Visualization – Antonio Coppola

Challenge: Change Management on a proposed process change within the claims organization of a large  US based P&C insurer which will greatly modify how First Notice of Loss (FNOL) submissions are  processed. Change of process will introduce Robotic Process Automation (RPA) functionality and  significantly modify work content and responsibilities for Contact Center associates.

Selection: Selected Visualization, or visual thinking to create a shared understanding of the problem the  change of process was attempting to solve. The approach used leverages pictures to help visualize  painpoints and desired future state in a brainstorming format. The pictures are intended to evoke an  emotional response to real life issues, frustrations and ideals that the associates are feeling.

Application: I conducted several focus group sessions with customers to obtain Voice of the Customer  (VOC) and several focus groups with associates to obtain Voice of the Associate (VOA). The sessions  were held over several weeks to ensure we had a good representation of customers and associates. I  began the VOC sessions with a high-level process map to represent the customers experience as they  traveled along the process of filing an auto damage claim. I then asked the customers to select pictures  that best represented how they felt through the process. Pictures selected ranged from feelings of  frustration, fear, uncertainty, anger, etc.. which were not surprising. In most cases the claimant has just  been in a car accident, not saavy of the insurance process, and is flustered. The pictures that were  selected to describe their ideal state gave an indication that the wanted to be comforted, have  confidence that things were being handled (repairs, rental, etc.) and wanted to hear a human voice.  Shortly afterward I conducted Focus group sessions with the associates using a process map to show the  process they followed. As with the customer group, I had the associates select pictures to describe their  feelings through the process and to illustrate what their desired state would be.

Insight: After compiling the results from the two separate Focus Group experiments, I compiled the  themes from each of the groups using word clouds to visualize the results. The outcome was shocking!  The associates used similar words and selected similar pictures as the customers not only with the  painpoints and issues but also with the desired future state.

What I had learned from using this technique is that while you can often get participation from different  study groups through plain old brainstorming, putting the process in visual form and using pictures  absolutely energized the groups to share at a much more personal level.

Approach: After showing the similarities in response that the customers had, I revisited the change we  were proposing for the FNOL process and the use of automation. With a few minor changes to the  process as a result of the focus group feedback, we were able to implement the changes, realize a  positive impact on customer experience and provide more meaningful customer facing work to the  associate.

