Story:
Incubating intrapreneurs to revitalize customer business

Way back in Q2 2012, we formed the Insurance Future of Work team, a four member team to develop our point of view on leveraging SMAC technologies for insurers. 

Try out the tested methods

Going by the fact that it is always better to try the tested methods, we piggybacked on running innovation campaigns in the individual accounts i.e. project delivery teams to pool ideas from associates as part of the managed innovation process on how to leverage the SMAC technologies for insurers. The managed innovation framework advocated by the Cognizant Innovation Group had already paid huge dividends for us in providing a structured approach to innovation.

We floated campaigns like, “How insurers might benefit from mobility initiatives?” or “How insurers might adopt social business?” and generated ideas from a cross section of the crowd representing large accounts and captured them in the idea management system. We started publishing them as thought papers (Sample few -> Thought Paper 1 | Thought Paper 2 | Thought Paper 3).  

Learn to fail fast

While we were able to generate ideas in silos and implement them, we did observe major gaps.

#1 – The ideas mostly constituted incremental innovation like enabling existing web based functionality as a mobile app or social app and were not powerful enough to disrupt the customer business models

#2 – Concerning SMAC, 80% of the ideas remained as ideas on idea management system either due to lack of feasibility or relevance or funding and only 20% passed the filter criteria to move on to the next stage.  Out of the chosen 20%, only 10% were fitting into the strategic objectives of the customers. Out of the 10%, only 2 - 3% of them got implemented successfully in the near term.

#3 – Majority of participation were from the critical mass at offshore. The onsite associates who were actually closer to customer business and who could prove extremely valuable in providing relevant inputs on customer’s strategic initiatives were not engaging as much. 

#4 – Even with respect to offshore, there was designated few from the account teams primarily from technology background who participated in the initiatives to learn a new technology and develop the apps but there was not much participation from the rest of the community, mainly the domain experts were not involved.

#5 – Though multiple ideas were generated with larger focus on quantity, we could only create point solutions with those ideas. It was getting extremely difficult to establish correlations amongst the ideas and put together a cohesive story that can impact customer business.

#6 – We realized that the context we set for innovation in the campaigns was flawed as it focused on a singular area like mobility or social and did not provide a holistic view on how emerging technologies can converge to build a digital insurance enterprise and generate better business value across the value chain and improve the efficiency of individual stakeholders.

The tested methods were failing and the existing platforms were not helpful to accomplish what we aspired for. The good news was that we failed fast and were willing to learn from the failures fast.

Keep experimenting

#Hackathon

Around Q3 2012, we went on to conduct hackathons, build 24*7 events where associates formed teams with diverse stakeholders like business consultants, developers and built working prototypes and functional apps using the new technology enablers. We found that by collaborating with business folks, hackathons helped associates to passionately code and pump oxygen into a prototype to breathe business. We chose themes that revolve around key insurance business processes and conducted these events across the global branches at Cognizant where associates exhibited excellent enthusiasm. 

We still faced difficulties in tying the different apps implemented in hackathons as an end-to-end business theme.

#JAM

Around the same time, we started to conduct JAM sessions where diverse stakeholders from business, technology and design world got together to throw their perspectives on how we can transform the key customer business processes using technology enablers. We discovered that by applying design thinking and empathizing with the end user from varied perspectives, we could conceive an end-to-end business theme around the key business processes.

The eureka moment

These events opened our eyes to discover a next generation way of engaging our associates to conceptualize and build end-to-end business themes. The biggest revelation being that we should largely engage the millennial workforce as they were looking at things differently. These digital natives for whom the smart devices have become the networking hub had an inherent intrapreneurial spirit. By being the largest consumers of SMAC technologies, they had it in them to explore and apply the cutting-edge technologies to disrupt customer business. Tapping this talent effectively was the need of the hour. 

The managed innovation approach was working wonders when it came to incremental innovation. Nevertheless, we recognized that we had to devise an impactful strategy that can propel disruptive innovation by channelizing the millennial talent. We felt it’s time to seed a vision.

Seeding the vision

During July 2012, our think-tank comprising of the key Leaders of Insurance Practice and the Insurance Future of Work team reviewed the proceedings and sensed the need to chart a strong vision and clearly communicate the objectives across the board. After few hours of structured brainstorming, we envisioned a platform that confluences the following –

• Identify the key customer business processes across the varied lines of business that can be digitized and re-wired
• Leverage the emerging technology and trends – Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and the Internet of Things as an enabler to benefit business
• Engage the customers, partners and associates differently – Make the interactions personalized, contextualized, connected and insightful
• Present our point of view through a combination of storytelling and Try-it-yourself concepts that can generate enough interest for downstream opportunities
• Unleash and aggregate the human potential – design environments to inspire associates to amplify their imagination and contribute towards disruptive innovation through collaboration

Rather than developing the comprehensive suite of apps completely and then testing their applicability or potential value to the business, we adopted lean startup mindset to prototype the ideas and gather feedback early in the life cycle. We eschewed the traditional powerpoint presentations and conference room meetings for customer presentations and adopted a role play approach to let the customers experience the value demonstrated.

Garnering support from stakeholders

The most challenging of all was to fund the initiative as we had to invest heavily towards erecting a physical experiential zone with environments that could simulate a home, office, car etc. to empathize with a stakeholder far better and deliver apps that can cater appropriately. Luckily, our executive leadership team had huge faith in our vision and provided us the necessary approvals and support.

Over the course of time, from a four member team, we expanded to a cross-skilled ten member core team. One of our team members took the primary responsibility to coordinate and oversee the user-centric design of physical environments conducive to amplify imagination. One sub-group within our team concentrated on conceptualizing an end-to-end business theme and refining the approach towards delivering the content as a first-hand experience. Another sub-group developed the apps using emerging technologies. 

Our vision became a reality. The physical zone with the state-of-the-art infrastructure and necessary gadgets came into existence. We branded our initiative as InsuranceNext epitomizing the spirit of next generation team building the next generation solutions for insurers.

The Launchpad

On July 9th 2013, we, the rebranded InsuranceNext team piloted our initial business theme to demonstrate what the future beholds. We conceptualized as to how a day in the life of an insurance advisor would get transformed in future by deploying smart technologies and thereby aid in maximizing productivity, reduce cycle time for new business acquisition and enrich end user experience. With the help of the series of gadgets infused with the apps developed by us leveraging new technologies, the customer delegates could feel the future by enacting roles of different actors in the value chain in the simulated environments at the physical zone. They were enthralled with the experience, in turn testifying our vision. 

But this was just the tip of the iceberg. How do we scale and sustain this initiative to cover wider horizons of varied lines of business and associated processes, tailor it to customer needs or expectations, tap other ambit of technologies and deliver the experience globally transcending the boundaries of a physical zone? Referring back to our vision, we knew that we had the right infrastructure and approach in place and now it’s time to unleash and aggregate our associate potential. 

Executing the mission

We started evangelizing InsuranceNext brand with the crowd. Any new initiative including innovation needs good marketing. We decided to borrow ideas from the buzzing trends that catch up fast with the associates. What better option could it be than the sport of cricket for the Indian mass? On July 29th 2013, we floated our call for disruptive innovation as InsuranceNext Premium League (IPL), needless to say inspired by Indian Premier League.

InsuranceNext Premier League is a championship tournament for Insurance Practice associates that aim at spotting the thought leaders of the Practice who can think futuristic and create valuable assets for InsuranceNext zone. 

We knew that disruption can be made possible only by bringing together diverse mix of team comprising of technical architects to business consultants, designers to developers. We decided to harness the power of collaboration. Every portfolio, more commonly known as  business unit within the Practice had to field 11 players and elect a franchise owner and nominate a captain to compete in fortnightly challenges that revolved around an end-to-end insurance business theme. The top teams based on point standings would have a face-off during Grand Finale in a bid to win the coveted Championship title. Thus by gamifying the initiative, we added a little more glitter and fun and garnered huge participation.

• How well thought out the idea is (in terms of clarity, profoundness, user experience)
• Is it leveraging SMAC and emerging technologies
• What is the business applicability in the next 5 years 
• Does it present a novelty factor / uniqueness
• What is the level of progression from previous round towards building user experience (as applicable)

30 accounts participated and we received a whopping number of 88 business ideas fielding 968 players. Remember these are not just app ideas but disruptive concepts that presented the potential to flip the fortunes of the insurers in future. Not just that, for the first time, we saw center of excellence groups external to insurance (4 foreign players outside of Insurance Practice allowed as per IPL rule) and onsite teams heavily participate with great gusto. 10 ideas were shortlisted and the 110 players fielded by the selected franchises were raring to create some of the best innovations of all times.

While one of the teams submitted an idea on how the internet of things would aid in smart risk assessment for property insurers covering both personal and commercial lines of business, the other team provided their point of view on how the auto insurers could leverage the telematics technology to monitor driving patters to influence premium reduction and enable safe driving. 

Innovation in action

The teams participated with so much vigor and spirit that it seemed most of them were working 48*7, investing 24 hours extra apart from their regular project deliverables. It was sheer passion that was evident and the ability to learn through collaboration and the excitement to create something out of the box pushed the associates to perform beyond their limits. Participation of onshore teams was facilitated through video conference. We did a live update of all the rounds in enterprise social channels for the community to follow the updates and derive further inspiration. The finale event was video streamed to the participant community globally spread out. 

Feedback from eminent judges 

"This is the mother of all other innovations" – Group Chief Executive (Tech & Ops)

"This platform is an excellent blend of technology and business" – CIO & Head of Innovation

"This is a platform which all other Practices should take notice and follow" – CTO & Head of Global Technology Office

"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate as a judge in IPL. I was very impressed with the quality and efforts demonstrated in every solution area" – Head of Enterprise Application Services

"InsuranceNext is the silicon valley of Cognizant! Guess we have already achieved the ROI for all our investments" – Head of Insurance Practice

All the ideas presented excellent business potential. In fact the winning ideas of the tournament were decided to be patented by the Practice. (The reason why we couldn’t disclose all of them here with sufficient detailing)

The winning team quoted, “It is a great moment for us. We are delighted to hear Chandra’s (Executive Vice-Chairman) comments. The team was highly motivated right from Round-1 and we feel happy on the outcome. On the final round today, all teams did well and apart from the fantastic show that we managed to put up, the runner-up team were equally amazing in integrating smart devices which impressed all of us”

This was a competition which brought out new ideas and innovation, demonstrated the true value of team work and dedication and above all testified the power of passion and belief.

The Real Success

What testified the real success was when we took these ideas delivered by the communities of passion to the customers to deliver mindshare. By mindshare, here we mean how effectively we showcase our thought leadership to customers so that we can occupy a fair share in their minds and thereby recall us as their trusted partner while facing business challenges. We have hosted around 40 customer visits since inception showcasing varied futuristic concepts and apps as a storyline enactment and it would be an understatement to mention that we have never been this successful in showcasing our thought leadership to the customers. The best part being that the innovation has come from the people on ground and the mindshare presentations are delivered by the people on ground. We are able to take the minimal viable products to the customers and receive their feedback and validate our thoughts.

This is ultimate testimony to innovation as we are able to cover all spectrums of the line of business and processes, cover associates spread across the geographies and cross-pollinate ideas and sustain the momentum on a continual basis. Few of the customers voluntarily expressed interest and requested for the facilitation of exclusive JAM sessions enabling their stakeholders to participate with our teams in order to co-create value. These sessions have helped us strengthen our understanding of customer’s business and establish our credentials as strategic partners.

Road ahead

Day by day the passion is growing bigger and stronger. We are all geared up to roll out IPL as an event on an annual basis and confident that the outcomes of subsequent editions would surpass the maiden edition. Of late, we have started delivering the experience at customer locations beyond the physical boundaries of an offshore zone. By conducting a series of workshops and enrolling the associates at onsite right from the millennial crowd to the client delivery directors, we have enabled them to customize these concepts according to the customer business situation and their consumer demographics. We are confident of tailoring and shipping this experience to every customer’s doorsteps across the globe to demonstrate our thought leadership which is now running deep-rooted in the culture of the Practice and running in the veins of every associate than restricted to confined few.