Establishing a foundation to manage the uniform organization within the proxy chain and rolling out the program to all parties involved is not something you 'just do'. By bringing the right parties together and outlining the horizon, the original idea became more and more concrete. Before the actual rollout could begin, however, one important link was still missing: the program manager. Alex de Ruiter, an experienced manager at the interface between business and IT, turned out to be the right person for the job.
Alex de Ruiter was asked a year ago to take on program management and shape the actual establishment of the foundation. "The program was already busy preparing at that time, but the foundation itself did not formally exist yet." After its establishment in September and its presentation to proxies and insurers, he and the daily board focused, among other things, on working out the regulations for participants and the pay-as-you-go system. Next, proxies and insurers were asked to sign up as participants in the foundation.
Alex: "In addition to the foundation board, a daily board has been appointed to manage the program. This daily board forms the steering committee and focuses mainly on working out plans and monitoring progress. In terms of content, the uniform arrangement may seem fairly simple and orderly, but it is not. This is due to the large number of parties involved within the chain, the large number of products and the diversity within them. In addition to the foundation and SIVI, some 40 insurers, 250 authorized representatives, three system houses and several software suppliers are involved. All these parties must be included in the approach and timelines of the program: how it works (technically), what it entails and what their role in it is. This requires a lot of time and effort, but is above all a great challenge. Clear communication is crucial when we want to get more than 300 parties moving."
'It's critical that it works
for every party.'
The first pilot phase with ANVA started at the end of December 2019. After initial experiences and some test findings were resolved, the software is now available to all ANVA offices. "Beforehand, together with ANVA, we informed all offices about the program and their specific role. We realize very well that the unification process has to be done by a trustee only 'briefly' in addition to the regular work. Although ANVA with its conversion software supports the authorized representatives as much as possible, making the necessary preparations and actually carrying out (trial) conversions still require considerable effort. That is why it is very important to be really sure at the start that it works for each party. It is a chain, any obstacles along the way will cause delays in the whole process. We want to avoid that, of course!".
We started the rollout with (mainly private) VPI products. This will be followed by non-VPI products, pool products, products developed by Managing General Agents themselves and more complex products. "The chain consists of several links that are interdependent. To achieve the goals, we must be disciplined and ensure sufficient pace. This requires a considerable effort from all parties involved, but I am very confident that together we will bring this challenge to a good result. So start today or at least tomorrow!"
