Ahead of our 2024 Insurance CX Awards at Proud Embankment, London, Modern Insurance Magazine sat down with Kevin Crawford, Global Head of Insurance at Endava, to further discuss Endava’s involvement in CX across the insurance industry, as well as the importance of a strong CX strategy.
Q. Hi Kevin, it’s great to catch up!
We’re delighted to have you on board as a sponsor for the 2024 Insurance CX Awards! Why don’t we start by talking about Endava, the work you do personally and the projects you’re working on at the moment…
A. For over 20 years, we’ve successfully delivered agile and digital transformation projects for our customers across the global insurance industry. With offices in 67 cities, 28 countries, and with close to 12,000 employees, we have the teams and skill set that our customers can rely on. We partner customers across multiple industry verticals globally, and I head up the operational delivery to our customers across these insurance markets.
We’re particularly well known for our payments expertise, and have worked with many insurers to streamline this critical aspect. We work with carriers, brokers and technology providers from idea to production, and nurture long-term relationships with some of the leading global players in general insurance and speciality markets. If you’re looking to become larger, faster, more efficient, more specialist, more agile and more innovative, we build world-class teams to support your aspirations.
At any one time, we can have over 60 ongoing projects, supported by over 700 insurance-focused experts. The projects we work on are varied, but include defining digital, data and CX strategies, agile bespoke development, configuring third-party products and automation testing, to full cloud transformations. Our projects tend to be focused on three key areas; increasing distribution, making operations more efficient, and leveraging AI and data to make smarter decisions.
Q. How does Endava’s core purpose and values factor into this work?
A. We exist to create an environment and culture that breeds success. We do this by caring for our customers as individuals, and enabling our people to be the very best they can be. Our core values relate to being Open, Thoughtful, Adaptable, Smart, and Trusted. We support and treat each other as equals, fostering a culture of respect and inclusivity. Our diversity makes us stronger, and enables us to provide the best support we can for our customers. The fact that we consistently score highly in customer surveys has been reflected in our recent Sustainability Report, which revealed that 93% of our customers would recommend us (CSAT survey results).
Q. On the subject of Endava’s Sustainability Report, tell me more about the key findings here. How does this affect Endava’s key areas of focus moving into 2024?
A. Our ‘We Care’ approach to sustainability articulates our priorities, which have been organised around five key areas of focus: Our People, Social Impact, Operating Responsibly, Innovation & Data Integrity, and Environmental Impact.
Whilst sustainability has long been central to our business philosophy, we started sharing our approach to sustainability three years ago through our ‘We Care’ reports. We believe our ‘We Care’ programmes are an important investment for the future of Endava, benefiting all of our stakeholders well beyond the New Year.
Q. Would you like tell me more about some of the exciting new partnerships that you’ve got making waves at Endava right now? How does this collaborative approach work in practice?
A. Our varied and dynamic partner ecosystem is a key part of insurance at Endava. We are always looking ahead so we can help our customers pivot to keep pace with change. We have partnerships with AWS, EIS, Google, Guidewire, Instabase, Microsoft, Salesforce, Snowflake, Stripe and Verisk, and we are consistently looking for new partners in the market. We have the experience to seamlessly upskill and bolster teams to help with transformation, platform implementation and integration. Our collaborative approach with partners means that we can help support our customers with strategy and positioning, user engagement, managed support services, and complex version upgrades.
Q. Which aspect of the Awards night are you most looking forward to?
A. We’ll be looking forward to celebrating outstanding customer service and hearing about all the finalists. We’ve all faced many challenges this year, and it will be interesting and inspiring to hear all about how the policyholder has been kept front of mind. It’s going to be a fun night, I’m sure!
We’re also proud to be a sponsor this year, so it will be particularly enjoyable to present an award and take an active part ourselves. CX is a big part of what we do at Endava, so being part of the Insurance CX Awards fits nicely with our purpose.
Q. If you could offer one piece of advice to the award winners, what would that be and why?
A. It’s important to understand that sustaining successful CX requires ongoing effort.
The rapid evolution of the market means that customer experiences must adapt continuously. For instance, considering the ascent of AI, will the current CX still be pertinent in six months’ time? Additionally, routine updates in day-to-day business operations can erode the overall CX if not handled attentively. To maintain momentum, it’s crucial to test, learn, and evolve both the system and the processes in the following ways.
- Monitor and optimise. Employ analytics and regular testing to monitor CX performance, using key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of ongoing efforts. Promptly identify and address any decline, as a single point of friction can instantly degrade the overall experience.
- Maintain design principles. Communicate and disseminate the design principles that shaped your CX. These should serve as guiding principles for all future updates. On a more tactical note, consider implementing a Design System to ensure consistency in approach, as new designers and developers join the team.
- Build an effective team. Recruit individuals that reflect your core values. Ensure that you’ve created an inspiring and collaborative working environment that allows you to attract, empower and foster talent.
- Don’t stand still. Stay at the forefront of the latest industry developments; AI & voice interaction, hyper-personalisation, Metaverse, marketplace etc. Consider the data you’re capturing and explore how it can enhance or automate CX.
- Continually improve. Dedicate time to capture lessons learnt. This is central to our ways of working; we always conduct retrospectives with customers to evaluate successes and areas for improvement. This information is shared with the broader team to foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement at every level.
In essence, maintaining a successful customer experience demands ongoing vigilance and adaptation. By adhering to design principles, monitoring performance, staying informed and learning from experience, you can ensure that your customer experience remains relevant and exceptional in the dynamic business landscape.
To find out more about Endava and discuss how they can improve your CX strategy, visit their website here.
