Varsha on Client Communications

conference roundup - trends in client communications...

 

Another whirlwind couple of months of conferences and events with a plethora of topics focussing on the customer experience! Let me catch up on last month’s travels and bring this blog up-to-date with more recent sessions I participated in this month...

 

I won’t run down all the sessions offered at each conference. Rather, you have the links here for each site if you want more info. In this entry, I’ve chosen to highlight some nuggets of wisdom and insights gleaned from recent conferences as it pertains to client communications. Take the journey with me as I re-live some key moments over the past couple of months...or click on the link of interest to jump through my blog!

 

· Info360: AIIM Expo & Conference

· Women Presidents’ Organization – Annual Conference

· Microsoft Dynamics Convergence

· LOMA – LIC

· OCTAS – RESEAU ACTION TI

· LOMA – Customer Service Conference

 

· The Life Insurance Conference

· ACORD LOMA Conference

· IASA 2010 Educational Conference & Business Show

· LOMA Canada Annual Conference

 

 

Info360: AIIM Expo & Conference

Philadelphia – April 20-22, 2010

 

v In the OPENING KEYNOTE from AIIM President John Mancini, he shared the top 8 trends believed to transform the content management industry. Mancini made mention of the general restlessness of users. Key reasons cited in his research included:

· High cost of ownership

· Difficulty with upgrades

· Poor cross-functional capabilities

 

The upshot with this trend is that as enterprises move to really, really big and complicated solutions, internal business users are fast growing restless with this approach! Users of course are also part of the teams looking at new solutions and so they are actively looking for relevant technologies that fit with consumer and user expectations. Some of the critical effects of this restlessness in the enterprise context include:

 

· will not accept long implementation cycles

· cannot tolerate browser incompatibility

· tired of tons of custom work

· unwilling to assume all risks on the deployment

· fed up with complex integration requirements

 

v Alan Pelz-Sharpe of The Real Story (formerly CMS Watch) led a session that looked at current trends in the vendor marketplace. His overall assessment leaned towards the belief that even during recessionary times, the sector grew as a whole. Insurance companies want to look at ways to reduce costs... And, therefore, they are looking at ways to automate processes through document management solutions for improved productivity from existing resources.

 

At Xpertdoc we concur: the initiatives being undertaken by our clients often start with the process considerations as the firm reviews them in light of the newer technologies, modes of communication, and streamlining for greater efficiency. Xpertdoc takes a holistic view to document output as is encapsulated in our Xpertdoc Delivery Methodology.

 

v In a synopsis of industry concerns from Craig LeClair of Forrester Research, he references the Forrester Wave report and highlights how the insurance industry has a high projected use for DoCCM. He also shared a cautionary note that is worth heeding - in light of the convergence of ECM, BPM and CCM, many mergers have been taking place. As a result, the offerings in core CCM technologies are often getting lost or diluted in the larger players’ offerings. As per Craig’s charts, there is still no clear leader in the DoCCM space.

 

In light of these comments, it was especially nice to get a supportive ‘special-mention’ from Craig on Xpertdoc, where he specifically highlighted the strong integration by Xpertdoc with the Microsoft SharePoint solution.

 

 

Women Presidents’ Organization – Annual Conference

Fort Lauderdale - April 22-24, 2010

 

Jeanette Gibson of Cisco led a session geared at showcasing the pitfalls and best practices when “Navigating The New World Of Social Media”. This was an interesting look at social media and the implications for companies – specifically looking at trying to understand the cultural side as distinct from the policy aspects.

 

Interesting from an Insurance Industry perspective – as generational transitions become a bigger reality to businesses and they gain strength as a buying force, various forms of social media become increasingly relevant. I will be looking closer at social media in the context of client communications in a future blog entry!

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics Convergence

Atlanta – April 24-27, 2010

 

This was an intense show for Xpertdoc. With a show presence as well as attendance at the various keynotes and workshops, and traffic of some 8000 attendees, this show was a unique mix of content, client meetings, partner discussions and new account explorations! Hard to encapsulate it in a quick summary blog ... but the greatest take away from this show was how brilliantly the Xpertdoc Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM leverages the CRM capabilities of the Microsoft technology, while providing enhanced personalised professional communications to its users at the desktop! And that’s not just blatant self-promotion – the traffic at our booth from drop-ins and referrals from partners made this a record show for Xpertdoc!

 

Also interestingly, the keynote opening session was geared at addressing how we communicate across generations. (I guess you’re catching the recurring theme!) But with 1/3 of the global workforce becoming mobile workers by 2013, we need to seriously think about how this impacts our businesses.

 

 

LOMA – LIC

Atlanta – April 28-30, 2010

 

This was the annual conference and Gala for the Life Insurance Council – made up of member companies that fit the industry’s traditionally accepted definitions of Small or Mid-size insurance firm.  There was a consistent trend through the 2 days’ workshops sessions - all in line with the theme of marketing excellence. Social media was raised again as companies start to address staying connected through the generational transitions... but interestingly, the smaller more agile insurance firms are better able to adapt and address internal processes and systems to help with these initiatives than the larger multi-site enterprise firms that must deal with pervasive legacy technologies before addressing new initiatives. Xpertdoc is a welcomed solution for most of the firms in this space, for the ability Xpertdoc solutions bring to leveraging and enhancing the agile responsive nature of these firms,  and  bringing a highly personalized context to client communications initiatives.

 

 

OCTAS – RESEAU ACTION TI

Quebec City – May 29, 2010

 

The “Concours des OCTAS” is a competition that results in public recognition of the achievements of excellence among Quebec's Information Technology firms.  Awards in a variety of categories are issued to firms selected by juries made up of IT experts in the province.

 

This year, the OCTAS had particular importance for Xpertdoc employees and clients. Attendance with a table of our clients, partners, and employees, Xpertdoc joined its peers to share in what was a particularly proud moment in Xpertdoc history: The APPQ – an Xpertdoc client – was a finalist for the OCTAS award in the category of "Business Solution Software”. APPQ uses the Xpertdoc Insurance Management and Claims Solutions to enjoy huge productivity gains and cost reductions from managing their member claims and data management. APPQ did not proceed to the winner circle for the OCTAS, but we are exceptionally proud of their achievements and gains made to the business using the Xpertdoc! You can catch a (French) YouTube profile of the technology at APPQ here.

 

 

LOMA – Customer Service Conference

Orlando – June 2-4, 2010

 

Another in the line-up of insurance-focussed conferences for Xpertdoc, this conference was an intimate offering to the customer service leaders in insurance. And talk about well-targeted for Xpertdoc! We were proud to be a sponsor of this year’s conference and even had a great reception by attendees at the adjacent LIMRA Marketing and Research conference – complete with a joint session focused on innovation and service at Disney.

Of course, you can expect the content of this show was hugely in line with this blog’s theme of improving client communications... with most sessions sharing live case challenges and benefits of various initiatives undertaken in this area.

 

While almost all sessions made some mention of there being an educated client base, the changing modes of interactions for the new generation and aligning business capabilities to deliver to this new realty, a session by Dianne Durkin of Loyalty Factor, provided an interestingly different perspective on the same issues. Her session looked at HR hiring techniques designed to find, hire and retain great employees. But from within that context, emerged a presentation on the Top Requirements for the Younger Generation when they are looking at job/career opportunities. I’ll briefly share that list here:

i. Fun work environment

ii.    Growth / advancement opportunities, training programs

iii.   How the company’s products create a better world

iv. Wide range of projects to work on

v.    How ideas, creativity and innovation are accepted and valued

vi. Assistance without micromanagement

vii.     Regular feedback and recognition

viii.   Teamwork and life style

 

Now recall this was delivered to a room of insurance professionals versed in the specific area of customer service. In that environment, it’s interesting for us to review how the right technology can lead to better business practices and higher efficiencies, but also attract the best talent out there! A quick alignment to the Xpertdoc deliverable and typical objectives of Xpertdoc clients should serve to illustrate:

·   Improved productivity for staff and management – addresses points iv, viii.

·   Empowerment (with desktop capability to the business user) – facilitates points i, v, vi.

·   Various electronic delivery mechanisms (PDF, XPS, E-mail, HTML, etc etc) – delivers on points iii, vii.

 

With the new generation so focused on striking the right work-life balance from the beginning of their careers, delivering the capabilities they expect in a work environment will be a definite advantage to attracting and retaining key talent while furthering growth of the insurance business.

 

That’s it for the roundup of key gemstones from the recent conferences! Xpertdoc also had a presence at a few other shows. No specific nuggets to share from these – but these are also very relevant shows to the areas of insurance and client communications:

 

· The Life Insurance Conference

    Washington DC - April 13-15, 2010

· ACORD LOMA Conference

    Las Vegas – May 24-27, 2010

· IASA 2010 Educational Conference & Business Show

    Grapevine Texas – June 6-10

· LOMA Canada Annual Conference

    Toronto, Canada – June 10, 2010

 

See you round next time – probably with a much shorter leash on my blogging forays!

 

the movement to Business Technologists

As businesses struggle to find the greatest efficiencies in being able to better serve their customer, there seems to be this growing movement from IT to BT (business technologists). The convergence of these two streams of thought is not as haphazard or unconnected as one might think.

 

If you consider how adept most professionals are with technologies at home (do I really need to list the multitude of gadgets and electronic tools we rely on in our homes? .. .you all know them: computers, iPhones, iPods, iPads, cell phones, PDAs, notebooks, X-Box, Wii, DRVs, and the list simply goes on and on…). The proliferation of these technologies (and, of course, accessible price points) means we are all using many of these technologies at home and in our personal lives every day. And what we have discovered is how much simpler and personal our experiences with communication media can be (tv, music, news media, books, email, text messaging etc).

 

This ease of access and swift, almost-instant gratification, now influences all other aspects of our lives…

 

As a Consumer:

If you are a consumer of banking services – it is highly likely that you have become accustomed to the rapid responses and transactions to be enjoyed with on-line banking … If you are an internet shopper – you are used to fast, reliable delivery of goods with many options on payment, delivery, and sales support …

So is it not reasonable – in fact expected – that as consumers we come to anticipate these same standards on our interactions with every business encountered? Reasonable or not – it is a reality. We apply the best standards encountered in any business transaction to the next interaction – and judge the company against those high standards!

 

As a Professional:

If you consider the comfort and ease we have with all the technologies around us in our personal life, isn’t it a frustration when you cannot have at least this level of ease with technologies offered in the work environment? It wasn’t that long ago that the technologies we used in the work environment far exceeded our capabilities with home technologies (remember the countless bootleg copies of software taken from work to load on home PCs??). Today, in many firms big and small, the work environment is often lagging behind the technologies we use on a daily basis in other areas of our life.

 

These two base conflicting experiences (we have all encountered in our personal and work lives) are the driving undercurrents behind the movement of bringing technology to the business. As the business user is consuming technologies and wowed by their ease of use in their personal lives, they then have to go to the office and get frustrated by the inadequacies of the technologies they find in the work context. Consider that the web is an easier resource to use for knowledge than corporate internal systems as an example that highlights this frustration!

 

IT – once a holy, sanctified and largely misunderstood department that required security clearance to enter the ‘computer room’, has now become a comfortable reality found throughout the organization in plain sight at the business users’ desktop.

 

With business consumers of technology now a fairly sophisticated breed, the movement to bring technology to the business makes sense, is longed-for by the users who wish to feel empowered at least to the degree they are in their home environments, and is surprisingly welcomed by IT teams that are happy to educate the business to be more self-sufficient - especially when it frees them up from the mundane support requests to address more mission-critical business improving initiatives. 

 

There are a growing number of technologies that are helping to bridge the transition from IT to BT:

· CRM Systems (Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, Sage, & Siebel to name a few) – all bring the power of contact management to the desktop user

· Collaboration platforms (SharePoint a leader in this space) – facilitates collaboration and document sharing across teams, departments, offices and regions from the desktop environment

 

Of course, as mentioned in this blog previously, Xpertdoc has fully integrated automated document output capabilities into these and other enterprise technologies, to really deliver custom communication capabilities to the business user at their desktop – with full compliance to corporate policies and standards.

 

Recognizing that there was a growing frustration amongst business users (especially in the larger insurance, legal, professional services firms) in their inability to accelerate reach to their intended markets (serving those consumers expecting instant gratification!), businesses have been introducing these types of technologies and bringing the ability to create custom communications between the business user and their consumers (internal and external) without sacrificing branding, compliance and corporate standards.

 

What a relief!

Now consider:-

·   In our role as business partners to our clients, we are able to satisfy the instant gratification standards expected by our clients (without compromising the business)

·   In our role as business professionals, we are no longer frustrated in our work environment and are able to efficiently deliver to the market growth initiatives promoted by most businesses

·   In our role as IT providers, we are energized by the reduction of mundane support tasks (running reports, making minor changes to professional documents, etc) and embrace the challenges of working with new technologies that bring business-altering initiatives to the organization

·   In our role as business leaders, we are excited by the cost savings and improved productivity gained as the business resources strive to deliver their very best in their roles – unconstrained by the tools of their trade.

A happy convergence of mindset and energy – brought about by a gradual but very strong convergence of technologies in our personal and professional environments! So, a big “Welcome” – to the growing domain of Business Technologists!