Groupama brokers reap benefits of OTI-RT

04 August 2008

Manchester operation leads the way

Brokers and intermediaries are reaping the benefits of Groupama Insurances' investment in state of the art culture measurement tool – OTI-RT (Organisational Transitions-Real Time). In its most recent broker survey, Groupama's Manchester operation was ranked an impressive 8.6 out of 10 in terms of broker satisfaction with the service they received.

OTI-RT allows Groupama to 'take the temperature of the business' and identify ways in which it can work with staff to develop the right business culture to meet its strategy and objectives. Chief of these objectives is the delivery of high levels of service to brokers and intermediaries.

The system works by regularly allowing staff to complete small numbers of questions frequently. The questions change each cycle. They are completed very quickly online. It then analyses the results by computer.

Paul Picknett, Corporate Services Director for Groupama said: The 'OTI-RT' (Organisational Transitions-Real Time) system is used by a range of businesses to measure the direct, causal links between human factors and organisational performance. The system is, however, tailored to meet the specific needs of Groupama; we believe we are the only UK general insurer using such innovative technology.

"By investing in OTI-RT we can see whether the customer driven corporate culture is on track, evolving and being adopted group-wide. In addition, as a result of providing up to the minute analysis of staff feedback, it has helped us to deliver an enhanced service to brokers and policyholders and specifically asks employees about customer service levels."

The information, trend analysis and forecasting capability offered by OTI-RT has helped to ensure that Groupama continues to meet the demands of brokers and intermediaries in a rapidly changing market place.

The value of the tool is abundantly clear from a recent survey of front-line broking staff who had called the Groupama's Manchester Operation. This was the first area of the business to pilot the system in 2004.

The survey asked the respondents to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10; with 1 meaning they were "not at all satisfied" through to 10 meaning they were "completely satisfied". The survey questioned respondents about speed of service, clarity of information, attitude of staff, knowledge of staff and ease of contact.*

Overall satisfaction with the service received from Manchester resulted in average score of 8.6 out of 10. Furthermore, 73% of brokers rated Groupama's service as better than that provided by other insurers.

Ann Beswick, Operations Manager at Groupama's Underwriting and Service Centre in Manchester said "This is a fantastic achievement, we are immensely proud of this feedback and OTI-RT has played a crucial role in helping us achieve such a high level of broker satisfaction. The system has allowed us to move right away from Managers dictating how issues should be solved and, instead, ask the people at the frontline. We now have greater communication that means some potential issues are resolved before they are allowed to become a problem and we have clear action plans that we revisit on a quarterly basis to see where improvements can be made."

Paul Picknett concludes: "Manchester has consistently hit the target for service standards over the past 12-18 months which really demonstrates the positive attitude/morale of staff and the impact this is having on the service they deliver to brokers.

"We are operating in a highly competitive marketplace and this technology will help to ensure that, as a group, we remain focused on the right way to do business – internally and externally. By understanding our staff better we can work more effectively for the benefit of the company, our staff, our brokers and intermediaries and our policyholders."

Ends

*Average scores for the different elements of service rated by the brokers was as in table below: