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Zurich Insurance Ireland and System Dynamics work together
to optimise Inspection Efficiency
The Challenge
Zurich Insurance, one of the leading insurance companies, has
a highly successful commercial insurance division, an area that
specialises in loss control for companies within the construction
and manufacturing industries.
Zurich Insurance Ireland provides customers with insurance and
inspection facilities on all statutory items of plant as prescribed
under the Safety in Industry Acts 1955 and 1989, and Safety Health
and Welfare at Work Act, 1989.
Zurich’s objective in approaching System Dynamics was to
improve customer service levels through the supply of more accurate
and timely information, following the completion of statutory plant
inspections and the issue of inspection certificates. Other key
issues also needed to be addressed to improve the overall efficiency
of its engineering inspection team throughout the country:
- Zurich wished to put in place a complete workflow solution
taking into account the requirements of the business, the engineer
and, of course, the customer.
- Greater co-ordination between the various parts of the customer
cycle was required to ensure all streams of the business could
share and access consistent and up-to-date information.
- The solution needed to be streamlined and flexible to increase
efficiency and productivity.
The Solution
It was critical that System Dynamics gained a comprehensive and
rapid understanding of Zurich’s requirements. Interviews
and workshops with Zurich senior management, engineers and operations
personnel enabled System Dynamics to understand the business and
more importantly, the nature and breadth of information which needed
to be shared. It also enabled both System Dynamics and Zurich to
reach an agreement on critical next steps at an early stage in
the project.
This exercise not only quickly determined the opportunities for
improving the performance of the engineers and established where
the stumbling blocks lay; it also brought the key players together
to reach an understanding of where the problems and opportunities
lay for the project from the outset.
The System Dynamics solution encompassed a number of different
enhancements and changes to the process, including:
- A collaborative, automated solution that provided a link with
each section of the company.
- The creation of fully automated forms characterised by drop-down
menus, increasing speed and efficiency.
- The pre-populated forms included 26 templates, to enable engineers
to report on a range of plant, in line with current legislation
- Facility for all engineers to access off-line and off-site
functionality while waiting to access client sites.
- Facility for engineers to upload or synchronise information
via a dedicated ISDN line and submit all reports on a client-by-client
basis.
The Benefits
The solution has provided a range of benefits to Zurich, including:
- Enhanced efficiency, security and productivity.
- Reduced telephone costs, as engineers are able to work off-line.
- Security was strengthened by enabling all reporting and updating
to be synchronised across all departments involved in the customer
cycle.
Client Testimonial
“System Dynamics has worked as a genuine partner in this
process. Their early engagement in the project meant that they
quickly understood not only what our requirements were but also
what our clients’ needs encompassed.
They adopted a very flexible and effective approach to the project,
which took into account the varying needs of our users – many
of whom were not IT literate. System Dynamics had a significant
understanding of Zurich requirements and our customers’ needs
and provided a seamless solution, which has made significant enhancements
to our business". Michelle Joyce, Loss Control
Administrator.
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