Communications Workers Friendly Society

The CWFS is a leading Friendly Society that specialises in supplying savings products to a target group that typically save small amounts each week. Most financial services companies prefer not to sell in this area of the market because the sales cost would be uneconomic for the typical IFA to service.

In order to provide such a service it is vital that the advice process be as smooth as possible while at the same time ensuring that the integrity of the sale is held to the highest possible standard.

An integrated computer based system is a key component in meeting that objective. 

The work process

The advisor can offer a variety of financial services to their clients. The advisors run through a carefully constructed process to  heck that the product they are offering is appropriate to the clients’ needs.

• Fact Find – establishes the requirements of the client
• Disclosure Programme – Creates a ‘key Features’ document that clearly illustrates the costs and likely return of the policy being offered.
• The Proposal Document – is then generated, with all the ancillary documents such as medical disclosure, deductions from pay authorisation (or direct debit mandate) etc
• Security - All of this information is audit trailed and backed up
• Transfer to Back Office - The proposal request is automatically passed to the back office for implementation 

This is all done through a database application that guides the advisor and has been vetted by the FSA as part of their normal auditing procedures.

Background

When we started several years ago only the Key Features documents (a VB programme) were created on the computer. Then we added and integrated the Fact Finding process that precedes the creation of the Key Features documents, and the preparation of the Proposals that follows it.

The advisors are typically offering their service in an environment where there is no availability to connect their computers directly to either the internet or to the company network.

The latest upgrade uses a system that saves the information to the local computer and then synchronises the updates with the Head office network via a secure VPN (Virtual Private Network) whenever the advisor is able to connect to the Internet.

Summary

Improved customer service - the whole process can be undertaken more quickly - A review can be undertaken in between 20 minutes and half an hour. It is also more rigorous and easier to control.

Cutting cost – The system has removed duplication and re-keying which is both quicker to administer and reduces errors that are always expensive to correct.

New opportunities are opening for delivering a range of new products that could not have been considered before.

Technical details

We have a MSDE installed on each of the laptops. They synchronise to the SQL 2000 server using a Pull subscription.

The VPN is set-up through the Internet using facilities included in SBS2000 (Small Business Server) from Microsoft).

The laptops use a standard, and cheap, internet access service via modem. This is adequate for the data transfer because only the incremental data is being sent, not a copy of the whole database.

The future

The technology continuously moves on and opens new opportunities for improving the service, reducing costs and collaborating with others. The next major project is a financial services CD with a variety of useful facilities from a ‘Will writing’ or ’Probate applications’ kit, to advice on savings products or tax code checking.  This will be distributed to over 250,000 individuals.