The advanced IT solutions and possibilities offered by the internet have brought about a real revolution within financial and insurance institutions. Most of these institutions use online channels for the constant communication with their customers, with their websites utilised as their core sales tools. The standard has now become the unassisted and automated management of accounts, or the purchase of products chosen based on a full package of information needed to make an informed decision, available 24/7 and with no need to visit a representative.

Features of the MyAccount solution

All the above issues are covered by the MakoLab solution – MyAccount, a website-embedded account management self-service panel. By logging in, a customer gains access to their portfolio of financial or insurance instruments and is able to perform a number of operations, such as personal account verification, browsing available offers or documentation information (e.g. policy expiry date) as well as reporting a claim. The scope of functionalities offered may be much broader and adapted to the specified industry, profile or individual business needs of the company.

Online services sales applications integrated with the MyAccount module also allow a customer to perform a fully unassisted purchase process – beginning with the choice of an offer and ending by being registered on the system and receiving the final documentation (e.g. policy). In the cases of simple services, based on the history of the user’s operations, MyAccount can close the whole process in less than 3 minutes.

Financial or insurance operations require a high level of security measures. MyAccount lets a user log in using traditional methods: with a login and user-defined passwords or through a bank authentication. The latter allows a user to log in with a bank account, the bank then verifies the identity and provides a client code, which subsequently gives access to the user’s information (data access simplification). It is also possible to use both access methods and leave the choice to the customers.

Both the website and the application with all its functionalities are designed to work in RWD (Responsive Web Design) technology, which guarantees a high quality user experience regardless of the device in use by the customer (laptop, smartphone etc).

Integration with external systems

A real asset of MyAccount is the capability of integrating the application with other systems and additional tools. For example – enabling a customer to calculate a credit instalment, send a query form or contact a call centre means involving three distinct IT processes. Filling out, sending and processing an application, then authenticating and registering insurance purchase payments also presents a complex array of technological challenges. Experience and know-in these areas have allowed MakoLab to create a fully integration-friendly solution. An example of one of our projects proves this claim – we integrated 20 distinct webservices and 7 banking systems using 60 different integration methods. The whole system currently supports the sales processes of a recognised insurance institution.

Business benefits

By using MyAccount, the self-management tool is designed to benefit both end-users and the institutions themselves. The most outstanding business benefits include:

• A reduction of cost and personnel time spent on one-to-one customer service
• A reduction in sales structures (icl. specified office locations, partner agencies)
• A self-service panel acts as another marketing communication channel. It is possible to prepare personalised, single-client offers based on a customer’s account history

With the use of the MyAccount application, Gjensidige Forsikring ASA, the leader in the Scandinavian personal and property insurance market has recently expanded its business to the Baltic countries.