Service standards update
At the start of the year, Resolution Life made a commitment to putting more focus into supporting you and our joint customers, as we acknowledged our service standards were not where they needed to be.
Throughout the year, we implemented numerous initiatives to help with this, such as:
- introduction of the tiered service model for our contact centre
- hiring additional engagement specialists into our contact centre
- increased training for our engagement specialists
- improving administration automation and processes
- improvements to the My Resolution Life portal.
These initiatives have helped Resolution Life finish on a positive note for the year.
We saw improvements across the board. Average speed of answer for both phone and online Chat improved. We also saw improved results for adviser registry management requests (e.g. reallocating customers across advisers) and our administration processing SLA’s. These results have contributed to our call survey results finishing on a high.
We are committed to continuing to provide you with a quality level of service.
Average speed of answer - Phone
We are pleased to inform you that our call centre's average speed of answer (ASA) has decreased by 78%. This means that customers and you are able to get through quicker.
The ASA decreased from ~15 minutes in January to around 3 minutes and 3 seconds as of 30 November.
Average speed of answer – Online Chat
Our online Chat saw a decrease in its average speed to answer (ASA). In January, it took us an average of 4.42 minutes to respond to a query.
By 30 November, this decreased to approximately 2 minute and 44 seconds, representing an 45% decrease.
Adviser Registry System
The Resolution Life Adviser Registry System was introduced last year. Although there has been a backlog in moving customers across advisers within the registry, we have been working hard to address this through automation and improved processes. In January, we had 2,189 items in progress, representing 1,890 overdue hours in effort.
As of 30 November, we have reduced the number of items in progress to 112 and have eliminated overdue hours. This represents a 94% reduction in items in progress.
Administration Processing SLA’s
In January, we processed 68% of financial transactions within 3 business days and 72% of non-financial transactions within 5 business days. Our SLA was 85% for both.
We’ve since been able to improve our service standards, and as of 30 November, we are now processing 83% of financial transactions within 3 business days and 78% of non-financial transactions within 5 business days.
| Month | Financial Transactions | Non-Financial transactions |
| January | 68% Financials (3 days) | 72% Non-Financials (5 days) |
| November | 83% Financials (3 days) | 78% Non-Financials (5 days) |
Call survey results
I am happy to share that our call survey results have improved since January. In January, our average score was 3.3 out of 5.
On 30 November, that score increased to 4.4 out of 5, which is a 25% increase.
Your feedback is helping us make improvements to the My Resolution Life portal
In August, we consulted with a number of advisers and their support staff to gain their feedback on the My Resolution Life portal and how it could be enhanced. Their feedback was extremely useful in guiding our efforts to make the portal more user-friendly. We also sought an independent review, which confirmed that our planned enhancements are in accordance with industry best practices.
We understand the significance of having simple access to the information you need to establish strong client relationships. With this in mind, we’re dedicated to creating a portal dashboard that meets the requirements of both you and your support staff.
We’ve applied several key principles that will guide our design and development process:
- The dashboard will display information that is valuable and pertinent to you and your staff.
- The portal will provide exact and current information.
- The portal will be simple to navigate and quick to access information.
We’ve been continuously improving our portal with a variety of new features, and in 2024 we plan to relaunch My Resolution Life with a refreshed look and user experience. We’ll continue to keep you informed as we roll-out new features and experience.
My Resolution Life updates
It certainly has been a packed-full year for My Resolution Life portal. We’re constantly striving to improve our services and customer experience and look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.
During 2023, we’ve had 32 IT releases and implemented over 100 enhancements to both the adviser and customer portals. Furthermore, we’ve made several continuous improvements to the adviser dashboard, such as the ability to quickly access key information, improved navigation and search capabilities, customisable views, and enhanced reporting.
Some of the significant portal updates are around:
- How information in the portal is accessed.
- Updates to how customer correspondence is accessed/used.
- Implemented user friendly forms for customers to make changes to their policies without logging into portal.
- Premium calculation tool.
- Improvements for our customers and
- Request Authority to release information webform (TPA) via the portal.
How information in the portal is accessed:
- To add advisers and staff members to the portal, we only require their name and email address upfront to start the process. The registration is sent via email, and they will be added to portal once this is accepted.
- Updates to the last login field, making it easier to see when you last logged in.
- Adviser dashboard updated for better usability.
- Ability to immediately download certificate of currency for some products.
- The ability to view documents for closed policies from the adviser portal and
- Improved customer name search function.
Updates to how customer correspondence is accessed/used:
- The correspondence type section was updated to include the ability to view the status of documents sent to customers and
- The client listing report was enhanced to provide you with more information such as insurance details (e.g. clearer risk benefit types) and contact details for policy owners.
Easier for information entry via online forms:
- The CPI adjustment form was updated to add premium waver options.
- Introduction of the Authority to release information form and
- The underwriting process became more efficient as we provided digital options and simplified the questions asked of customers. These forms are the:
- Continuation option form
- Reinstate policy form
- Upgrading your customer’s occupation rating and the
- Change of customer’s smoker status.
Changes and new additions to the Premium Calculation tool:
- decrease sum insured.
- increase or decrease the waiting period for income protection benefit.
- increase or decrease the sickness or injury benefit period for income protection benefit.
- any combination of the above policy changes and
- review policy information when a policy is due renewal over next 2 months (NEW).
For our customers we have:
- Resolved the customer registration issue where customers were receiving error messages when trying to set up their access in My Resolution Life, such as ‘Username already exists’ when the ‘Verify email’ link was accessed more than once.
- We have made it easier for the customer to alter their direct debit details in real time.
- Have made the process of updating customer contact details easier.
- Enabled straight through processing for change of address.
- The Tax File Number screen has been updated and
- Easier linking of customers’ accounts.
Latest My Resolution Life portal change
New Online claims notification request via the portal
We’ve updated My Resolution Life portal to enable initial claim requests online via the customer dashboard.
After you have selected the claim, you wish to make, you'll then be guided through the 5 easy steps to complete the initial claim request.
These steps are as follows:
1. Make a claim – details of the claimant.
2. Confirm with us with the policy details are for the claim
3. Provide us with the deceased’s details
4. Confirm details on where the correspondence need to be sent to
5. Finalising claims details
Once you have submitted the initial claim request, a confirmation page will be displayed. This will also provide an immediate timeframe and a reference number for the claim. This information will also be emailed out to the initiator of the claim.
Once the initial claim request is received by our claims team, a claims pack will be sent out to your customer.
You will be able to view the details of the submitted claim in the dashboard and download if required. You will also be able to see when correspondence has been sent out to the customer via the statements and correspondence tab.
How Resolution Life is helping our joint customers
Resolution Life Australasia (Resolution Life) is proud to have taken the initiative to assist our joint customers in getting the most out of their policies. We reviewed our withdrawal benefit/surrender value calculations and due to changing market conditions, were able to provide a sustainable increase to conventional surrender values, improving returns to existing customers who hold Whole of Life or Endowment policies. An additional payment was made to customers who have recently surrendered their policies, providing an enhanced return and more equitable payout figure for most of our conventional policy holders.
We began informing approximately 270,000 existing customers, across both Australia and New Zealand, from April 2023 that their gross withdrawal benefit/surrender value was increasing. To balance the equity of this change for recently surrendered customers, we wrote to approximately 19,000 customers in July, who had surrendered their policy prior to maturity (since 2020) and have made successful payments to more than 95% of ordinary policy holders and 100% of super policy holders.
This decision was made to provide better value to our customers based on past earnings and investment gains. Resolution Life was not obliged to make this increase or make an additional payment but chose to do this to benefit our customers.
For most customers that are still current with us, these changes mean that they will now have a higher gross withdrawal benefit/gross surrender value.
Feedback from our customers has been positive, as for many these additional funds were a lifesaver given the current economic climate. We are proud to have taken this initiative and hope that it will help our customers in the long run.
Important information
Resolution Life Australasia Limited ABN 84 079 300 379, NZ Company No. 281363, AFSL No. 233671 (Resolution Life). The content on this website is for information only. The information is of a general nature and does not constitute financial advice or other professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek financial advice or other professional advice relevant to your personal circumstances. While care has been taken to supply information on this website that is accurate, no entity or person gives any warranty of reliability or accuracy, or accepts any responsibility arising in any way including from any error or omission.
A disclosure statement is available from your Adviser, on request and free of charge.
