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Swiss Re Case Study“Case Management in P&C Reinsurance – Knowledge Work in Focus”

Extract from a study conducted by the Institute of Business Information Technology:

“Business Process Management 2016: Status Quo and Best Practices – Customer Benefit Through Digital Transformation?”

EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Publisher:ZHAW School of Management and LawStadthausstrasse 14P.O. Box8401 WinterthurSwitzerland

Department of General ManagementInstitute of Business Information Technologywww.zhaw.ch/iwi

Project Management:Elke Brucker-Kley (contact)[email protected]

David Grü[email protected]

Translation:Danielle Adams, John Christian

To download the study (in German), go to:http://www.zhaw.ch/bpm-studie

January 2017

Copyright © 2017Department of General ManagementZHAW School of Management and Law

1ZHAW BPM Study 2016 – Case Study Swiss Re

Context of Case Study: BPM Study 2016, "Customer Benefit Through Digital Transformation?"

"What is the role of strategic process management and process digitization as a design lever of digital transformation?" This was the research question to a study conducted by the Institute of Business Infor-mation Technology at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, School of Management and Law, in 2016. The study included a quantitative survey among com-panies in the German-speaking region (D-A-CH) on the status quo of process management at the interface of "digitization" and "customer benefit" and a qualita-tive survey of success patterns among five renowned companies. In a best practice workshop, challenges, solutions, and experiences were discussed and pre-sented as case studies, including the case study on property & casualty (P&C) insurance at the Swiss Re Group presented here. The main findings and success patterns of all the case studies are summarized below.

Seamless Processes for Operational & Service

Excellence

Positive customer experiences are made possible when pro-cesses are seamless. At the same time, deficits in the con-tinuity of the processes, as discussed in all the case studies in question, provide compelling business cases for digital transformation.

Synchronous and individualized communication with clients is a frequently cited digitization goal. However, this requires a high degree of automation, the implementation of busi-ness logic (e.g., by means of business rules), high quality data, and the integration of different information sources. The case studies show that internal customers, support processes, and knowledge-intensive processes in particu-lar must not be neglected. If companies manage to digitize these consistently, the lessons they learn and the infrastruc-ture they create can serve as a basis for effective service processes and a positive customer experience.

Integration is a key success factor in all the case studies. If companies succeed in integrating CRM systems or cus-

tomer databases, internal and external systems, data sources, and data repositories in an efficient way, they will go a long way towards implementing end-to-end process-es. Service-oriented architectures and platform-based solu-tions provide efficient, enterprise-wide foundations for pro-cess integration.

Product & Service Innovations Enabled by a

Digitized Backbone

The companies discussed which have already digitized their back-end processes quickly seized opportunities for inno-vation at the front-end and have therefore been able to gain competitive advantages. If a company recognizes this po-tential, its divisions or functions can reposition themselves and change their role in the organization or the value chain.

Modern and intuitive digital workplaces are important re-quirements for companies whose strategies are aimed at opening new markets and customer segments. New, often globally distributed employees become productive more quickly; they can collaborate in globally harmonized processes and instruments and serve their clients more ef-ficiently. Companies that innovate the digital workplace in this way find the best possible degree of standardization and flexibility to relieve their knowledge workers from routine tasks and assist them in their decision-making.

Customer Benefit Through Digital Transformation?

Companies can win over external and internal clients by introducing new digital or digitally enhanced products and services as well as ways to interact when they identify and address obvious shortcomings and recognize the potential for optimization. Shorter response times, the elimination of multi-step processes or unnecessary trips, or improved ser-vice and consulting quality through the optimization of avail-able information may not exactly have a "wow factor" but, as the case studies have shown, they are valued by clients and not taken for granted. For this to be possible, such optimi-zations must create a relative benefit for clients compared to past experience or other services or providers.

2 ZHAW BPM Study 2016 – Case Study Swiss Re

The ability to recognize customer value as a relative meas-ure helps companies to qualify their digital transformation activities; in other words, they can act pragmatically de-pending on the maturity of an industry or a market and take immediate steps to introduce tangible improvements for their clients.

Companies which enter new territories in the world of digitized services, however, need to adopt alternative ap-proaches. In these case studies, an early involvement of the customer perspective has been shown to be successful. It is not sufficient simply to take customer needs and trans-form them into requirements. Observations, prototyping, and testing of different scenarios with clients are vital before

a digitally enhanced or completely digitized service can be finalized and implemented. These procedures ensure that entry points, processes, and interfaces address the needs of the target group and that their design is intuitive.

For initiatives that are oriented primarily towards increas-ing efficiency from an internal perspective, the focus is on reducing complexity. However, as our case studies show, clients also benefit from efforts to standardize and harmo-nize processes because services become easier to access, more transparent, and easier to understand. Simplicity and consistency create customer benefit and can also be ap-plied as success patterns to external customers.

Fig. 1 Design Fields of Digital Transformation and Potential for Process Management


The Swiss Re Group is a leading global provider of reinsurance and bespoke insurance solutions. In 2015, total revenue was USD 35.7 billion and net in-come USD 4.6 million, with premiums earned total-ing USD 30.2 billion. The largest proportion of its premium volume is achieved through property insur-ance (50 %) and life insurance (36 %). The Swiss Re Group employs over 12,700 people and in addition to its traditional reinsurance business, it also offers insurance solutions for large companies and large-scale events. Swiss Re also assists customers in

their product development. Swiss Re products are in demand all over the world. 44 % of its premium vol-ume comes from the Americas, 22 % from the Asia-Pacific region, and 34 % from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Context and Situation

This case study focuses on the business process man-agement of Property and Casualty IT, a competence center for BPM solutions related to the Group's non-life reinsurance business. The division is also responsible for the software used in the offer process shown in Fig. 54. Its team currently comprises 29 employees (4 inter-nal, 25 external), who work in Zurich and Chiasso (Swit-zerland), Bari (Italy), Bucharest (Romania), Chicago (US), and Singapore.

The offer process shown in Figure 2 consists of several stages, the first of which is called "origination". This stage

IN THE BEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP PRESENTED BY

Marco PeyerHead BPM & Service Operations, P&C Reinsurance

1. Case Study on Swiss Re: "Case Management in P&C Reinsurance – Knowledge Work in Focus"

Fig. 2Overview of Offer Process for Property & Casualty Reinsurance


Motivation and Objectives

The work to develop a system to use in the offer and

contract adaptation phase was driven by several

factors. Initially, efforts focused on the strategic

direction of Swiss Re: enhancement of customer

focus ("customer centricity"). In this context,

cross-functional teams (XFT) were formed, com-

prised of knowledge workers from across the or-

ganization to develop the best possible solutions

for clients and the respective market. In such

a case, a team of specialists is assembled to meet

a specific customer need, combining all the exper-

tise required. Together with the client, the team

then develops a product or identifies customer

requirements as well as the respective products

and services needed. For this inter-organizational

cooperation to be effective, the orchestration of

processes was a key concern.

Another strategic element was later found to be important. Through its Vision 2020 program, the non-life reinsurance division aims to increase the growth market share (HGM, i.e., high-growth markets) of the premium volume from 15 % now to 30 % by 2020 (Swiss Re, 2016). The Head of P&C IT was instructed to develop the IT strategy needed to achieve the objective within the framework of this vision. Swiss Re, probably like most other companies employing staff in emerging markets, is faced with a relatively high staff turnover and increasingly young employees with cor-responding demands in terms of a modern IT infrastruc-ture. In the light of this, employees should be productive as soon as possible on joining the company, with the new IT system correspondingly user-friendly and requiring minimal training.

In addition, the new system needs to meet current require-ments with respect to handling and speed, thereby ensur-ing a positive user experience. Alongside these employee requirements, to achieve premium targets in emerging markets new customer segments must also be captured. Figure 3 shows that most clients in growth markets (HGMs) are regional and national (R&N) providers. To expand into

is mainly concerned with customer relationship manage-ment and ends with a request for a reinsurance quote (“submission”). This initial stage of the process is largely unstructured and takes place primarily between the cli-ent and the client manager or, depending on the market and the team, possibly also involves the underwriter. In the subsequent offer stage, an interdisciplinary team oversees the development of the reinsurance products, the underwriting, cost and price calculations, and the de-tails of the reinsurance contract. Depending on the prod-uct, it involves several different specialists and intense collaboration between knowledge workers. This process is semi-structured and adjusted to specific needs with regard to market segment, product, and region. If an agreement is reached, this phase ends with the signing of the contracts (“bound”). In the subsequent post-bound phase, downstream contract adaptations may be made, for example, to account for new information or necessary corrections, or because the customer still wants changes to the product. Depending on the extent of the changes necessary, parts of the offer process may have to be repeated. The entry into force of the insurance coverage (“inception date”) marks the start of the claims and accounting phase, which is mainly concerned with the settlement of claims and the collection of the premi-ums. Processes from the previous post-bound phase may also be initiated at this point if contract adaptations are necessary.

The offer and contract adaptation phase is characterized by an intense exchange with the client and communica-tion between specialists at Swiss Re. In addition, a num-ber of new and existing documents are required and ex-changed. This case study presents the software solution that supports these two semi-structured phases and, in particular, how it affects internal and external clients. The system introduced here handles over 50,000 submis-sions and archives more than 200,000 new documents a year. This system has been in use since 2014, but it is being expanded continuously and will be rolled out in the fall of 2016 for the benefit of 1,250 users across the globe.


the available data, especially documents, could be utilized as effectively as possible.

Objective 1:

Combining Expert Knowledge at the Right Time

Swiss Re is regarded as "the company of a thousand trades." Indeed, Swiss Re employees together cover a wide range of the professions and educational back-grounds needed not only to assess the various risks ex-pertly but also to take account of regional peculiarities in target markets. In general, reinsurance is considered to require a lot in terms of knowledge and documentation; it also needs close ties to clients. A relationship of trust has to be established between Swiss Re and its clients. During the offer and contract adaptation phase, intensive collabo-ration takes place between those employees with the ex-pertise and experience needed for a particular case. Be-cause the reinsurance products offered to clients are tailored as closely as possible to a client's needs, the com-position of the team is also adapted to suit the market and customer segment. This distinguishes them from cross-functional teams used in other areas such as agile software development. They also include employees with different skills, such as in the areas of requirements engi-neering, design, development, and testing. Nevertheless, these teams usually stay together in the same composition for an extended period. At Swiss Re, the teams are also characterized by a typical distribution of roles: The client

this market, Swiss Re is dependent on cooperation with global partners, governments, and multilateral institutions (Swiss Re, 2016). Consequently, Swiss Re will only be re-sponsible for a part of the process and the IT system has to be able to cope flexibly with resulting integration require-ments. It must always be possible to adapt internal organ-izational structures and processes, not only to market and customer needs but also to regulatory requirements.

Initial Situation

Before the BPM platform was introduced in 2014, the key tools for collaboration within the team and for customer communication in the offer and contract adaptation phase included the e-mail system Lotus Notes and shared drives (file servers). With e-mail communication pushed to the limits, sometimes involving more than 800 messages and countless documents for a single enquiry, it was difficult to keep track of everything, but employees had learned over time to optimize the system for their own purposes. In the opinion of management, there were, however, several rea-sons why the system landscape needed to be modified:

– Potential for improved response times for customers.– Changing requirements through the introduction of cross-functional teams.– Length of period required to train new employees, especially across locations.– Employee requirements of an IT system that is fast, intuitive, and simple to use.– Length of time spent by knowledge workers on routine tasks.– Difficulty of transferring expertise to new employees.– Lack of scalability to smaller deals and larger volumes.– Lack of opportunities to gather and analyze data con-

cerning the process and to find ways of improving it.– Time required for the proper archiving of documents.

Demands for modifications focused mainly on the need to achieve operational excellence. Swiss Re had set itself the goal of becoming "Best Managed Reinsurer." To achieve this, it needed an IT systems landscape able to ensure that expertise was employed as efficiently as possible and that

Fig.3Market Segments and Growth Potential


"Until recently, the typical IT tools of a client manager were e-mail, a mobile phone, and CRM. The need for a process orchestration tool was not immediately evident. These days, a client manager appreciates transparency concerning the status of his or her deals and related activities and information about what his or her colleagues are working on." Marco Peyer, Head BPM & Service Operations, P&C Reinsurance Swiss Re

regard to documentation is to allow team members access to anything of relevance. For this purpose, not only official documents such as contracts need to be incorporated into the system, but also whatever pertains to the decision-mak-ing process as documented in e-mails, chats, and other channels. The key issue, however, is not data and docu-ments but collaboration within the team and client commu-nication. Client communication, in particular, must be han-dled in such a way as to allow it to be archived continuously rather than transferring everything at the end.

Recent studies suggest that the topic of interlinking informa-tion will continue to grow in significance for the insurance industry. According to the PWC study "Insurance 2020 & beyond," 67 % of clients would be prepared to install sensors in their cars or homes if it enabled them to benefit from lower insurance premiums (PWC, 2015). The study also shows that analysis of data will play a central role in the future: 93 % of insurance company CEOs consider data mining and data analysis to be the main digital technologies for the insurance industry of the future by a long margin. Although these changes, which are influenced by topics such as the "Inter-net of Things" (IoT) and the increased interlinking of data, mainly affect the primary insurance segment, they will also have an impact on reinsurance. The additional data will ena-ble reinsurers to assess the risks much more accurately and to anticipate changes affecting the risk situation at an early stage. In future, primary insurers may provide the data they collect to reinsurers to enable them to negotiate better con-

manager is the main contact person for the client through-out the whole process. The underwriter has the technical expertise to assess and underwrite risks. These assess-ments are used by actuaries, usually mathematicians, as a basis for the preparation of risk models employed by under-writing staff in their decision-making. Ultimately, they have to underwrite the risk in order to offer an insurance product to the client. In addition, the sales process also involves em-ployees from Business Services, who primarily handle the coordination and administration of underwriting risks. Owing to the variability of the products, however, it is necessary for these roles to be assumed by different employees depend-ing on market and customer needs. This dynamic affects the demands placed on the IT system, which should enable an ad hoc team, which should enable an ad-hoc team to work together efficiently even when its members are geo-graphically dispersed and functionally diverse.

Objective 2:

Interlinking Relevant Data and Documents in the

Right Location

In addition to employees, documentation also plays a cen-tral role. Swiss Re was established in 1863 and therefore has a very large collection of documents. This knowledge base needs to be harnessed, and the relevant documents and data available in the right location. In contrast to other sectors, digitization efforts do not focus primarily on replac-ing paper with electronic documents and data, but on inter-linking data more effectively. The system's central task with


how challenging it can be, even with detailed knowl-

edge of the facts, to implement a system handling

such highly complex requirements while at the same

time respecting the actual needs and habits of users.

To identify requirements, so-called "process discovery workshops" were conducted with specialists from the var-ious business departments, business analysts, product owners, and individual developers and users of the sys-tem. In addition, site visits were conducted so participants could watch system users at work. Furthermore, the IT team already had a solid understanding of how the various users were using the different systems.

First Attempt

The first approach introduced in April 2014 involved the fol-lowing (Figure 4): The tools for communication and docu-ment management previously used most frequently (Outlook, Documentum, and Lotus Notes) were supplemented with a BPM platform based on the Business Process Management Suite of software manufacturer Appway (www.appway.com).

This BPM platform included the following components:– Workbench: Containing an overview of all ongoing cas-

es as well as tasks filtered by employees or teams. The workbench also allows users to view new offer requests and so begin the offer process.

– Client offering: Individual screens guide the user through the offer process. This consists of a main process and several subprocesses for each subcontract. Which sub-processes are executed depends on the product and the market. The client offering also includes various means of collaboration: a chat feature for sharing infor-mation within the team, a comment function for individ-ual tasks and documents, and the ability for team mem-bers to indicate what they are working on.

– E-mail editor: Allowing communication by e-mail with the customer directly from the BPM platform and pro-vides for automatic archiving of communication con-ducted in this way.

– Operational dashboard: Providing an overview of all cur-rent cases.

tractual conditions. In this way, reinsurers would have closer ties to end customers and, in turn, have the opportunity to create new products with which to enter new markets.

Subject of Transformation

As mentioned earlier, response times and the complexity of collaboration are major challenges for Swiss Re when in-teracting with customers. The digitization of the customer interface cannot be seen as the solution, however, since the complexity of the products and services offered ex-ceeds the capabilities of simple web forms and automati-cally generated tracking and progress indicators. The cli-ents themselves have not been asking specifically for an expansion of online services; rather, they appreciate the brand and the expertise and financial strength associated with it, as well as their interaction with Swiss Re. In fact, many consider personal contact with the same represent-ative for long periods of time as a key argument in favor of maintaining business ties with Swiss Re. As a result, lever-age had to be applied internally and it soon became clear that the problems could not be solved by adjustments to a single IT system. Improved linkage between existing sys-tems was required. It was therefore decided to introduce a new system that would link existing systems, orchestrate their cooperation, and provide a unified interface for the systems used. The new system was to grant knowledge workers maximum transparency and enable them to con-tribute their expertise even more effectively without being unnecessarily burdened by routine tasks. At the same time, this approach would enable Swiss Re to reduce the cost of training new employees and meet the need for a modern user interface (UI). The UI would be extended to include a chat function and other features to support col-laboration. By linking the systems, it would also be possi-ble to simplify archiving, monitor the progress of individual cases, and collect data about the procedure.

Implementation and Impact

The system-related implementation of all require-

ments involved major challenges for Swiss Re. Grad-

ually, and with a clear change of direction, employee

needs were addressed. Experience has shown just


ment repositories Lotus Notes and Documentum were connected to the BPM platform via a service layer. The platform could thus automatically archive all recently col-lected documents and all related correspondence in the right place within the document repositories. In addition, a search function for existing documents was integrated and combined with a so-called digital binder. The digital binder makes it possible to link existing documents with a particu-lar case, individual subprocesses, or another document. This linking information remains available beyond the actual execution of the process. In this way, the digital binder has gradually helped to unearth the "treasure of knowledge" hidden in the documents.

Although this solution offered many advantages, employ-ees were not convinced that they had the best possible support:– The e-mail editor integrated into the platform failed to

meet user requirements adequately. Compared with Outlook, it lacked important features, such as format-

The work process was shaped as follows: During the origi-nation stage, communication with clients was conducted using Outlook, as before. In Figure 4, this corresponds to the link with the label (1). Following the receipt of the request for a proposal, a new offer process was started in the work-bench (2), after which the information and documents al-ready collected were transferred to the process manually (3). Now the team could begin working. The workbench, or rather the client offer, indicated the open tasks and assigned them to individual team members (4). In executing the task, the team was able to share information and coordinate their work. Since communication with the client was conducted directly from the platform via the e-mail editor (5), the whole offer phase could be managed using a single tool. This ap-proach allowed all phases, beginning with the receipt of the offer request, to be archived correctly and without any ad-ditional input. Only if the client or someone else delivered case documents or information through a channel other than the workbench did these have to be added to the case manually (6). To do the archiving, the existing docu-

Fig. 4Architectural Overview of the First Approach


ting and linking to the address book. In addition, the e-mail editor offered a limited overview of client commu-nication because it only displayed e-mails that had ei-ther been written using the platform or received in re-sponse to such an e-mail.

– The switch from Outlook to the platform during the tran sition from the origination to the offer stage was felt to be cumbersome. All information and documents al-ready collected needed to be assembled by hand and transferred to the BPM platform manually.

– The collaboration features did not meet employee needs so were rarely used. Instead, employees pre-ferred to communicate by phone and e-mail, as before.

– Despite the modular structure of the client offer process with subprocesses which could be executed simultane-ously, this was not flexible enough and was perceived by different teams and markets as limiting.

– The tool did not yet offer any added value in deci-sion-making. Although the BPM platform improved the data situation, it was not possible to aggregate all the information about a client, or to evaluate and compare data from related cases.

From the user perspective, the new system undoubtedly offered satisfactory new features such as the digital binder, but its shortcomings outweighed the benefits in the initial stages. The user interfaces were inferior to tried-and-test-ed systems in terms of functionality, and the new system required additional tasks, such as data transfer at the be-ginning of the offer stage. This media disruption at the be-ginning of the offer process continued to affect subsequent tasks. Time and again, information sent to employees from outside the platform had to be transferred to the platform manually. The process management team realized that the solution was not ideal in fulfilling the needs of its internal customers. It also became clear that the new standardized offer pro-cess was not flexible enough to allow for the intended business expansion in growth markets as well as for coop-eration with regional and national providers. The solution did not yet allow the process to reach a high degree of

standardization and flexibility. To cite the words frequently attributed to Charles Darwin: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."

Second Version

Instead of continuing to expand the functionality of the e-mail editor and further develop the integration of custom-er communication into the platform, Swiss Re opted for a clear change of direction. In the optimized system that is now in use, Outlook is the leading tool in terms of custom-er communication and correspondence, while the BPM platform Appway and the information hub ensure intelligent control and information supply for the offer process. Figure 5 gives an architectural overview with newly added com-ponents marked gray.

The system includes the following enhancements:– Mail app: Allows to start a new offer process for an exist-

ing e-mail communication or assign the communication to an existing offer process. In both cases, the messag-es and any attachments are transferred automatically to the BPM platform and from there into data storage. If the communication is continued, it is automatically trans-ferred to the corresponding case. Also, tasks from the workbench are displayed directly in the mail app and in some cases can be completed directly in the app itself without changing to the platform.

– Case and process hub: These are newly created inter-faces in the information hub which provide the features required by the mail app.

– Connection to the Exchange Server: In addition to Doc-umentum and Lotus Notes, the Exchange Server is now also linked to the BPM platform via the information hub. This allows efficient transfer of messages and attach-ments from the e-mail to the document repositories.

– Data warehouse and reporting cockpit: The DWH is used to store all activity from the mail app and the work-bench and therefore combines data from the two front-ends. These data are the basis for the newly created reporting cockpit, in which ongoing and completed cas-es can be evaluated according to various criteria.


messages and attachments to the document repositories, and links them to the respective case. Following this, those steps of the offer process requiring no further infor-mation will happen automatically. Finally, tasks are created for the relevant teams or employees and they will be in-formed by e-mail. Certain simple tasks can be performed directly via the mail app (3). For more complex tasks, the user has to access the corresponding link in the e-mail to change to the workbench and carry out the task there (4). In addition to the e-mail that was used to open the case initially, more e-mails can be assigned to the case, thereby

By revising the solution, the working process changes considerably. Certain steps can now be done completely or partially in Outlook (see Figure 5, numbers marked green). Work begins as before with a communication via Outlook during the origination stage (1). If there is a pro-posal request, a new case is opened in the mail app (2). Additional information must be provided to enable the re-quest to be categorized and the attachments have to be assigned to the individual categories or subcontracts. With this information, the system starts the corresponding case in the BPM platform Appway, transfers all e-mail

"A globally consistent definition of activities is more important than arranging for exactly the same sequence of activities world-wide. Standardizing the process may well destroy its value if it does not allow for sufficient flexibility or meet corresponding market, customer, and local labor needs." Marco Peyer, Head BPM & Service Operations, P&C Reinsurance Swiss Re

Fig. 5Architectural Overview of the Second Solution


archiving them together. In any case, the mail app ensures that if a transmitted communication is continued, it is au-tomatically added to the case and archived (5). As before, the workbench can be searched for relevant documents to be linked to the case or parts of the case using the digital binder (6). The newly created reporting cockpit (7) allows employees to evaluate historical and current data related, for example, to a customer or an industry and use these as a basis for their decisions. To address the criti-cism that the offer process lacked flexibility, this has been split into smaller, independent "mini-processes". Similar to using a check-list, employees are now free to choose the order of individual tasks and omit certain steps if neces-sary. The system now allows employees to work accord-ing to requirements related to the market, the client, or the regulator. Thanks to the front-end integration of the func-

tionality within Outlook, employees are supported in the digital work environment in which they operate most effi-ciently. Consequently, employees are no longer forced to follow different systems to use a function but, instead, functionality follows the user. Previous media disruption has been eliminated and a fully integrated, seamless work process is now available. This integration has been made possible by the BPM platform Appway, which controls the processing of cases and related information.

The improved system has been in use since autumn 2015 and has found increasing acceptance. Outlook is once again the uniform front end for the electronic communication with the client, and with the mail app, it offers a simple, intuitive, and attractive integration of the BPM system Appway. The BPM platform fulfills its role as the backbone of the system.

"Outlook is the central element in today's client correspond-ence. With the integration of Outlook and the BPM platform Appway via a mail app, individual steps of the process could be relocated to where users actually carry out their tasks. This has significantly improved the user experience." Marco Peyer, Head BPM & Service Operations, P&C Reinsurance Swiss Re

(ADAPTIVE) CASE MANAGEMENT

A typical application of case management systems is the coordination of work in semi-structured processes. In more unpredictable processes in particular, and in processes where the employees themselves have to decide on the need for individual work steps and the order in which to execute them, case management sys-tems can make an important contribution (Motahari Nezhad & Swenson, 2013). Of course, traditional auto-mation also allows different execution paths using BPM systems, but they must be either explicitly modeled or implemented by allowing exceptions. Conventional case management systems were developed for specific

application domains, such as hospitals, courts, or the police. In this context, we also talk about so-called pro-duction case management systems (PCM).

An adaptive case management system is defined as a system that provides features to adapt the work pro-cess to the needs of a case (Swenson, 2011). Mean-while, the trend has also been taken up by the Object Management Group, which has been collaborating with CMMN since 2014 in maintaining a standard for the no-tation of case management models (OMG, 2014).


account the required expertise and availability of employees. The ultimate goal is a knowledge-based system that proac-tively collects and processes information which may be rel-evant to the case and makes it available depending on the situation. The process of knowledge provision would thus be transformed from today's pull mode to a push mode (Figure 6), and the vision of P&C IT would become reality:

"Our digital operating platform enables handling more informa-tion to take decisions in less time while using our intelligence to build new value propositions for clients (e.g., loss preven-tion), leveraging new skills." Vision P&C IT, (Swiss Re, 2016)

It enables flexible processing of cases, distributes tasks to the right people, integrates document management, and increasingly facilitates routine tasks such as archiving.

How the new tool affects customer satisfaction cannot be determined conclusively at the present time. Also, for a systematic evaluation of the response time for customer enquiries and other KPIs, the system has not yet been in use long enough. In addition, the rollout of other promising innovations is planned in the current year, including a semi-automatic classification of documents, which will fur-ther increase the benefits of the system.

Prospects

Opportunities for further development of the system are ex-tremely varied. A key objective will be to make better use of the data collected. In order to categorize and prioritize re-quests for offers automatically, values such as the probabili-ty of closing a deal or expected returns could be used as a basis for decision-making. It might even be possible to sup-port the formation of cross-functional teams by taking into

Fig. 6Future Applications of the System


Conclusion

This Swiss Re case study highlights the complexity

that systems supporting knowledge- and docu-

ment-centric processes have to cope with in a col-

laborative environment. It is primarily a question

of finding the optimal degree of standardization

and flexibility to relieve knowledge workers from

routine tasks and to assist them in their deci-

sion-making.

The digitization of the offer process in the field of P&C Rein-surance at Swiss Re described above covers a wide spec-trum of the strategic and operational action fields investi-gated in the framework of the study. The main findings are presented in Figure 7 and shown below:

To what purpose and with what effect does digital

transformation occur? What customer benefit is

sought or has been achieved?

Customer Benefits:

The customer benefits from the solution owing to shorter response times, competitive products and solutions, and ultimately from improved decision-making and quality of advice.

Product and Service Innovation:

The adaptive solution creates conditions to enable product and service innovations to be developed in ways that are cost-effective and flexible.

Operational & Service Excellence:

Operational & service excellence is achieved by relieving specialists of routine tasks, combining the necessary ex-pertise for the client's benefit, and distributing the work effectively among operatives. Under these conditions, knowledge workers)can focus on the essential aspects of their work, namely on the clients, product development, and quality in the provision of underwriting, which ultimately translates into growth. The key contribution made by digiti-zation is its ability to employ existing knowledge at the right time, in the right place, and thereby make the best use of resources available.

What has been, or is being, digitally transformed?

Business Model: Entering new markets sooner

The development of new markets and target groups also pro-vides a reason for transforming the offer process. Integrated, flexible case management and a modernized work environ-ment present an ideal situation in which to accomplish this. Owing to the reduced complexity of the system landscape and a simplified operation, new employees quickly learn how to use the offer process. The operating models can be adapted to market and customer needs more quickly and effectively.

Business Operations: Supporting interaction with

customers effectively

Personal contact and continuity (same contact person) are essential elements of the customer relationship in the field of P&C reinsurance. The system is based on these principles and consolidates internal and external communication in one location to be able, on the one hand, to retrieve all infor-mation related to a case at any time and, on the other hand, to archive it in a systematic manner. In this way, the quality of service and decision-making is ultimately improved.

How and by what means will this transformation

take place?

Process digitization: Orchestrating knowledge work

The new solution provides integrated case management for everyone at P&C reinsurance involved in the offer process, with very little media disruption. The focus shifts from the se-quential execution of tasks in different systems towards the empowerment of employees in the decision-making process. The relevant knowledge is prepared and made available cen-trally via information hubs. The retrieval of this knowledge in the pull mode is to be expanded by cognitive assistants who provide the knowledge proactively in the push mode.

Greater flexibility: Working effectively on individual

cases

Doing without a predefined sequence of tasks, to a great extent, has laid the groundwork for managing cases flexibly depending on the skills necessary for a decision in a par-ticular case.


Fig. 7Swiss Re Case Study in the Context of the Study Framework


Motahari-Nezhad, H. R., & Swenson, K. D. (2013). Adaptive Case Management: Overview and Research Challenges. IEEE International Conference on Business Informatics, (S.264-269). Vienna, Austria.

OMG. (2014). Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN). Retrieved from http://www.omg.org/spec/CMMN/.

PWC. (2015). Insurance 2020 & beyond: Necessity is the mother of reinvention.

Swenson, K. D. (2011). Taming the Unpredictable: Real World Adaptive Case Management. Future Strategies Inc.

Swiss Re. (2016). The way forward – Group strategic framework updated for 2016 and beyond. Retrieved from http://www.swissre.com/about_us/about_our_business/our_strategy/.

Sources

ABOUT APPWAY, SWISS RE SOLUTION PARTNER

(www.appway.com)

The digital business platform Appway empowers service companies in implementing digital transfor-

mations that go beyond mere automation. It provides four key building blocks: “User Experience”,

“Work Automation”, “Agile Development,” and “Continuous Delivery”. These fulfill, among other things,

the functions of a business process management suite (including business rules and business activity

monitoring).

Appway helps companies to develop and operate scalable and reliable digital enterprise applications.

The platform is comprehensive, coordinating all relevant interactions in a collaborative digital workplace

and transmitting important business insights which inspire organizations to translate their visions into

effective solutions. By seamlessly orchestrating people, knowledge, and systems, Appway promotes

collective intelligence and enables companies to reinvent themselves for the digital age.

Appway has its headquarters in Zurich and offices in Chiasso and Geneva, as well as in London, Hong

Kong, New York, Singapore, and Toronto. Through its award-winning technology, Appway serves over

165 organizations and 420,000 people worldwide.

Zurich Universityof Applied Sciences

School of Management and LawSt.-Georgen-Platz 2 P.O. Box8401 Winterthur Switzerland

www.zhaw.ch/sml

CONTEXT OF THE CASE STUDY

The ZHAW study «Business Process Management 2016: Status Quo and Best Practices - Cus-

tomer Benefits through Digital Transformation?» examined the role of process management as

a design lever of digital transformation. The project involved a collaborative study and a best

practice workshop with five participants (Amag Leasing, the Canton of Zurich, Swisscom, Swiss

Re, and Bank Vontobel) during which challenges, solutions, and success patterns were dis-

cussed and presented as case studies. This excerpt of the study summarizes the findings of the

Swiss Re case study.

To download the study (in German), go to: http://www.zhaw.ch/bpm-studie

INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE AUTHORS

The Institute of Business Information Technology at the ZHAW School of Management and Law

is an application-oriented platform for research at the interface of business and computer sci-

ence. It is commissioned by its business partners to conduct studies on different aspects of

business information technology and carry out applied research and development projects.

The following Institute members were involved in the study:

Elke Brucker-Kley, Denisa Kykalová, David Grünert, Thomas Keller, Simon Näpflin