Third award in a row "stamp of approval," says Old Mutual

For the third year in a row, customers have voted Old Mutual tops when it comes to customer service excellence in the long-term Insurance industry, says Ask Afrika.

Customers have benefited from Old Mutual’s commitment to set the service bar high by implementing changes in its servicing business. “Being placed first in the Ask Afrika Orange Index® survey is a credible stamp of approval for our efforts,” comments Rose Keanly, Managing Director: Old Mutual Service, Technology and Administration.

"Ours is an established financial services brand with a strong South Africa legacy. As the country's premier savings and investment group, we want to engage and build emotional links with our customers, stakeholders and the broader community – as well as to communicate our company’s proud brand image, which is aimed at inspiring customers to do great things," says Keanly.

"One of our core principles is that people should be able to choose how they want to be serviced. We are determined to be accessible to them. Currently, we have thirteen call centres and 161 branch offices in operation. O­n average, every single working day, we take 17 100 calls, and deal with 1 260 customer walk-ins, 1 350 emails and 18 400 electronic transactions," she says.

Keanly regards o­n-going service improvement as key to service excellence.

She says, "We are after consistent customer experience with sustainable continuous improvement, which explains why we use LEAN principles to improve customer service and empower the customer-facing service front line."

“Our LEAN journey involves asking who the customer is and what adds value, rigorous measurement and target setting, relentless continuous improvement, removing ‘waste’ from customer processes, and extensive simplification and standardisation.”

Old Mutual is predominantly a service organisation. Research shows that the company's customers view product quality, value for money, value of advice and investment performance as part of their service experience. This means that every employee is a brand ambassador who is responsible for service – directly or indirectly. Employees are continually reminded of this.

"LEAN is all about transforming our organisation’s culture. And we are seeing some significant business pay-offs. Maintenance costs per policy per member have dropped significantly in the last three years. Our intermediary service ratings are improving year o­n year, and staff morale is up. It's wonderful to see, therefore, that our customers and stakeholders' levels of satisfaction, as measured by the Ask Afrika Orange Index Survey, are the highest in our industry," says Keanly.

In addition, Old Mutual is deeply committed to the long term development and transformation of the broader South African community and has a growing footprint in Africa, Europe, USA, Latin America and Asia, with a range of financial services solutions for individuals, families, small businesses and institutions.

Comments Kuseni Dlamini, CEO: Old Mutual South Africa and Emerging Markets, "Our company’s impact o­n the South African economy is extremely significant. For example, in 2009, Old Mutual South Africa paid out over R2.4 billion in death, disability and risk cover claims – or an average of R9.5 million per working day."

The company has taken a stand o­n becoming its customers’ most trusted financial services partner, passionate about helping them achieve their lifetime financial goals. Adds Dlamini, “When we consistently put our customers first, listen and respond whole-heartedly to them, I believe we can unleash excellence and real magic across all the markets in which we operate. This award is apt recognition for the commitment displayed by our people in the Old Mutual Services, Technology and Administration business. We are committed to investing the effort in improving the service experience of our customers and will continue to differentiate ourselves in this area of our business.”

For the third year in a row the Ask Afrika Orange Index® survey is telling Old Mutual that it's o­n the right track.