Simplifying life’s most critical admin

It’s not usually at the top of everyone’s ‘to do’ list, but there’s no doubt about how important it is.

For over 100 years, NSW Trustee & Guardian has been making Wills, Powers of Attorney, Enduring Guardianships and administering deceased estates for the people of NSW.

It is a fundamental service, and one that NSW Trustee & Guardian must deliver effectively and empathetically while meeting the changing needs of its clients.

Considering its own digital presence, how would NSW Trustee & Guardian personalise its service in a way that simplifies life’s most critical administration?

Mapping the journey to digital

As NSW Trustee & Guardian embarked on its journey of digital transformation, it began by taking a closer look at how it operates, and how it captures critical customer data.

Not surprisingly for Director, Information Technology John Chow, multiple inefficiencies had normalised themselves over time.

John explains, “We were looking for a single platform that could support our staff to deliver the full range of services to clients, enhance our communications with them, and improve their transaction experiences.”

He continues, “The platform also had to support our new operating model that includes mobile outreach teams working across NSW.”

This meant the ability for staff to securely capture client information while working remotely outside NSWTG’s branch locations.

Assessing the platform’s capacity to scale into other markets and jurisdictions, John explains, “We required extensions or modules that would support each of our distinct service lines, including financial administration, case management, legal services, asset management, trust and estate management, and drafting legal pre-planning documents (Wills, Powers of Attorney, Enduring Guardianships).”

The platform also needed to provide a single view across all areas of the business simultaneously and be deployed rapidly on a cloud- first basis.

“Dynamics 365 was one of only a few platforms that could meet all of these requirements.”

A hands-on tender process

Throughout the tender process, which included live demonstrations and real-life use-cases, John explains that stakeholders were immediately drawn to Dynamics.

“The aspects of Dynamics that the stakeholders found most attractive were the ease of use, dashboard functionality, and the ability for most of the system to be customised without requiring coding or scripting skills.”

Having made the decision to select Dynamics, on the 1st August, 2016, NSW Trustee & Guardian launched its OWLS (Online Will Lodgement System) to staff.

Operating through various locales across NSW, OWLS has given the organisation a single view of clients and their records that weren’t previously being tracked or consolidated in this way.

“Two months after launch, approximately 35% of our pre-planning instruments are now being generated in Dynamics, and this is trending upwards. We are rolling out additional training and application upgrades to enhance the staff experience with the aim of having all of our instruments generated through OWLS by February 2017.”

With the next goal being to launch client and partner-facing portals, John explains the organisation’s ongoing transformation of its customer experience.

“The way we see it, a client should be able to: find us online, be identified as a new or existing client, start a pre-planning instrument or make a request, enter all relevant information, find an appointment or an outreach service that suits them, make a booking and have it confirmed, and be seamlessly transferred to one of our client service officers for the face-to-face or videoconference interview.”

“We hope that with this platform, staff will be equipped to provide the best service possible, and know as much as they can about clients before they walk in the door.”

The ultimate outcome is that staff can spend time focused on advising and engaging clients, eliminating the tedious admin processes of yesteryear.

Evolving communications further

“We are also working towards offering multiple touch points that meet the needs of our clients and stakeholders. For example, a partner such as a private financial manager should be able to submit their requests and accounts to us for review electronically, and be able to access assistance from us through a full range of instant messaging, discussion forums, telephone and video call channels.”

These elements are on schedule for delivery in June 2017.

It may still be a work in progress, but NSW Trustee & Guardian is making every effort to meet customers where they are.

It’s just one great example of how digital initiatives can make life for staff, and customers that little bit easier. Even in the most critical moments.