Published on 11-Aug-2011
Customer:
Versicherungskammer Bayern Group (VKB)
Industry:
Insurance
Deployment country:
Germany
Solution:
Business Process Management (BPM)
Overview
VKB is a major insurance company in Germany. They offer the whole range of life insurance, non-life, health products to all customers, private customers, institutions.
Business need:
Over the years, the VKB has been growing both in terms of incorporating new companies and developing new products. And complexity grew and grew. So we tried to find a way to reduce that complexity. Reducing the number of different process variations would reduce the cost not only of operating those different processes, but also for adapting the processes to new demands. In addition, we want to have the opportunity to automate processes, parts of the processes and to monitor the processes in order to increase customer service.
Solution:
In order to support the business’s initiative, we looked around and found Business Process Management systems and Business Rules Management systems from IBM. The first process we chose to standardize was the cancellation of an insurance contract. We defined the rules with IBM ILOG JRules, and when that was finished, we exported the process diagram to IBM Integration Developer. And the developer did all the integration work to connect to the services.
Benefits:
We are getting the notifications to our sales agents out much faster than before. Before it was a week, now it's a few hours. The sales agents can contact the customers much faster and that’s how we could decrease the turn rate. We did reduce the cost by automating the process, by standardizing the process. But most important of all is that we gain transparency by having the process documented, by monitoring the process in production. We are now able to adapt faster, change the process faster.
Video
IBM VKB Customer Reference Video
Jurgen Rudolph, IT Querschnitt
VKB
Please see a related case study here.
Video Transcript
IBM VKB Customer Reference Video
Interviewee: Jurgen Rudolph, VKB
I work for the Versicherungskammer Bayern Group, short VKB. We are a major insurance company in Germany.
We offer the whole range of life insurance, non-life, health products to all customers, private customers, institutions.
Over the years, the VKB has been growing both in terms of incorporating new companies and developing new products. And complexity grew and grew. So we tried to find a way to reduce that complexity.
Reducing the number of different process variations would reduce the cost not only of operating those different processes, but also for adapting the processes to new demands.
In addition, we want to have the opportunity to automate processes, parts of the processes and to monitor the processes in order to increase customer service. So, that’s why we started an initiative at VKB for Business Process Management.
So in order to support the business’s initiative, we looked around and we found Business Process Management systems and Business Rules Management systems from IBM.
The first process we chose to standardize was the cancellation of an insurance contract.
We defined the rules with IBM ILOG JRules, and when that was finished, we exported the process diagram to IBM Integration Developer. And the developer did all the integration work to connect to the services.
One of the major benefits was that business and IT really started to work together. They really sat together and worked together on the solution. Now, the Business Process diagram is the common language for business and IT to communicate to understand each other.
There are also other benefits. We are getting the notifications to our sales agents out much faster than before. Before it was a week, now it's a few hours.
The sales agents can contact the customers much faster and that’s how we could decrease the turn rate.
We did reduce the cost by automating the process, by standardizing the process. But most important of all is that we gain transparency by having the process documented, by monitoring the process in production. We are now able to adapt faster, change the process faster.
For us, Business Process Management is the key to the future and IBM is helping us to get there.
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Software:
WebSphere ILOG JRules, WebSphere Integration Developer