Financial Services

The Exeter Insurance Invests in Ongoing Customer Service Innovation for the Wellbeing of its Customers.

About The Exeter

The Exeter is a leading and award-winning health and life insurance provider that has been supporting UK families in the event of ill health or injury since 1888. As a mutual society, it's owned by its members and run for their benefit. The Exeter provides insurance products that can provide peace of mind to more individuals in case they become ill, die, or cannot work due to illness or injury. It prides itself on delivering a deeply personal customer experience.

The Challenge

The legacy on-premise telephony system that The Exeter was using had limited options for continuous improvement. It was physically located on-site, meaning the system's operational resilience could be impacted if access to the site was restricted for any reason. Additionally, the existing system's software provider was nearing the end of its technical support life.

Objectives

As soon as The Exeter realised that their on-premise system posed operational risks, they decided that they needed to transition to a newer, more effective system to ensure that the organisation remained fully operational and secure into the future. They opted for a cloud-based solution that they could easily scale up to enhance the overall customer experience while ensuring the organisation's security and continuity.

The first step was a Request for Information (RFI) to find the best supplier for their business needs from potential new and incumbent suppliers. The Exeter started by gathering a comprehensive list of requirements, including a complete analysis of each department's functionality and required capability. Then, they mapped traditional contact centre functionality by department and matched them against each supplier to find the best fit. The Exeter was looking to future-proof their selection of a platform and partner to allow them to be flexible and innovate into the future for the benefit of their customers.

Choosing AWS

Although a number of technologies would be able to meet the basics of what was needed, traditional vendors had a tiered license structure, which made the cost of their services significantly higher for the required needs. On the other hand, because AWS and Local Measure had a consumption-based pricing model, based on the amount used, that model worked far better, as it was materially cheaper for the business's requirements. In addition, The team at The Exeter evaluated the level of innovation offered by each vendor and decided that AWS was the most forward-thinking and innovative among them.

"Because Amazon uses Amazon Connect for customer service, we feel that if it's good enough for them, it's got to be good! We also know that it's a solution with longevity that will continue to be improved upon well into the future."— Rob Viant, Head of Architecture and DevOps, The Exeter.

The Local Measure Solution

AWS recommended that The Exeter look at the capabilities of Local Measure's Engage platform and meet the team. After doing this, they decided that the combination of Local Measure Engage and Amazon Connect best fit their business requirements due to the additional features and capabilities that enhance the customer service experience by extending the power of Amazon Connect.

The Exeter introduced Engage and Amazon Connect in April 2023, starting with the Customer Service teams and then expanding to the rest of the business. Initially, 120 agents were using the Engage platform; however, because of the benefits of the consumption model offered by AWS and Local Measure, the scope changed, and now over 200 staff members use it. Everyone who has a direct dial has a number in Amazon Connect. Agents at The Exeter's headquarters and those working remotely or from home use the platform, enabling them to receive and make internal and external calls.

Local Measure led a successful implementation, including training on Engage. Additionally, The Exeter's customer service teams received bespoke training, facilitating a quick and successful onboarding process.

The launch was a staggered introduction over two days, gradually increasing the number of agents online to make sure that everything was working properly and feeding back to the project team if there were any immediate issues—in reality, there was little or no impact on our customers who call us every day, which was the most important thing, so the launch at agent level was really smooth.

The Results

Users have found the platform to be simple and user-friendly. It allows them to choose their next status, ensuring that work is managed efficiently and to a high standard before taking the next call. For instance, the option to make notes during calls ensures that a record can be kept for future reference, and this feature also reduces the amount of paper notes that were previously made during calls. With Amazon Connect, managers can monitor and manage call analytics and route calls as needed, leading to a more streamlined and efficient customer service process.

"Our favourite thing about Engage is the constant innovation in the platform – embedded GenAI- and the fact that it can do so many great things that will help our business and customers. There is also great potential for the future" - Rob Viant, Head of Architecture and DevOps - The Exeter.

The Future

The Exeter is continuing to innovate on its customer experience. Local Measure and AWS will play an essential role in this future by giving The Exeter a secure, cloud-based platform. As a growing organization, The Exeter is looking at new ways to utilize all of the features the Engage platform offers from both a user and data analytics perspective.

“Enhanced options for additional functionality leave the door open for future innovation to improve customer experience, such as adopting new channels through which our customers can contact us. Specifically, the Generative AI Tools are really exciting, so they are definitely something we want to explore.“ - Rob Viant, Head of Architecture and DevOps - The Exeter.