S uccess S tory

Z urich FinancialS ervices Transform s N orth A m erican O p erations

through Innovative G o-to-M arket P roject

Executive Summary Background

Z urich FinancialS ervices (Z FS ),a p rovid er of insurance-b ased financial
C U S T O M ER N AM E
services headquartered in Z urich,S w itzerland,has roughly 60,000 em ploy-
G lob alC orp orate in N orth A m erica
(G C iN A ),Z urich FinancialS ervices ees and operates in 70 countries.Z urich is one ofthe largestcom m ercial
p rop erty and casualty und erw riters w orld w id e,w ith U S $51.9 b illion in
IN D U S T R Y
gross w ritten p rem ium and p olicy fees for FY 2008.G lob alC orp orate,
C om m ercialInsurance and R isk
M anag em ent a d ivision of Z FS ,offers large corp orations tailored solutions for risk
transfer,risk financing,and corp orate risk m anagem ent,and p rovid es an
C HALLEN GES
integrated ap p roach to assisting clients in und erstand ing and m anaging
• Provide unique customer experi-
ences and p rom ote g row th. their exp osures regard ing p eop le,p rop erty,the environm ent,and finan-
• Drive strategies and initiatives for cialstability.B ased in N ew Y ork,G lobalC orporate in N orth A m erica (G C iN A )
cross-selling ,m arketing ,event w orks through a broad netw ork ofbrokers to service large corporate cus-
p lanning ,and b roker-relationship tom ers.A p p roxim ately tw o years ago,G C iN A initiated a form alp roject to
m anag em ent.
enhance service q uality and relevance to b oth b rokers and custom ers.
• Align sales, underwriting, and
risk-m anag em ent g roup s.
C hallenges
S O LU T IO N S
• On-boarding brings new hires up Like m any of its counterparts,G C iN A relies on a tried -and -true b usiness
to sp eed faster. m od el:d evelop prod ucts and sellthem through a d istrib ution channelof
• Collaboration tools support agents and b rokers.O utsourcing custom er relationships to ind epend ent
inform ation sharing and red uce channelpartners leaves G C iN A little opportunity to create custom er inti-
travelcosts. m acy,a sales and m arketing culture,and related practices.
• Sales-pipeline management tool
m easures sales m etrics and K P Is, Focused p rim arily on p rod uct d evelop m ent,und erw riting,and d istrib u-
and p rovid es visib ility into new tion,G C iN A 's b usiness m od elw as conservative;m ost functions w ere
sales op p ortunities.
p erform ed in “silos,” w here know led ge or inform ation w ithin an organi-
BU S IN ES S R ES U LT S zation is com p artm entalized instead of d istrib uted .W hile G C iN A had
• Evolved go-to-market (GTM) m ad e som e p rogress internally to b ecom e m ore integrated and
into a strategy for increasing
collab orative,it w as sp lintered in its ap p roaches to custom ers and the
custom er-centricity and relevance.
• Increased sales and cross- and
m arketp lace.C ustom ers had d ifferent exp eriences w ith the com p any’s
up -selling . various b usiness units,and w ere not sure w here to go for the sup p ort
• Aligned underwriting, customer/ they need ed .
b roker m anag em ent,and service
org anization g roup s.
• Increased communications among
senior lead ers,staff,and b rokers.

C isco Internet B usiness S olutions G roup (IB S G )

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 S uccess S tory

“The custom ers’feeling w as that Z urich d id not have a w hole account view of
the overallrelationship and allof the lines of b usiness they had w ith us,” says
J.P .Fow ler,executive vice p resid ent and eastern regionalm anager,G C iN A .
“A t the end of the d ay,they got treated d ifferently b y our d ifferent b usiness
units and risk-servicing team s.”
Despite its top-three standing in the industry and billions of dollars in annual
revenue,G C iN A b egan to feelp ressure not only from its siloed ap p roach to
d oing b usiness,b ut also from custom ers asking the com p any to change the
w ay it ad d resses the m arket.“This fragm ented ap p roach to sales and m arketing
p oses risks,” exp lained B lake C hauvin,a G C iN A glob alrelationship m anager
(G R L)b ased in S an Francisco.“A s insurance p rod ucts com m od itize and risk
exp ertise b road ens,com p eting for custom ers b ecom es increasingly d ifficult.”
G iven this land scape,G C iN A had to d ecid e w hether to rem ain a prod uct-centric
com pany or to transform itself into a com pany that excels in provid ing value—
enab led b y innovative technology— to its custom ers,sales and m arketing team s,
and customer/broker relationships.

S olutions
P rod ucts often com m od itize over their lifecycle.W hat d oes not com m od itize is
the w ay that com p anies service their custom ers.G C iN A und erstood that it could
gain m arket ad vantage through excellence in sales,service,and relationship
m anagem ent— rem aining a p rod uct-centric com p any w as no longer an op tion.
G eoff R id d ell,1 then CEO and now chairman of Global Corporate, initiated a new
go-to-m arket (G TM )strategy in 2006 to accelerate grow th b y b ecom ing “the
m ost relevant insurance com p any glob ally.” A ccord ing to R id d ell,G TM w as
d esigned originally to b ring new value p rop ositions and m essages to custom ers
in a new w ay— “ones that w ere clearly lab eled Z urich.” That is,the com p any
w anted to ensure that its m essaging w as not d iluted via the b roker channeland ,
therefore,need ed a b etter w ay to collab orate w ith channelp artners to d eliver an
enhanced value p rop osition,esp ecially in the area of custom services.
The G TM strategy w as incorp orated into a b luep rint that focused on b uild ing
sustainab le channelrelationship s and d evelop ing a sales-led culture d esigned
to change the attitud es and b ehaviors of hund red s of em p loyees used to w ork-
ing trad itionally through the various channels.U nfortunately,“The b lueprintcon-
tained a lot of concepts and processes ab out how w e could change b ehaviors,
b ut it needed m ore sp ecific,concrete actions that could b e im plem ented sw iftly
to drive G TM forw ard at an accelerated pace,” says G reg M aguire,executive vice
president and director of custom er and distrib ution m anagem ent for G C iN A .

1. In N ovember 2008, Global Corporate in N orth America announced the appointment of Mario V itale as CEO of Global Corporate.Geoff R iddell has assumed
responsibilities overseeing Z urich’s operations in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, in addition to becoming chairman of Global Corporate.
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“O n-b oarding is prob -
ab ly one of our m ost
im p ortant new pro-
cesses.It has help ed
form alize the G R L role,
and prelim inary indica-
tions suggest that on-
b oarding has reduced
sales ram p -up tim e by
10 p ercent."
G reg M aguire
Executive V ice President
and Director of Distributor
M anag em ent
G lob alC orp orate in
N orth A m erica,Z urich
FinancialS ervices
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S uccess S tory
To create a sales-led culture and b ring a num b er of G TM concep ts to life,G C iN A
tap p ed the talent and know led ge of the C isco ® Internet B usiness S olutions
G roup (IB S G ).A n estab lished C isco custom er,G C iN A b rought IB S G in to ad d
another d im ension to a p icture G C iN A had alread y p ainted — one that w ould
align G C iN A and its b usinesses w ith the need s of custom ers in p ractical,
actionab le term s.
B y conducting a sm allnum b er of w orkshops,G C iN A and IB S G develop ed m ore
than 90 action item s in the areas ofsales and custom er m anagem ent.These w ere
then w hittled dow n to 11 as part of W ave 1 of G C iN A’s continued transform ation.
IB S G help ed G C iN A think differently ab out its core processes in the areas
of hiring ,collab orating ,and m anaging .The team focused on three concrete
m easures:on-b oarding new salesp eople,internaland externalcollab oration,
and sales-m anagem ent b est practices and op erations.
Effective O n-Boarding of S ales S taff
O n-b oard ing,w hich b egan around the id ea of training new hires,d eals w ith
shortening the p rocess of b ringing new em p loyees up to sp eed .P rior to im p le-
m enting G TM and receiving inp ut from IB S G ,G C iN A treated on-b oard ing as
trad itionalem p loyee orientation.“N ew hires w ere p arachuted into the com pany
w ithout a p lan,” recalls Fow ler of his initialexp erience.“B asically,the attitud e w as,
‘You are an exp erienced hire,so figure this p lace out and m ake it w ork for a
custom er.’Ib anged into a lot of ob stacles,and Ifinally got there,b ut it w asn’t
w ell-thought-out.” In this w ay,it took new glob alrelationship m anagers (G R Ls)
one to tw o years to b ecom e fully effective.
IB S G help ed G C iN A b roaden the w ay it thinks ab out on-b oarding .Today,
on-b oarding shortens the tim e-to-revenue productivity for G R Ls and other sales
staff.Instead of focusing on the first 30 days of em ploym ent,on-b oarding now
takes into account the first 120 days and estab lishes m ile m arkers along the w ay to
ensure successfullearning and b ringing new G R Ls up to sp eed faster.N ew hires
now have access to a num b er of resources such as an online lib rary that includes
the com pany’s history,strategy,organizationalcharts,educationalm aterials,
and inform ation ab out insurance offerings and services.In addition,em ployees’
m anagers w ork w ith them to put together a 60-day-plus plan for success.
S ince its initialim p lem entation,on-b oard ing has b een exp and ed to other
em p loyees to help b road en their und erstand ing of their roles.“O n-b oard ing is
p rob ab ly one of our m ost im p ortant new p rocesses,” says M aguire.“It has help ed
form alize the G R L role,and p relim inary ind ications suggest that on-b oard ing has
red uced sales ram p -up tim e b y 10 p ercent.W ith annualsales targets ranging
from $2 m illion to $10 m illion,on-b oard ing d rives significant new b usiness.”
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 S uccess S tory

W eb -Enab led C ollab oration

G lob alC orp orate in N orth A m erica has offices throughout the U nited S tates,
includ ing Los A ngeles,S an Francisco,A tlanta,N ew Y ork,and C hicago.The com -
p any also relies on Z urich offices in a num b er of other large cities around the
glob e to sup p ort channelp artners and custom ers.To sp eed up d ecision-m aking,
d ep loy com p lex custom er solutions,and p rovid e b etter service to custom ers
and p artners across d isp ersed geograp hies,collab oration p rocesses had to
b e reinvented .
The G TM p rogram ,w hich changes G C iN A ’s focus from an und erw riting to a
sales culture,req uires ongoing change m anagem ent from the top .For such a
w id esp read organization,collab oration technologies are the m ost d irect,m ost
effective,and least-costly w ay to keep em p loyees and p artners inform ed and
m otivated .V id eo technology w as p articularly valued b y G C iN A ’s senior lead ers,
especially the CEO, who uses short video messages to inform employees about
the im p ortance of the com p any’s transform ation.
To enab le cross-organizationalcollab oration and red uce travelcosts,IB S G
d etailed innovative uses for technologies such as w eb conferencing and vid eo-
conferencing that run over G C iN A ’s IS P netw ork to p rovid e freq uent,intim ate
com m unications w ith allstakehold ers.Im p ressed b y the technology,Fow ler
ap p roved an internalw eb conferencing p ilot to cond uct m eetings,strategize on
new b usiness,id entify cross-selling op p ortunities,and m anage client relation-
ship s.Five high-resolution, stand -alone system s w ith 8- and 10-inch screens
w ere installed at five office locations in N orth A m erica.
B y rep lacing 20 b usiness trip s w ith m ore than 40 one-on-one vid eoconferences,
Fow ler saved the com p any m ore than $15,000.“C ollectively,w e saved tens of
thousand of d ollars in 2008 on our travelb ud get b y utilizing this technology,”
says Fow ler.
In ad d ition to helping red uce travelcosts and increase the frequency of m eetings,
the vid eo system s im prove interpersonald ynam ics b y b reaking d ow n b arriers.
S taff has respond ed positively to the pilot and to G C iN A 's use ofthe technology.
Fow ler says that the com p any is currently exp erim enting w ith vid eoconferenc-
ing technology to reach out to custom ers,b ut has nothing in p lace at this tim e.
“W e p lan to engag e custom ers in a p ilot to tap into their eq uip m ent that g oes
over IP .W e are trying to b uild a softw are b rid ge first to g o outsid e our firew all
to our custom er.”

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 S uccess S tory

S ales-M anagem ent Excellence

Tracking sales and new op p ortunities is critical,given the glob alnature of
Z urich’s b usiness and of its grow th ob jectives.The com p any uses an internal
p rop rietary softw are toolfor m easuring sales m etrics and key p erform ance
ind icators (K P Is).The tool,how ever,w as used sp orad ically across the b usiness
units.“It w as catch-as-catch-can,and each group ran their ow n system using
Excel,” says Fowler.IB SG helped GCiN A understand the value of a structured,
d iscip lined ap p roach to sales-p ip eline m anagem ent b y p rovid ing exam p les from
“The sales-p ip eline- other com p anies outsid e the insurance ind ustry.It soon b ecam e clear to G C iN A
m anagem ent toolhelp s that com p anies that excelin sales m anagem ent d rive higher grow th.
us coach sales,as w ell To help G C iN A im p rove sales visib ility,IB S G help ed d evelop an easy-to-use
as d evote [the right] p rocess for G C iN A ’s sales-m anagem ent m od el.In p articular,IB S G consulted on
resources." how Z urich's softw are could b e used to m easure success b ased on C isco’s ow n
sales-p ip eline-m anagem ent p rogram ,in w hich the C isco salesforce record s the
J.P .Fow ler status of its sales and op p ortunities each w eek and rep orts the d ata to C isco
Executive V ice President Chairman and CEO John Chambers.
and Eastern R egional
M anager U sing this new p rocess,w hen G R Ls com e across a new b usiness op p ortunity,
G lob alC orp orate in they input it to the system, which produces a sales-pipeline report for the CEO.
N orth A m erica,Z urich “W e d o this every other w eek to keep inform ation fresh and p eop le on their toes,”
FinancialS ervices. says Fow ler.“W e are p leasantly surp rised at how accurately w e can p red ict sales
outcom es since the new p rocesses have b een p ut into p lace.”
The new p rogram is also used to record und erw riting inform ation.H aving glob al
visib ility into its sales p ip eline enab led the G R L team to outp erform its ob jective
of generating new b usiness in 2008.“W e finished at 167 p ercent of our goal,”
says Fow ler.“The sales-p ip eline-m anagem ent toolhelp s us coach sales,as w ell
as d evote [the right]resources.”

R esults
In the past 18 m onths,G C iN A has transform ed its b usiness m od el,resulting in
tangib le b enefits in the area of revenue generation through cross- and up-selling,
enab led prim arily b y new on-b oard ing,collab oration,and sales-m anagem ent
processes.“W ith new custom ers,w e are b ringing the team together to m ob ilize
sooner on opportunities and cross-sell,” says C hauvin,noting,for exam ple,that
revenue d erived in 2008 from cross-selling increased roughly 20 percent
over 2007.
The success of the com p any’s transform ation has also b een confirm ed b y p osi-
tive custom er feed b ack regard ing im p roved service levels d uring recently intro-
d uced stew ard ship m eetings that take p lace w ith custom ers halfw ay through the
year to p rovid e a p latform for conversations ab out w hat w orked and d id n’t w ork
d uring the p revious year,and so on.

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“Their [IB S G ’s]consult-
ing m od elis d rastically
d ifferent from other
'trad itional'consultants.
They targ et q uick w ins
w ith their clients that
d eliver value alm ost
im m ed iately."
G eoff R id ell
Former CEO and
C hairm an
G lob alC orp orate in
N orth A m erica,Z urich
FinancialS ervices
P rep ared b y C isco Internet B usiness S olutions G roup
S uccess S tory
The initiatives G C iN A d efined w ith IB S G have enab led the com pany to accelerate
the financialim pact of the G TM program .For exam ple,revenue from glob aland
corporate custom ers w as up roughly 13 percent d uring the first halfof2008
versus the sam e period in 2007,d espite challenging m arket cond itions.
Furtherm ore,retention ratios for G C iN A ’s relationship-d riven custom ers are
up roughly 2 percent.
B y w orking w ith IB S G to unleash sp ecific G TM features,id entify future action
item s,and think d ifferently ab out its core p rocesses,G C iN A has evolved the
initiative into a g eneralstrategy for increasing custom er-centricity,b roker-
relationship m anagem ent,and custom er relevance.“Their [IB S G ’s]consulting
m od elis d rastically d ifferent from other 'trad itional'consultants,” says R id d ell.
“They target q uick w ins w ith their clients that d eliver value alm ost im m ed iately.
This is ap p reciated and need ed in tod ay's fast-p aced b usiness clim ate.”
N ext S tep s
The current econom ic clim ate has given G C iN A pause w hen it com es to investing
further in new G TM enhancem ents w ithout increased profit.For now ,G C iN A w ill
focus on w orking w ith IB S G on W ave 1 id eas that have alread y b een id entified ,
such as a custom er nurture program intend ed to enab le G C iN A to com m unicate
increased value to custom ers and b rokers on a regular,personalized b asis.
In ad d ition,the com pany is piloting a custom er-satisfaction survey tool.Fullim ple-
m entation is planned in N orth A m erica in 2009.“These surveys d rive hom e the
im portant m essage to our staff of staying relevant w ith your custom ers,and out-
pleasing them on a continuing b asis is a m ust to in ord er to grow ,” says M aguire.
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 S uccess S tory

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 S uccess S tory

M ore Inform ation

The C isco Internet B usiness S olutions G roup (IB S G ),the g lob alstrategic consulting arm of C isco,help s C X O s and p ub lic
sector lead ers transform their org anizations— first by d esig ning innovative b usiness p rocesses,and then by integ rating
ad vanced technologies into visionary road m ap s that ad d ress key C X O concerns.

For further inform ation aboutIB S G ,visithttp ://w w w .cisco.com /go/ib sg

Am ericas Headq uarters Asia P acific Headq uarters Europ e Headq uarters
C isco S ystem s,Inc. C isco S ystem s (U S A )P te.Ltd . C isco S ystem s InternationalB V
S an Jose,C A S ingap ore A m sterd am ,The N etherland s

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