Reform in full effect
The government pension reforms that were implemented in April this year have now come into full effect. There have been many changes to the way in which individuals can access and use their pension savings. One of the biggest is that anyone aged 55 or over can access their pension however they choose. Pension holders can now withdraw part or all of their pension pot as a cash lump sum if they wish to do so. For pensions providers, this has caused numerous problems. Providers have had to change service propositions and the products they sell resulting in a huge amount of extra work.
Getting the best value from pension savings
Customers naturally want to get the best value from their pension savings and with the new changes they have more choices and options available to them. Pension savers are no longer obligated to take out an annuity. Naturally this has resulted in a slow down for annuity applications but has created a huge volume of new work as pension providers handle enquiries from existing and new customers trying to get the best value option.
These changes has resulted in a huge increase in workload for back office operations of pension providers. Customers have a lot of questions about how the changes will affect their retirement plans and pensions and it’s up to the providers to be able to answer them.
Ask yourself…
- Is your back office struggling to cope with the volume of new enquiries?
- Are you facing training challenges to ensure compliance with new legislation?
- Are you facing resourcing challenges due to change with your existing pension books?
- Do you have skills shortages with a backlog of complex tasks?
- Are you struggling to maintain efficiency and deliver consistent service levels?
When a change occurs, it can be easy for an operation to become overwhelmed. High volumes of new business, training, compliance and servicing existing customers create a perfect storm that for many operations proves hard to weather. It’s in this pressured environment when a business is most susceptible to losing competitive advantage through poor service delivery.
No pressure, no diamonds.
Weathering the storm
In times of change, it’s normal to experience high volumes of enquiries of a complex nature handed off from front office contact centres to back office teams. When confronted by significant workload your workforce can quickly end up in disarray. Fortunately, modern technology is enabling back offices of pensions providers to cope with change better than ever before.
Work Measurement Software and back office optimisation software enables an operation to gain control of workloads regardless of volume or complexity. With automatic work allocation even in the busiest periods, workflow is smooth and controlled given to the right person with the right skills at the right time.
Another key software component is forecasting helping to predict what the future looks like and derisk that future and with ACTION and make the future become a reality. When faced with regularity change forecasting is key to moving forward while continually improving and achieving commercial objectives.
If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.
It’s these powerful software features like that enable operations to become agiler, reacting to change effectively and avoiding non-compliance penalties and declining customer service levels.
During challenging periods when an operation faces regulatory change Work Measurement Software and back office optimisation software helps to maintain control and competitive advantage. With the front and back office integrated through software, they are more efficient and effective providing consistent service delivery and customer experience even in the most challenging of scenarios.
Do you need to:
- Optimise the entire back office workforce, time and skills.
- Availability and allocation of work in real-time, irrespective of channel or geographic location.
- Reduce unit times for completion of work
- Improve quality levels and identify skills deficits
- Improve service delivery for higher levels of customer satisfaction, competitive advantage and increased profitability for a more secure future
