Case Study

Automation enhances insurer’s operations, finance and actuarial models

An RPA strategy accelerates efficiency by streamlining 12,000 FTE hours and improving transaction processing accuracy to over 95%.

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The better the question

How do you modernize operating models to reduce expenses?

Adapting technology to drive an automation program

Rising unit costs, increasing process volumes and inefficiencies, data quality issues and a prevalence of manual processes inhibited operations at a global life and retirement insurance company. EY teams were hired as part of a larger transformation initiative to address these issues and streamline manual processes. They were engaged to help establish an automation program to help reduce overall expenses and modernize the operating model through technology.

The overall program included an automation proof of concept and business case, client infrastructure design and setup, identification of automation candidates and configuration, as well as Center of Excellence stand-up and operating model design.

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The better the answer

Designing an RPA operating model

Streamlining key operational, finance and actuarial processes through robotic process automation (RPA) operational improvement

Related article

How we orchestrated the digital transformation of a Fortune 500 insurer

Prioritizing, re-engineering and automating claims processes helped digitally drive operational improvement and cost benefits.

11 Feb 2019 David Connolly

    EY team of digital strategists and industry professionals focused on streamlining key operational, finance and actuarial processes using RPA. In addition, the team was responsible for:

      • Developing the business case, automating proof of concept and creating an RPA roadmap
      • Building robots per approved designs and standard, leveraging templates and reusable library
      • Conducting testing scenarios prior to releasing robots into the production environment
      • Designing a new operating model and configuring processes based on an “automation anywhere” approach ― including designing and configuring the infrastructure, as well as ongoing monitoring and support
      • Configuring 19 processes across the operations, finance and actuarial business units, of which 9 were deployed into production by the Center of Excellence
      • Identifying an enterprise-wide RPA Center of Excellence with a detailed operating model that supported knowledge transfer to internal employees onboarded to the center

      The digital enablers included digital strategy, robotics and intelligent automation, and digital architecture.

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      The better the world works

      Implementing a Center of Excellence for automation

      Providing results and earning the benefits

      Throughout the engagement, the Center of Excellence automated nearly 12,000 FTE hours annually through the deployment of 9 processes that interact with 5 applications. The automations were deployed from a central control room using 3 bot runners resulting in improved transaction processing accuracy to over 95%. 

       

      The team created an opportunity log, a strategy and plan for piloting and scaling over 250 process automation candidates across operations, finance and actuarial functions with estimated benefits exceeding $8M.

       

      The team developed a target operating model and Center of Excellence to help implement automation at scale. The operating model outlined requirements and capabilities across the entire organization and its employees, performance management, design authority, processes, tools and technology, and governance to guide the global life insurance company’s resources.

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