Case Study
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is a major Australian insurance broker and risk solutions, provider. The firm provides a full range of solutions for clients in industries as wide-ranging as hospitality, agriculture, mining, and real estate, and everything in between, as well as insurance and protection-related products for individuals and families. However, the company faced a challenge in-office.
The team at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. found that their experts were often entrapped in minor but important administrative tasks. While essential, these were basically low-value tasks that required time and attention that could be better spent in other areas of the business. The team realised they needed someone to step in and handle these small-yet-vital tasks in order to free up their team to focus on mission-critical tasks, such as client acquisition, needs assessments, and more.
“New business was a key indicator. However, our client services team was under high pressure and overwhelmed with the volume of in-office tasks in general,” explained Claire Grogan, Team Operations Manager of the company. “That led to a snowball effect – delays bred delays, and our team found they had less and less time to focus on actually serving the needs of clients.” The immediate upshot of this was a downturn in overall performance, as well as in client satisfaction.
Working with Valenta, the team at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. decided on a plan of action that would address their key challenges while enabling growth and success. Two specialist full-time administrators were secured to work 40 hours per week on behalf of the firm and handle mundane yet critical tasks in the office. This enabled the company’s professionals to focus on what they did best – serving client needs.
Valenta’s financial administration team is qualified to handle a very broad range of needs, including creating insurance quotes, updating CRM systems, sending third-partying authorisation, conducting in-depth research, portfolio generation from Macquarie Wrap, conducting needs analyses, financial project modelling, TD maturity checks, generating ROAs, and more.
Additional financial admin tasks the team can perform include the following:
“We turned to Valenta for support on lower-value, in-office tasks and those that did not require direct contact with clients. The idea behind this was to enable our team to focus on revenue-producing work and other high-value tasks while ensuring that all tasks were being completed with expertise and quality,” Claire summed up. The financial administration staff from Valenta brought key skills and experience to the table, ensuring there was no disruption of services, such as would be the case with hiring and training new employees, while simultaneously offering greater agility to the client services team.
Ultimately, the partnership with Valenta offered Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. a number of benefits. The quality of the administrative work was very high, ensuring accuracy in all areas. Communication remained high, and the commitment to being available whenever necessary ensured accuracy and clarity at all times. Not only that but outsourcing these tasks helped to boost client satisfaction rates significantly by ensuring that team members were able to focus on what they did best.
Claire said, “By outsourcing our lower-value tasks, such as preparing review documentation or conducting research, the client services team can now provide a higher level of service to our clients and also focus more on high-value tasks like claims management and new business applications.”
Working with Valenta’s offshore administrative talent, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were able to achieve essential goals. Chief among these was freeing up advisors’ time so they can better focus on serving current customers, meeting with new and prospective clients, and building a successful business. Now in its fourth year, the relationship has also allowed the company to reduce its administration costs, channelling that capital back into the firm to foster additional growth, product, and service development, and achieve additional goals.
“The number of meetings with clients has increased,” said Claire. “We now have additional resources, which increases output and enables us to better serve our clients.” The net result has been manifold – an increase in trust, in client acquisition, in productivity, and in financial savings by ensuring that key team members are able to focus on what they do best, rather than on mundane, low-value tasks.
