Efficiency through collaboration

Tim Considine, Director of Melbourne-based insurance brokerage Countryside Tolstrup, was worried about the amount of incoming mail.

Or, more specifically, the OH&S implications of his staff picking up heavy mail bags every day – mail bags that carried a significant number of customer renewals and other information from CGU.

So he sat down with Ken Sarah, who heads up CGU Renew, to talk about how they could improve the process.

“For years we sent customer data to a mail house, which would then sort the data by hand and send it to Countryside Tolstrup,” says Ken.

“We would then sort the documents manually and scan them for electronic storage before sending them onto our account managers,” adds Tim.

Together they agreed that it would be much more efficient for CGU to send a PDF – or electronic version – of customer data to the mail house, which could in turn sort it electronically and send it direct to Tim and his team.

“Introducing something as simple as a PDF made a big difference: the process went from seven steps to two,” says Tim.

“I’ve now eliminated any OH&S issues resulting from my people having to pick up large amounts of mail every day, the process is much more efficient on our end, and we reduce the amount of paper being used.”

“What we’ve learned from this is that, instead of CGU implementing a system that optimises their business efficiency, we can sit down together and work out a solution that integrates effectively and benefits everyone.”