In line with the introduction of the new basic advice regime for the sale of stakeholder products being implemented by the FSA today, financial services organisation Foresters has today gone live with a new point of sale system from global IT services provider, CGI (TSX: GIB.SV.A, NYSE: GIB). The Microsoft .NET based solution delivers a rich and professional sales tool designed to make the process more streamlined, contributing to an anticipated rise in business for Foresters of over 35%.
The new system enables Forester Life advisers to educate clients about their stakeholder product options and assess their eligibility in a compliant, customer friendly manner. The interview process utilises the latest FSA regulations to simplify and streamline the sales process, significantly reducing the execution time, while the embedded rules assist the advisers, ensuring that consistently clear and accurate advice is provided.
Euan Allison, managing director of Forester Life, comments: "This represents a real change in our approach to selling products. The CGI solution not only enables us to comply with FSA recommendations around simplifying the sale of stakeholder products which represents excellent value for our customers and so encourages new business, but also, as the process is now less complex and much shorter, means our advisers can be even more productive, as they are freed up to drive further sales.
“CGI was the obvious choice for a partner in this project as it had done an excellent job when implementing our previous point of sale system. We were also impressed by the recommendation to migrate to a .NET platform - we will benefit from additional flexibility and functionality to enable further business expansion.”
As well as streamlining the stakeholder sales process for savings and investment products, the system, which was implemented in under five months, has been integrated with Forester Life's insurance products, such as life, critical illness and income protection, whilst also taking account of the FSA's recent regulation for selling insurance products. This increases the opportunities for up and cross selling as well as providing a full view of each customer. Because the system runs on Microsoft's .NET platform, it is flexible enough to accommodate any additional services Foresters may want to implement, for example, taking advantage of further sales channel opportunities such as the Internet.
“We're increasingly seeing companies adopting, and benefiting from .Net technology and Foresters is no exception,” said CGI's managing director for Northern Europe, Gavin Chapman. “We felt it would be the best option for Foresters as not only did the migration fit in with their tight schedule, but our skilled consultants have the relevant expertise to ensure the implementation went smoothly, not just in terms of technology, but strategy and cultural changes as well.
“The simplification of the way in which stakeholder products are offered and the excellent value they represent, will benefit both customers and advisers and by embracing this new method of selling, we believe Foresters will be able to gain real business advantage,” concluded Chapman.
About CGI
Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent information technology and business process services firms in the world. CGI and its affiliated companies employ approximately 25,000 professionals. CGI provides end-to-end IT and business process services to clients worldwide from offices in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific as well as from centres of excellence in Canada, the US, Europe and India. CGI's annualised revenue run-rate is currently CDN$3.8 billion (US$3.1 billion) and at December 31, 2004, CGI's order backlog was CDN$13.0 billion (US$10.8 billion). CGI's shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.SV.A) and the NYSE (GIB) and are included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index as well as the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology and MidCap Indices. Website: www.cgi.com.
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Lisa Carter/Eleanor Pinkerton
Portfolio Communications Ltd
Tel: 020 7240 6959
E-mail: eleanor.pinkerton@portfoliocomms.com
