By Antonio Conte, Team Coordinator, BU Welfare
A company's success depends on many factors: from a macro perspective, on market trends and the strategic choices that result from them; as we look closer, however, we see how people and processes can also make a difference. Clear roles, well-defined perimeters of competence, and motivated employees, in fact, facilitate synergistic work among different teams and bring any organization into that extra gear that enables it to get to the goal faster.
This is also true for Insurance Companies and Pension Funds: with their important role in supporting and guaranteeing citizens, they are called to the front line to face the market challenges of digital transformation and constant growth. At Kirey Group, we work together with organizations in the Insurance field with a model that supports them on both fronts, with proprietary applications and customized web solutions, and comprehensive support in what concerns administrative service (help desk, accounting and finance management, membership management).
In the role of administrative service, at Kirey Group the dedicated team is called upon to collaborate constantly with the sales area of the Pension Fund, in an ongoing dialogue that over time has made the enormous potential of this synergy increasingly evident. We believe, in fact, that there cannot be an effective sales network without an efficient administrative structure and, vice versa, an efficient administrative structure without the support of the sales network. Thus, the role of the administrative service in coordinating the activities of competence in order to achieve the goals that the Fund sets for itself - first and foremost the growth in the number of members - assumes increasing importance.
About this strong cooperation, we have identified 4 key points that we work on daily to optimize the collaboration between administrative service and the sales area of the Pension Fund.
1) Prioritization of requests. In this case, sales dictate the timing, so it is necessary that the communication channel between the two areas is structured and a clear method is defined as we move down the sales network chain.
2) Business rule definition. Having clear, simple, and stable operating rules over time makes the process more efficient. These include the definition of forms, which requires the joint work of administration, sales, and the compliance area.
3) Administrative support in the entry phase of new companies. To avoid changing in the process the conditions initially established during negotiations, it is essential for the administration to provide the sales area with all the necessary tools for proper initial customer education. How? With manuals, and video tutorials, but also with in-house training at the client's premises, with a focus on administrative support, if it comes to agreements signed with large companies.
4) Exception management. In the definition of an administrative file, there are always unavoidable elements provided for by the regulations and discretionary elements, provided for by the Fund's internal procedures, which can be revised in exceptional cases. Defining an exception management process a priori helps to maintain fruitful and effective cooperation between the two areas, avoiding conflict. A simple and practical solution is to prepare a reporting template, which allows the exception to be properly and objectively evaluated.
These are just a few examples of how in Kirey Group we proactively live the role of administrative service at the service of Pension Funds: our mission is to support them by establishing a partnership relationship that goes beyond simple administrative management, and is in the direction of a solid synergy with the business areas of the Fund. Working together, toward the same goal.