Case Study
Insurance finance re-engineering: Addressing the operational risk of activities reliant upon Excel
Digital & Automation | Insurers | London
The Background
- Extensive reliance on Excel spreadsheets and e-mail to drive critical Finance processes resulting in escalating operational costs and increasing errors
- Excel spreadsheets containing both critical business knowledge or operating knowledge in the heads of the people responsible for running
- Critical path of multiple processes driven by Excel causing time overheads
The Challenge
- Multiple years of evolution and hand-overs between individuals resulting in loss of organisational understanding of key processing activities
- Operational issues rising due to increasing volume and complexity failing within spreadsheets and manual moving of data around the organisation
- Strategic solution for resolving critical business problems at least 2 years out
- Lack of transparency, repeatability and audit trail for manual Excel runs ever increasing issue
The Approach
- A finance rapid response team was set up supplemented by 2 of our Alteryx Designer Certified consultants to implement Alteryx process maps to eliminate the spreadsheets
- Individuals volunteered processes for onboarding to Alteryx which were prioritised by the complexity, payback period, compatibility with the target state, and delivery timeline for the target state
- The consultants worked in parallel with the internal team to both mentor and train whilst putting in place best practice for stable future operations
The Impact
- Specific business outcomes reducing multiple processes consuming hours per week down to automated processes overnight, ½ day removed from month end close by automating FX checks, P&L leakage eliminated through not having to prioritise possible claims / credit actions and being able to cover all
- Upfront data quality checks short-cutting identification of bad submissions and avoiding considerable rework
- Engagement benefits from upskilling of the existing team
- Cultural change to continuous improvement and rapid delivery of outcomes
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