Delivering a Valuable Experience for Customers IN ASSOCIATION WITH
VITALITY
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
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Delivering a Valuable Experience for Customers
www.vi t a l i ty . co. u k
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VITALITY
Dave Priestley, Chief Digital Officer, explains why delivering value and a superlative customer experience remains Vitality’s core focus
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n an insurance market beginning to take stock of the potential for digital transformation to improve the tradi-
tional business, Vitality is a shining example of a company approaching a centuries-old industry from a refreshing new angle. Founded in 2004, 04
the company’s enduring focus has been not only to provide first-class health and life cover but to actively improve the quality of its customers’ lives. Summarising this approach as “good for them, good for us, good for society”, Vitality has even set the ambitious target of encouraging 100mn people to get 20% more active by 2025. Helping to explain how the company is achieving this and so many other impressive developments, Dave Priestley, Chief Digital Officer, spoke with us on why driving value and a superior customer experience is so vital. Priestley started with Vitality early on as a Sales Director for a joint project launched between South African company Discovery Ltd and Prudential PLC, one of the UK’s most established insurance companies. Now in his 16th year at Vitality - taking on the role of CDO in 2017
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Dynatrace: unlocking the science of operational performance Dave Anderson, Brand and Digital Evangelist, describes how Dynatrace can optimise company performance in an increasingly complex IT landscape A specialist in accelerating digital transformation, Dynatrace is a software solutions provider founded in 2005 and headquartered in Massachusetts. “As cloud environments become more complex, the underlying software needs to work flawlessly,” says Dave Anderson, Brand and Digital Evangelist. “Dynatrace provides intelligence into the performance of a company’s operations and critically applies a layer of AI to enable DevOps teams to work more efficiently.” The company facilitates this by enabling the fast comprehension of where performance issues in an environment are, either automatically or through direct investigation. Recognising that digital transformation is no longer a choice but rather an inescapable and exponentially growing process, Anderson considers Dynatrace as essential providing its clients with “intelligence and confidence to ensure that these complex applications are working the way that they should.” One of its partners in particular, insurance company Vitality, understands the value of Dynatrace’s technology and is taking it in exciting new directions. “Vitality is a great client because it’s using our platform not just to understand their singular applications, but rather their entire digital experience.” After all, while insurance companies might be comparable in terms of products, it is by offering a superior customer experience that they
Dave Anderson @ Dynatrace
can truly differentiate and this is what Dynatrace helps them to achieve. Stating that Vitality’s emphasis on insurance fused with incentive-based health and wellness resonates strongly with him personally, Anderson compliments the company for “really understanding how the performance of every system, API connection and call” factors into its success. It is by working closely with clients like Vitality that Dynatrace is able to determine how best to improve its own services, “Our culture is predicated on not settling for the status quo and continuing to innovate,” Anderson continues. “Dynatrace thrives on exactly the same transformation that our customers are undergoing.” With a platform based on AI (artificial intelligence), one of the fastest growing enterprise technologies in the market, both in terms of adoption and development, Dynatrace’s proven services are likely to evolve concurrently, “You’re not going to see an end to the improvement of AI and automation.” However, Anderson also acknowledges that an important portion of any digital transformation is actually strongly rooted in culture. “It’s not about tools or platforms,” he emphasises. “[Vitality] has a fantastic culture and that will allow them to continue to innovate. I’m really excited about what they’re going to do next.”
VITALITY
“ When I joined the company it was clear right away that Vitality had a very different proposition for health insurance” — Dave Priestley, Chief Digital Officer, Vitality
- Priestley says that what inspired him about the organisation was its aspiration to do something fundamentally different within insurance. “The industry had remained relatively unchanged for a long time,” he recalls. “It was an uninspiring marketplace with very similar product offerings. When I joined the company it was clear right away that Vitality had a very different proposition for health insurance.” That proposition was integrating insurance with wellness, something which he remarks has
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started to scale exponentially since 2004. “Now, almost all of the players in the market have some kind of wellness component in their proposition. However, at the time, I would say we were amongst the first to introduce it.” More recently, the evolution of technology is another key development that Priestley has observed, specifically the ability to monitor peoples’ health remotely, conduct video consultations, utilise AI-powered diagnosis tools, symptom checkers and more. Far from being simply restricted to a GP surgery or hospital, modern healthcare can be brought directly to people’s homes and the
E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :
Dave Priestley Title: Chief Digital Officer
Company: Vitality
Dave has worked within healthcare insurance for the last 24 years, where he has held a number of executive management positions with CIGNA Healthcare, PruHealth and now Vitality. Dave was a member of the executive management team which launched PruHealth in 2004. Over the last 14 years, Dave has played a key role in shaping the strategy from a start-up business to becoming established under the Vitality brand as the 4th largest player in the market with 10% market share. Dave began his career as a pricing underwriter before moving into sales and distribution and was the Sales Director at CIGNA healthcare where he helped to grow the client portfolio to in excess of £100M API and broaden the distribution strategy into new channels and markets such as sickness absence management and dental insurance. Dave joined PruHealth to help launch the business and establish the distribution strategy and operations. After driving rapid new business growth, he assumed overall responsibility for distribution at Vitality following the acquisition of Standard Life Healthcare. More recently, Dave has assumed executive responsibility for digital acquisition and customer retention and is now Vitality’s Chief Digital Officer with responsibility for digital strategy and product management as well as the wider change portfolio.
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TCS is helping customers prepare for business 4.0 Vinay Singhvi, Business Unit Head of BFSI for the UK and Ireland, describes TCS’ commitment to helping clients navigate digital transformation
Vinay Singhvi @ TCS
TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) is a company that almost requires no introduction: one of the largest
started what has become more than a 10-year partnership with the brand, which now, according
and most innovative companies in India with a global reach and almost 450,000 employees, it is a true leader in IT and consulting services. “TCS is
to Singhvi, “has got one of the best brand recalls within the UK market.” Furthermore, their close integration goes beyond a simple supplier-client
one of the world’s largest and most recognised brands in its field. Our focus has always been to help customers drive their growth and transformation journeys,” states Vinay Singhvi, Business Unit Head of BFSI (banking, financial
relationship, as Singhvi describes, “We do not see ourselves as separate from Vitality. It’s about us working together to understand and implement their strategy and help them in achieving their purpose. Our teams that work as part of Vitality
services and insurance) for the UK and Ireland.
see themselves as more Vitality than TCS, that’s how deeply integrated they are.”
“The way we work is primarily about keeping customers at the centre and planning everything
A strong believer in preparing for the next
around them to ensure we are aligned to both their strategy and their business goals,” he explains.
generation of digitally-inflected business (business 4.0), TCS is prioritising a three pillar framework for
Fundamentally, TCS champions an approach that is cutting-edge without sacrificing the human touch, something that Singhvi considers will only become more important as technology keeps evolving. “It’s not about machines replacing
its customers to help them lead in the new normal based on ‘purpose-centricity’, ‘building resilience’ and ‘being adaptable.’” Singhvi also details the company’s ‘25 by 25’ vision: “25 by 25 illustrates that, in our view, by the year 2025, all our systems
humans; it’s about the augmentation that needs to happen and how hyperautomation and AI (artificial
and ways of working will be aligned, so that only 25% of TCS workforce will work out of TCS
intelligence) will enrich the entire human experience.”
facilities at any time. In this regard, we are very excited that TCS is taking a leadership position on new ways of working, not just in the UK but
Recognising early on that Vitality’s incentivebased health and wellness insurance platform held revolutionary potential for the industry, TCS
globally.
VITALITY
insurance industry has followed suit.
are consolidated into one easy-to-
The balance in incorporating these
manage platform for customers.
exciting new possibilities at Vitality,
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Digital transformation has not been
he continues, lies in the unification
without its challenges; established five
of its digital and overall business
years before the ‘digital native’ era of
strategies. “It’s less about delivering a
businesses, Vitality initially began at
digital strategy in isolation and more
a disadvantage but quickly recovered:
about considering how the digital
“We were established on a more tra-
team can support the company in
ditional technology model with legacy
achieving its goals.” One of the sig-
systems in place,” Priestley states.
nificant journeys that this mindset has
“One of our most important challenges
led to is the creation of “one Vitality
has been reconciling our culture with
experience”, wherein health insur-
the digital world.” Investing time and
ance and life insurance investments
resources in building trust amongst its
Vitality - Digital Strategy CLICK TO WATCH
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2:36
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implement relatively small changes
specialists to help accelerate trans-
in the experience,” he says.
formation, Vitality has succeeded in
One of Vitality’s core innovations
marrying tech advances with its core
is its member’s app. Available on both
purpose: making people healthier. The
iOS and Android, Priestley claims that
company’s new Advisor Hub, utilising
the app “really gets to the heart of
microservices instead of monolithic
what’s different about Vitality from tra-
alternatives, is a prime example of
ditional insurance products.” Serving
the new agility and efficiency being
as the company’s primary interface
unlocked. “Our strategy is aimed at
with its customers, policyholders are
breaking up those back end legacy
able to link their other health track-
systems into multiple components.
ing apps, Fitbits, Garmins, Apple
This allows us to iterate rapidly on the
Watches and other IoT (internet of
front end at lower cost by not needing
things) devices to it. The app then
to return to the back end in order to
converts physical activity data into www.vi t a l i ty . co. u k
VITALITY
“ It’s less about delivering a digital strategy in isolation and more about considering how the digital team can support the company in achieving its goals” — Dave Priestley, Chief Digital Officer, Vitality
not have been able to implement such a rewarding programme without the help of its many suppliers and partners. One partner, TCS (Tata Consulting Services), has been instrumental in helping Vitality deliver its new services. Based in Mumbai, India, TCS is a multinational IT and consulting company with a truly global reach of 149 locations spread across 46 countries.
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‘Vitality Points’ and provides access to
Regarding Vitality’s special relationship
incentive-based rewards when they
with TCS, Priestley had this to say: “We
achieve certain point-based targets.
don’t have the scale as a business to
“The app will show how your points are
be efficient at some of the technical
accumulating and what rewards you’ve unlocked. We’re increasingly building more and more reward fulfillment into that interface,” he explains. For example, if a customer earned a certain amount of ‘Vitality Points’ for working out a pre-set number of times per week, they would be entitled to a free coffee, movie download or more. “It also holds your policy information,” continues Priestley. “If for any reason you need to quickly access your policy details, renewal day or something else, it’s all in there.” Conceiving such an innovative way of encouraging people to stay healthy and active is impressive, but Vitality would
D I D Y O U K N O W?
Vitality has announced that Coronavirus (COVID-19) tests will be available to its health members as of 29 July 2020. The test will be able to accurately tell whether a patient has the virus currently or ever did in the past. All tests will be provided though its partnership with DocTap, a face-to-face GP provider. “DocTap are proud to be working with Vitality in the fight against COVID-19. Our ambition is to provide the most accurate, convenient, affordable and fastest COVID-19 tests on the market, backed up by our outstanding team of doctors,� said Dan Faber, founder of DocTap.
www.vi t a l i ty . co. u k
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VITALITY
Vitality - Challenges CLICK TO WATCH 4:48
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“ Philosophically, Vitality focuses on the outcome we’re looking for and then works out what technology solution would be best” — Dave Priestley, Chief Digital Officer, Vitality
delivery skills necessary; we’ve found it far easier to find a partner to supply those skills. TCS is a partner that really understands our business: Vitality’s fast and dynamic culture is different to other insurance companies. TCS realises this and that’s allowed it to embed within our teams; we don’t call on it simply when we’ve got a big project; TCS helps us to continually improve our customers’ experience across the board.” Vitality’s commitment to providing its customers with the stellar level of service it has become known for was thoroughly tested by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our number one priority was the welfare of our staff,” Priestley declares, “but we also had to make sure that they could still deliver first-class service to our members.” Mobilising its IT operations department to quickly find a workable solution, he reports that the company managed to accommodate its full complement of staff (1,500) with remote working capabilities within a period of approximately 10 days, a significant logistical achievement. In parallel, Vitality rapidly innovated its customer proposition by adding a new category of benefits under the banner www.vi t a l i ty . co. u k
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VITALITY
“ If you just concentrate on trying to deliver value for your customers and creating an exceptional experience, more often than not, you’re going to do the right thing” — Dave Priestley, Chief Digital Officer, Vitality
users. “Philosophically, Vitality focuses on the outcome we’re looking for and then works out what technology solution would be best.” Not allowing the technology itself to guide his approach, Priestley says that the current applications of blockchain would not benefit the company’s customers at this time, although explorations of AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) had revealed their potential for ‘proactive servicing’. “You can then
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of ‘Vitality at home’. This involved nego-
reach out to customers and ask, ‘How
tiating commercial arrangements to
can we help?’ We’re also using ML
provide members with discounts linked
models to power personalisation in the
to physical activity and integrating with
experience, as well as RPA (robotic
these partners so that a fully digital end
process automation) to speed up
to end experience was up and running
admin and allow our staff to focus on
within three weeks of lockdown starting.
value-adding work instead.”
“That was a big success for us; we
Although 2020 has been a cata-
were still able to provide comprehen-
lyst year for change across so many
sive wellness benefits to our members
aspects of life globally, Vitality retains
by capitalising on our cultural assets.”
the same level of commitment to
In many ways the achievement encap-
making people healthier that it always
sulated the thoroughness of Vitality’s
has. There can be no mistake: the
strategy and demonstrated its adept
insurance industry is changing, with
digital skills. It also demonstrates
or without COVID-19, but the desire
Priestley’s insistence that any tech
for digital transformation which
innovation introduced has a functional
the pandemic’s restrictions have
purpose in delivering quality service to
introduced is here to stay. “Things
Vitality - AI + Robotics CLICK TO WATCH
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4:46
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will be different to how they were,”
to achieve their goals. That’s
says Priestley. “For Vitality, that’s a
what keeps Vitality so grounded.”
good thing because we’ve always
Ultimately, Vitality demonstrates
thrived on evolution.” When asked to
that an insurance company’s worth
summarise what has enabled him to
is derived from its ability to improve
spearhead such a successful digital-
the quality of its customers’ lives and
business strategy, he emphasises
devoting itself wholeheartedly to
that customer-centricity is always at
that goal. “If you just concentrate on
the forefront of his mind and always
trying to deliver value for your cus-
yields the best results. “People
tomers and creating an exceptional
always show a lot of interest in talk-
experience, more often than not,
ing about particular technologies,
you’re going to do the right thing.”
but what’s more important is focusing on how to support customers www.vi t a l i ty . co. u k
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