Inside John Hancock's four-year core transformation effort

John Hancock is launching a four-year effort, in partnership with technology consulting leader Infosys, to implement a single, integrated platform to provide its life and annuity customers with a holistic digital experience.

The initiative is part of a broader corporate ambition to digitize operations and position the company as a customer-centric leader. These efforts already includes the John Hancock Vitality program, a rewards program that incorporates a mobile app and leverages data collected by wearable technologies including the FitBit and Apple Watch, as well as the robo-advisor and financial advice app Twine.

With the company’s new digital platform, customers will find an enhanced user experience and have a greater line of sight into how their services are being delivered, says Brooks Tingle, president and chief executive officer of John Hancock Insurance. He explains that the project will consolidate several legacy IT systems, which will allow the company to provide customers with a more digitally-enabled experience across insurance products.

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“This new, single platform will reduce the number of administrative systems and provide for a simpler and integrated customer experience,” he says. “It allows us to deliver products and new functionality faster to customers and lastly, provides us a holistic view of customer needs and analytics that would not have been possible before.”

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The project serves as a proof point in the company’s mission to create a seamless experience for customers, he adds, and helps to achieve its strategic priorities to become a digital, customer leader; create expense efficiency and optimize its portfolio. As an organization that supports over 10 million Americans with a broad range of financial products, the platform will increase opportunities to leverage advanced analytics to re-engineer the customer experience, while retaining direct responsibility for all customer interactions, including through its contact center.

Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, was the right strategic partner to handle this multi-year effort, says Tingle. “It made sense because it will reduce the cost of supporting closed in-force blocks of business and enable us to keep the project on an accelerated timetable,” he says pointing out that John Hancock spent several months talking with Infosys, visiting several service sites in person, as well as reviewing certifications, audit reports, and various information security documentation.

Ultimately, the single, integrated platform for John Hancock’s life and annuity customers is predicted to take four years to implement, but will help the organization modernize, increase flexibility, and move faster in its global ambitions -- towards achieving true, holistic digital transformation.

“It is critically important that our IT infrastructure supporting in-force customers delivers an exceptional experience,” says Tingle.

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Life insurance Core conversions Core systems Wearable technology Analytics Customer experience
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