WSIB – December 2019

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Seamless customer journeys and digital readiness


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Seamless customer journeys and digital readiness

DECEMBER 2019


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WSIB

Samantha Liscio, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, discusses the organisation’s digital transformation and its drive to enable seamless customer experiences

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n Ontario, Canada, workers benefit from legislation compelling their employers to provide workplace insurance. This

strategy necessitates a provider for that cover and Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is that very organisation. While many companies view digital transformation as a means to keep up to date with the times or gain a measure against the competition, such compulsions are not so clear for state-mandated entities; if the organisation is essential, one might wonder why that organisation would prioritise exhaustive modernisation and the heavy investment and strategic challenges of shifting operations to digitised solutions that it entails. Samantha Liscio, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at WSIB, dismisses such notions. The focus, she says, has to be on making the customer experience seamless, straightforward, and easy, irrespective of whether employers have the option to change insurer. “Our


The digiHUB is located at WSIB’s head office. It is a workspace for all things digital, featuring an open layout that encourages employees to come together and collaborate

1914

Year founded

CA$4.4bn Revenue in Canadian dollars

4,000 Number of employees

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WSIB

“ Our CEO affirms that our goal here is to be the insurer of choice. Even as a monopoly, if our customer had a choice they should pick us, and he’s very vocal about that”

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— Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB

CEO affirms that our goal here is to be the insurer of choice,” she says. “Even as a monopoly, if our customer had a choice they should pick us, and he’s very vocal about that.” This obligation is driven by the services and solutions that customers have come to expect from the modern world, where vital information and operations can be accessed and actioned through apps that define and enable sleek, optimised customer journeys. “We still have competition on customer expectations, and

WSIB has a lab at Kitchener’s innovation hub Communitech – employees can collaborate and leverage other communal creative environments


CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WE’RE MAKING IMPROVEMENTS TO DELIVER BETTER SERVICE’ 07 we feel that very keenly these days

status, and they want the WSIB to be

when people can go online and bank

easy and straightforward and availa-

or purchase airline tickets with one

ble. That really is what’s driving digital

click,” explains Liscio. “It makes an

transformation for us.”

imperative for us to be able to provide

With this focus on the customer,

services like that to them, because

WSIB has identified the processes

when our clients come to us they’re

which define the customer journey

injured or they’re ill and they expect

and performed a series of ethno-

that the great work that we do to help

graphic studies into the needs and

them get better and return to work

expectations of its customer base. By

isn’t overshadowed by how difficult it

then taking staff through each facet of

is to deal with us. They don’t want to

that journey, the areas of convolution

be worrying about mailing or faxing

and friction become clear. Addressing

information to us, they don’t want to

these areas of frustration, Liscio says,

have to call to figure out their claim

will enable the digital transformation w w w.w s ib . ca




WSIB

“ With a clear focus on what our customers want, IT can foster discussions around the art of the possible in using digital tools to enable transformation” 10

— Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB to precipitate the correct changes for

enable transformation. IT can show

the organisation as a whole. “Getting

the business what modern technol-

staff to think from an outside in kind

ogy and modern software can bring

of focus, and getting that customer

in terms of enablement and meeting

experience right, drives other values

those customer needs, effectively

too. We track public value as a key

orchestrating and architecting for the

measure and part of our strategic

future in a scalable, efficient, and

metrics reporting, and if we get the

sustainable way.”

customer piece right, our public value

While Liscio believes that some tra-

and trust measures change for the

ditional access channels will remain

better as well. With a clear focus on

in place to serve the less digitally-

what our customers want, IT can

enabled, removing reliance on paper

foster discussions around the art of

is a fundamental piece of the trans-

the possible in using digital tools to

formation. Claims related documents


Located in WSIB’s head office at Simcoe Place, the digital factory represents its commitment as an organisation to develop solutions for the people it serves, improve its processes, upgrade its systems, and enable employees to provide the services that customers need with the least amount of effort. WSIB’s digital factory is both a physical space and a way of working

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Samantha Liscio As Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at the WSIB, Samantha is responsible for digital transformation, leveraging technology and customer experience to streamline processes, provide value and modernise the business. She ensures IT operational excellence, directs innovation and drives the highest possible value from technology assets and investments. Samantha has over 20 years of experience in IT leadership roles. In previous positions in both the public service and private industry, she led the design and implementation of large-scale digital transformative initiatives.

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘PETE’S RETURN-TO-WORK STORY’ 13 can now be uploaded directly from a

because if you’re handling digital

laptop or mobile phone and delivered

information it fundamentally changes

to the organisation digitally, signifi-

the business processes, rationalising

cantly decreasing the lead times for

those business processes in line with

postage and processing of faxes that

customer journeys and then finally

traditionally hinder the expedition of

deploying the enabling technology

claims processes. This customer-

using agile methods that can be sus-

facing element permeates through

tainable in the long term. Doing all

the organisation as part of what Liscio

three of those together is key so this

calls WSIB’s biggest transformation

isn’t just a technology project, even

endeavour in its 105-year history: the

though a big component of that is

core services modernisation pro-

replacing and upgrading our core sys-

gramme. “It’s essentially doing three

tem of record.”

things,” she explains. “It’s getting rid of paper and becoming digital at source,

This is where key partner Guidewire comes in, providing a suite of w w w.w s ib . ca


WSIB

PA RT N E R S

Wipro “Providing continuous improvement enhancement and on-going defect fixes has been a vital component in maintaining performance and stability in our core system. Wipro have helped the WSIB rollout system enhancements that have reduced the number of clicks from our core system users by more than 50%” 14

IBM “We’ve just partnered with IBM to do our managed hosting and cloud services, and they’re helping us understand how we can be better use data and analytics in our data centres so that we can automate the repetitive server administration tasks and drive efficiencies as we plan and orchestrate cloud services” Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation officer

WSIB’s leaders come together frequently to talk about its modernization journey and plan for next steps


digitally-enabled insurance tools to facilitate rapid claims registration, administration and return-to-work processes. “A ‘quick win’ for us has been the digital document upload tool that we launched last year, and its connectivity to Guidewire,” enthuses Liscio, adding that the organisation’s time to market has been cut drastically through using the digital factory to drive development. “In the past, it took years to launch WSIB products, but this one was 16 weeks from inception to launch. In 2018, we received more than 2.3mn pieces of paper either by mail or by fax and we’re cutting a lot of that through the digital upload tool; it now has more daily uploads than the total documents we receive in paper. They come in and they go into the Guidewire backend system instantaneously. It also removes some of the call volume that we have from people asking if we have received their postal or fax documents, removing all of the barriers to good and fast customer service.” To remove the barriers to its own transformational success, WSIB has also partnered with IT and business w w w.w s ib . ca

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Change. It’s what we do. Avenai is a business and IT services consulting company that specializes in helping our clients transform into high performing organizations. With a value driven focus, we work with our clients to create business strategies and solutions that drive positive impact. With offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Victoria, BC we are a growing consultancy that has an excellent reputation for working closely alongside our clients and rolling up our sleeves to make sure that change sticks. Learn More

We’re honored to help WSIB deliver on its mission


CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DOUG’S RETURN-TO-WORK STORY’ 17 services consultancy Avenai to intro-

it,” Liscio explains. “Avenai helped

duce a new, digitally-empowered

us do a current state assessment of

organisational framework. “Previously

how our legacy model was impeding

there were silos of IT operations and

our progress and then suggested an

solutions delivery; it didn’t work well

industry standard IT operating model

together. When a major project was

that was much more client focused,

finished and the development work

with delivery verticals leveraging agile

was done, it kind of got thrown over

and DevOps methods and supported

the fence to operations to manage

by horizontal IT shared services func-

and maintain it. If there were defects

tions. We’ve moved our entire 300+

that needed to be worked through

person IT organisation into that new

with problem management, that work

functional model, and have started to

was difficult to assign and there was

change behaviours at the leadership

finger pointing between operations

level by agreeing on a set of values

and delivery as to who should do

that we aspire to. At its heart, it’s w w w.w s ib . ca


WSIB

An employee uses WSIB’s new best-in-class phone system, Genesys

about being customer focused, collaborative, demonstrating clear value to the business and moving from a project to a product focus. Avenai was very helpful in helping us help shift the organisational culture, applying specific behavioural performance objectives, and helping us bring the necessary leadership, values, and culture piece into the change management approach during the deployment of the new model.” Change management, the Everest of all digital transformations, has thus

“ In the past, it took years to launch WSIB products, but for the digital upload tool it was 16 weeks from inception to launch” — Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB


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been enabled by this structural revolu-

simple reimbursement for medical

tion to WSIB’s IT operations and the

costs. Those can be processed auto-

associated change in culture across

matically in the Guidewire solution,

the IT organisation. The success of its

based on WSIB business rules, and

new digital products, and the ability to

we can take advantage of the auto-

automate repetitive tasks and expand

mation potential within the software

the capacity for employees’ additional

itself. This straight-through process-

value-added activities, is facilitated

ing means that claims processing

by this newly-enabled readiness. An

times are dramatically improved and

example that Liscio offers regarding

staff with high skills and expertise

automation is in the straight-through

can spend their valuable time on the

processing of medical expenses

complex claims that require human

claims that it enables. “More than

decisions.” As a result, a claims

70% of the claims that we have involve

process that could have taken a full w w w.w s ib . ca


WSIB

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“ It’s about being customer focused, collaborative, demonstrating clear value to the business and having the IT leaders model those behaviours by building commitments into their performance objective directly” — Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB


payment cycle to deliver has become instantaneous, and the benefit for customers speaks for itself. In the age of digital transformation, customer centricity and operational preparedness are characteristics that separate the winners from the chasers, and this is no less certain for companies whose offering is mandated by local authorities. These qualities resonate through the entirety of Liscio’s strategic endeavours. “For digital transformation to succeed, IT can’t be the order taker to the business to execute on individual priorities, it needs to demonstrate clear value that’s aligned to the customer, it needs to do these things while keeping the engines running and the plumbing working, all in a safe and secure and sustainable way,” she asserts. “It’s about looking at things foundationally, assessing the key pieces that we need to have in place to truly transform how we do our business, and leveraging the expertise of key partners that will help us get that right.”

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Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) 200 Front Street West Toronto, Ontario Canada M5V 3J1 T +1 800 387 0750 www.wsib.ca/en


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