With roots stretching back to Australia’s earliest benevolent societies, NobleOak has a deep legacy rivalling some of Australia’s most iconic and long-lasting businesses. Yet, while its roots are mature, its innovation ecosystem and ambitions are evergreen.

Today, the life insurer bills itself as the foremost challenger brand in Australia’s life insurance space, proudly combining the time-tested traditions of the in-person experience with best-of-breed digital services.

We recently spoke with NobleOak Chief Executive and seasoned financial services industry leader Anthony Brown on the life insurer’s evergreen approach to transformation in a traditionally change-averse life sector, the lessons learned from its wholesale, multi-year digital uplift program, and how burgeoning technologies like AI are already reshaping core business practices.

FST Media: NobleOak, like many of your financial services peers, has undergone a major digital transformation program.

Take us through some of the key insights and obstacles faced in your transformation journey, particularly considering the legacy stack you have had to solve for.

Brown: The digital transformation we’ve undertaken over the last few years and continue today has allowed us to adapt our ways of working to ensure better experiences for our customers and more efficient ways of completing business tasks for our internal teams.

Our investment in advanced digital capabilities has allowed us to modernise our infrastructure and create more efficient workflows across the business, particularly for our sales and underwriting teams.

Further, our approach to digital transformation, driven by a customer-first mindset, has allowed us to improve agility and respond more effectively to evolving customer needs and circumstances.

Some of the key insights we learnt along the way were:

• Design around business goals: Your digital strategies should be built to support your overall business objectives. At NobleOak, our digital transformation is aligned with our ambition to be the leading challenger brand in the Australian life insurance market. Better technology and continuous innovation enable us to grow more quickly and serve our current customers more effectively to outperform competitors.
• Technology as the enabler, not the end goal. At NobleOak we offer an omni-channel approach, as we want customers to engage with us in the way that suits them best – whether it be over the phone or digitally. However, we never want to lose the personal touch with our customers. We’re extremely proud of our commitment to doing the right thing by our customers and our teams answering calls and emails efficiently and with genuine empathy.
• Internal buy-in: It’s crucial to get the entire organisation onboard with the digital transformation, which is why we established a cross-functional working group at the start of the NobleOak transformation with all areas of the business represented, enabling us to identify pain points and necessary changes effectively.
• Scoping and prioritisation: Accurately scoping the work and prioritising tasks based on their impact is vital to ensure that projects stay within budget and deliver the most important outcomes on time.

FST Media: Consumer behaviour in recent years has shown a growing preference for engaging with online platforms when making significant financial decisions. Appreciating this shift, how is NobleOak enhancing its front-line digital experience?

Brown: We have always focused on the customer first. We also continuously gather feedback from our customers to understand their needs and preferences.

Some of the key enhancements we have made in the last 18 months include:

• A new, streamlined multi-product quote tool, so customers can receive a quote quickly and easily.
• An optimised AI-powered application process, allowing customers to move through their application and receive their policy (if accepted) quicker than ever before.
• The launch of our customer portal, giving customers greater control over their policies and fast access to their cover information.
• Online chat functionalities for real-time customer support.
• The ability to book appointments online, providing flexibility and convenience.

These changes have made the customer journey quicker, smoother, and more enjoyable.

And our transformation won’t stop here – we have many more innovations planned over the next six to 12 months to further enhance our digital capabilities.

FST Media: How is NobleOak differentiating itself from competitors and delivering a new edge in its uplift of digital customer experience?

Brown: Customer satisfaction is what matters most to us, not necessarily implementing new technology for the sake of it. For example, the launch of our new portal was driven by customer feedback that they wanted to have more autonomy over their policies and choice in how they interact with us.

By prioritising technology and innovation, we have not only improved operational efficiency but also fostered more engaging customer relationships. Our digital tools are designed to enable seamless communication and provide personalised experiences tailored to individual needs.

While keeping up with digital innovation is essential, we also focus on the human touch and lead with empathy. Our customer-facing teams have been recognised with industry awards for their dedication and are available to those new or existing customers who would prefer a phone call or need additional support.

We pride ourselves on being an omni-channel business where customers can choose how and when they transact with us.

FST Media: With consumer attitudes towards customer service and digital interfaces always evolving, even within the traditionally conservative domain of life insurance, how do you think the industry should respond?

Brown: In an era marked by rapid technological advancements and evolving client expectations, the life insurance industry has had many opportunities to really embrace technology for positive transformation.

Merging innovation with a client-centric approach will drive efficiency, effectiveness, and ultimately, customer satisfaction. As the industry continuously evolves, leveraging technological advancements such as AI will help insurers stay ahead of the curve and keep up with consumer expectations. This involves not only enhancing digital interfaces but also fostering a customer-first mindset across all levels of the organisation.

Insurers should continue to invest in technology that enhances personalisation and engagement while ensuring that human support remains available for those who prefer traditional interactions.

FST Media: The infiltration of artificial intelligence technologies, whether invited or resisted, appears inevitable across all sectors in the digital economy. How can NobleOak leverage AI to better meet the needs of customers? And, as a challenger organisation, how will this technology serve to differentiate your business from competitors?

Brown: At NobleOak, we recognise that AI plays a pivotal role in driving progress, and by integrating AI and other advanced technologies, we’ve been able to significantly accelerate and enhance key areas of our business. A few examples are below:

• Our Quality Assurance (QA) process: With our AI-driven ‘Daisee’ voice analytics tool, we now analyse 100% of customer calls in real time, improving interaction consistency, compliance, and service quality while reducing the workload for our QA team.
• NobleOak’s AI-driven underwriting rules engine: Our AI-powered underwriting engine, launched in 2022, has streamlined life insurance applications, speeding up the process by 67 per cent for low-risk customers, allowing some to complete it in just 10 minutes (as measured in November 2023).
• Lapse Prediction: Using AI-driven predictive analytics, we’ve enhanced customer retention by identifying at-risk policies and implementing personalised engagement strategies with fewer resources.

We continue to look at how we can improve our products and service through AI and innovation more generally to provide NobleOak with a competitive advantage.

As a challenger brand, we need to continue to innovate and make the most of our resources to keep our title as Australia’s fastest-growing direct life insurer. ■

Anthony Brown will be a featured keynote speaker at FST’s upcoming Future of Financial Services, Sydney 2024 conference.