 million envelope packages within 90 days.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT:
Working closely with the customer to finalize the mailing format, we also set the plan for related additional mailings estimated at 400,000 pieces.
BCS' single source solution, production capacity, and ability to manage the responses for this mailing differentiated them from other vendors; and helped the customer comply with a federal regulation in a timely, flexible, customized manner.
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