Maximizing Business Value Post Guidewire Implementation – Part 2
Building on the insights from our first discussion on maximizing business value post-Guidewire implementation, this second part goes deeper into the practical strategies that can ensure the system’s continuous improvement and alignment with business objectives. As the newest Guidewire update, Jasper, improves features and user experience, we concentrate on other crucial aspects such as efficient knowledge management, competent support team development, and using advanced technological updates to achieve operational excellence. This approach not only enhances user experience but also ensures that business operations remain competitive in the fast-evolving insurance market. Let us explore these strategies in detail.
Knowledge Management: Maintaining a comprehensive knowledge base that documents known issues is essential. The Known Error Database (KeDB), help articles, and reusable assets should continue to be created and updated to help support teams resolve incidents more efficiently and assist in training new team members.
Skilled Support Team: Assembling a team of skilled professionals with expertise in Guidewire applications, insurance processes, and problem-solving continues to be a priority. A post-implementation team comprising multiple levels of support personnel is crucial. This includes the L1 team, who continue to be the first point of contact for the customers, the L2 team, who can handle the documented issues or configuration-related changes, and the L3 team, who are responsible for application fixes. It continues to be essential that all three levels of support personnel remain skilled, trained, and certified in the Guidewire suite of products. The ability to perform triage remains a critical skill in an AMS team to keep up with the agreed SLA with the customer. Guidewire certifications, continuous training, and knowledge sharing continue to be key to ensuring the support team remains up to date with the latest features and best practices. It is important to note that Guidewire mandates only certified ACE developers to promote code and approve pull requests.
Continuous Improvement: Regularly assessing and refining support processes to optimize incident resolution times and improve support quality has been a continuous effort. Soliciting feedback from users and support team members to identify areas for enhancement has been an ongoing practice. Looking for automation of manual tasks and creating reusable assets to accelerate efficiency has been a focus.
User Training: Providing training to end-users on how to use Guidewire applications effectively remains essential. Well-trained users can help prevent incidents caused by operational errors. Engaging the business team much before implementation and training them adequately continues to be valuable.
Vendor Collaboration: Establishing a strong relationship with Guidewire and all third-party vendors to leverage their support and expertise remains crucial. This collaboration continues to expedite issue resolution and provide insights into best practices.
Governance structure: Project governance stands on three pillars -structure, people, and information. A 3-tiered robust governance model that defines how projects should be managed and overseen so that they are compliant with the organization’s strategic goals, culture, and ethics should be established. This model should ensure alignment with client stakeholders at operational, tactical, and strategic levels. At the strategic level, the Executive Management Forum should meet at least on a quarterly basis to provide top-down strategic direction and planning. The Program Management Forum should meet monthly to execute the strategies laid out by the Executive level and provide directions to the project team and this will form the Tactical level. The Operational level should define processes, standards and ensure successful execution of the project. Project Review Forum should connect daily for the day-to-day activities and hold a weekly operational review.
By strategically harnessing the capabilities of Guidewire, businesses can effectively transform and scale their operations. Focusing on these critical success factors, organizations can ensure that their Guidewire production support is efficient, responsive, and aligned with business goals, which can lead to improved customer satisfaction and operational excellence. It continues to enable insurance companies to stay competitive and deliver superior services to their customers.
Traditional Application Maintenance Services offers batch monitoring and incident management but often fall short in addressing the other major issues such as high-ticket velocity, lower helpdesk productivity, and inadequate L1 and L2 support. However, with newer operating models, it is possible to streamline operations more effectively and efficiently. Application Maintenance Services should continue to help customers not only keep the lights on but also use a progressive value generation approach. Such an approach can help reduce overall Cost of Operations, improve IT footprint and enable them to transform their business.
With its expert team of Guidewire specialists and industry professionals, Tech Mahindra offers guidance and best practices to help insurers optimize their Guidewire implementations. For further information and to enhance your transformation efforts, contact the Tech Mahindra Guidewire team at insurancemarketing@techmahindra.com.
