Suncorp’s Head of Customer Strategy speaks with FST Media about the results of Suncorp’s ‘journey mapping’ as well as the significance of implementing a CX strategy.

FST Media: What are your priorities for the next 12 to 18 months?

Jordan: Suncorp Commercial Insurance is working to improve the quality of the interactions our customers and intermediaries have with us. We are doing this in three ways: we are spending a lot more time observing the day to day interactions that occur and learning more about what works and what does not work, we are introducing new programs to capture customer feedback, and we are using all of these insights to help guide the simplification of our policy and claims systems.

FST Media: What technology or innovation will be a game-changer for financial services in the year ahead?

Jordan: In Suncorp Commercial Insurance, we work with a lot of small business owners who invest many hours in businesses they have created and nurtured. I am sure that any innovation that saves on time but still leaves people feeling they are well-informed and protected against the risks associated with running a business would be valued from a customer perspective.

FST Media: What role does ‘design thinking’ play in the customer journey?

Jordan: Design thinking provides any organisation with the ability to step outside the confines of its own culture, systems and processes and observe how everything hangs together from a customer perspective. This ‘outside in’ perspective is commonly referred to as ‘the customer journey’. 

FST Media: How do teams in Suncorp react when they see their product or service depicted as a customer journey?

Jordan: Understanding the customer journey means you get to see what your customers think you are really good at as well as areas for improvement. I think as people we all tend to focus on our faults and imperfections and lose sight of all the good we do. It is great when people get the chance to see how their efforts are valued and acknowledged by our customers and intermediaries. This is especially powerful for people who do not get to deal with customers directly. It is a great motivator to make things even better and tackle those parts of the customer experience that are not so good.

FST Media: What have been the results of Suncorp’s ‘journey mapping’?

Jordan: The highest compliment for an insurer is a customer who renews a policy or takes out additional policies as a result of their claims experience. The commercial motor claims team began working with customer journey maps 12 months ago and established a project team to implement the findings. We have some fantastic feedback from customers and intermediaries about the changes we have made to the process and business performance metrics have also improved.

FST Media: How has Suncorp’s embedding of CX strategy within the overall business strategy delivered value to the business? How will you measure its success?

Jordan: This has certainly helped lift the profile and positioning of the work we are doing and provides strong alignment to the Group Customer Strategy. Measuring success is always interesting. We look at this at two different levels – we monitor local level initiatives where it is easier to see a direct correlation between actions and outcomes. We also monitor a consolidated view of perceptive, descriptive, culture and outcome metrics which provides a higher level view of CX.

FST Media: How do you encourage a culture of innovation in your team?

Jordan: The commercial insurance team has an active Yammer community where members share customer research and new insights. This keeps everyone looking out and looking ahead which is a great starting place for ideas. We also have a very active innovation community within Suncorp so the internal environment is also very conducive to teams who prefer to work this way.

FST Media: What methods appeal to you to increase the number of women in IT?

Jordan: I have a ten year old daughter who fits the STEM target audience perfectly. Programs such as ‘Alice’ by Carnegie Mellon University have been fantastic for teaching her basic programming skills and she loves them. She is now part of the QUT Young Scholars program and gets to attend fabulous workshops learning about topics like digital animation. I think these early immersion programs really help young girls see the breadth of opportunities that exist for them in IT.

FST Media: Every leader has a legacy they wish to be remembered for, what is yours?

Jordan: The legacy I wish to be remembered for is that, at the heart of every business strategy I helped to create and implement, there was the unwavering belief in the potential of the people within the organisation to achieve something truly extraordinary.