Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 1ST - 7TH NOVEMBER 2019 | 25 Customers Brought to you in association with The trust agenda is a primary focus for Aviva, said con- sumer expert Darren Cornish, with data now a de ning component. And its customer strategy includes both an operational approach and a strategic perspective. Although formerly at Eon, Cornish said: "I come to this group not at all from a pious perspective. Earning public trust is as challenging for insurers as it is for util- ity businesses. And there wasn't a single day in my ve years with Eon when we didn't attempt to improve trust." Trust opportunities There now exist "massive opportunities for leadership across the utilities sector and nancial services" in terms of trust, he said. "The public and consumers want to be with businesses that earn that trust. Interestingly, our research shows that the 'entry ticket to the game' is just delivering day in day out behind the products and services our customers buy from us – being reliable. "So as well as evidencing we have our customers' interests at heart and will do what they expect you to, we know that customers value stature and legacy – the fact we have been in business 324 years gives con dence that we will be here for them when it matters." Transparency progress The public expect companies to be transparent. "All we do is sell a promise. A promise to pay a claim or to look a‡ er your investments and pension," he said. Aviva has strived to lead the way on sharing information on data, such as claims payouts. "We pay out 98 per cent of claims, yet our research comes back consistently saying two in three of the public believe insurers avoid paying. "You can shout as long as you like it's not the case, and some aspects perhaps come through. But our view is trust is about actions not words, and we have to con- tinue to evidence we can be trusted." Gauging sentiment "We measure trust closely – surveying and benchmark- ing across the nancial sectors – and also broader, with the public, customers and our intermediaries. So, we have three layers of understanding of how we're per- forming in the trust space." And the company's employee engagement pro- gramme now includes a strong focus on whether staŽ believe the company can be trusted from a customer perspective. "It's a really interesting question. We now put a lot of store in whether our staŽ think there are some parts of our propositions that sit uncomfortably with them. "There is a strong correlation between trust and how likely customers are to use us and stay with us." Data versus delivery Keeping customer data safe, and using it appropriately, comes through consistently as the second-highest driver of trust, said Cornish. "Forty-seven per cent of customers say: 'Get that wrong and you can forget us wanting to do business with you.' Yet still, 50 per cent put this behind service – doing what you said you'd do is ranked even higher. "We know if we don't deliver against the promises we've made, it destabilises customer con dence, includ- ing around their data." Personal touch With 400 data scientists across its group business, Aviva, just as the utilities sector, said Cornish, is tread- ing a careful line between the bene ts of using data in a more sophisticated way and what it can give to a person- alised service that reduces customer eŽ ort. "Customers tell us clearly they want us to put as little grit as possible into the experience and make it as low customer eŽ ort as possible. But getting the balance right is a very delicate judgement and we've tried to do this in a very overt way. We've had TV campaigns and a major internal education programme, so all our customer- facing people understand what our data privacy stand- ard is. "It's not just about managing the relationship; it's about managing the root causes of disconnect with customers." Legacy issues "Our biggest challenge, not dissimilar to utilities, is legacy platforms. We know poor quality underlying data erodes customer trust. "For instance, we are constantly working on address mismatches, just within our UK data systems. We get 3,000 calls a month from customers who want our app but there is a disconnect between the back-end system and the details they are trying to register. "Those are the realities, but I think we have got to a much more practical place. "We have innovative and exciting initiatives in the big data space but we now have at least as much invest- ment, eŽ ort and resource focused on data quality, so that we can show up in the right way for our customers." Darren Cornish, director of systems thinking and group customer strategy at Aviva UK, and formerly of Eon, shared his cross-sector experiences of consumer data and trust. "We pay out 98 per cent of claims, yet our research comes back consistently saying two in three of the public believe insurers avoid paying."

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