Conferencing Services Case Study

Global Collaboration Helps Swiss Re Manage Risk

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Industry Focus

Reinsurance products and insurance-based capital market instruments to manage and transfer risks

Size

19.6 billion Swiss Francs (CHF) in premiums earned (2010); more than 10,000 employees in more than 20 countries

Networking Solution

Integrated voice, web and video conferencing solution deployed to every employee’s desktop enables on-demand conferencing, collaboration and document sharing within the company, as well as with customers and providers

Business Value

Improved service for clients and efficient knowledge transfer among experts; reduced travel activity and expenses and contribution to sustainability initiatives

About Our Customer

Swiss Re is a leading and highly diversified global reinsurer. Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 1863, Swiss Re offers financial services products that enable the risk-taking essential to enterprise and progress. The company’s traditional reinsurance products and related services for property and casualty, as well as the life and health business, are complemented by insurance-based capital market instruments and supplementary services for comprehensive risk management. Swiss Re’s clients include leading insurers, Fortune Global 500 companies, governments and non-governmental organizations in more than 160 countries. The company has more than 10,000 employees in over 50 offices worldwide.

Situation

Swiss Re works to anticipate, identify, analyze and communicate to its stakeholders the major issues affecting the global management of capital and risk. The highly complex nature of its business requires it to draw upon the knowledge of experts from across the company and involves extensive communication among risk engineers, risk managers, research teams, underwriters, financial managers and other specialists worldwide, including clients and providers. As a global business with constant communications across distributed teams, the company operates virtually 24 hours a day to meet the needs of its clients. In 2006, Swiss Re looked for a solution that would encourage and enhance the collaborative efforts of its employees, while decreasing the need for travel between offices.

Solution

Swiss Re encourages its teams to solve complex risk assessment, coverage and claims settlement issues through global collaboration. The company standardized on a single secure and reliable web-based conferencing platform, the AT&T Connect® solution, for all employees. To date, around 75,000 participants conduct approximately 24,000 meetings per month using the application. In the last two years the number of virtual meetings each month has doubled as users find the solution is easy to use and convenient. Budget pressures have been alleviated through reduced expense for business travel—a benefit especially valuable in the economic downturn. At the same time, this solution helps Swiss Re reduce its carbon footprint, a major corporate initiative.

Gauging Global Risk

Catastrophes are becoming ever more costly, but reinsurance helps insurers and governments with innovative solutions to mitigate the impact. Aging populations stretch pension funds, but reinsurance helps manage the financial consequences of longevity. Diversifying risk globally and sharing its expertise, Swiss Re, the leading player in the wholesale reinsurance industry, supports economic progress and contributes to social stability.

For almost 150 years, Swiss Re has helped its clients assess, evaluate and protect against hazards both known and unexpected. From its Zurich headquarters to its over 50other locations, Swiss Re spans the globe. Its 10,000+ employees are located on every continent except Antarctica. The Swiss Re team includes experts from a broad range of scientific and financial backgrounds who pursue individual research and also work together in Group-wide Knowledge Networks. Swiss Re also works closely with leading research institutions and with clients. It uses these resources to analyze and understand such important risk factors as natural catastrophes, climate change, nanotechnology and terrorism. 

“One of the key competencies that we need to have is to assess risk,” said Peter Münzenmayer, Director Knowledge & Records at Swiss Re. “For example, we must make sure when we cover an oil platform that we are aware of the risk that we insure. We have specialists in risk engineering to assess these risks. Our global Knowledge Networks where the experts come together, exchange what is happening in the marketplace and share their expertise are an important asset. Underwriters and others who need information about specific topics can ask these experts and networks for assistance as well.”

Managing Coverage With Collaboration

When an insurance company, government agency or commercial customer negotiates with their Swiss Re relationship manager for coverage, the intricate process of underwriting begins. Each situation is different, each solution unique. What could happen in the worst case, and what could that cost? Global risk managers ensure that the new coverage balances with Swiss Re’s overall portfolio.

"The research is thorough,” said Münzenmayer. We have different units that come together to make sure the underwriters have the best basis to decide if they can take a risk or not.”

After coverage is written, collaboration continues. As premiums accumulate, the assets must be carefully managed to produce the needed return. When a loss occurs, the claims process is also complex. Contracts are analyzed, causes investigated, payments made—and all must proceed quickly.

The communication is not only continuous at Swiss Re, but global in scope. “Swiss Re is a global company and more and more the teams are distributed worldwide,” Münzenmayer said. “We cross different time zones so there is no other solution than to stay up late or get up early. The benefit is that people can start in the morning and hand a task over to someone in the next time zone. For research services, we can provide almost 24-hour service.”    

A Solution on Every Desktop

It takes a variety of tools to make global collaboration efficient and effective. The company looked for a universal collaboration platform that would be able to be readily integrated with its existing infrastructure and easy to use. The goal was to implement a tool to help every employee contribute their knowledge to the success of the business, while reducing the time and cost of travel.

Swiss Re chose AT&T Connect as its global web-based conferencing solution. This enterprise-class application transforms voice, web and video conferencing from multiple points into one core conferencing and collaboration product. Like email, it is given to everyone in the company. “When we have to assess a risk we need to be in contact with many global experts. Web-based conferencing allows us to quickly bring these teams together,” Münzenmayer said. 

“We rolled out AT&T Connect to all employees in 2006,” he said. “We did some road shows to illustrate how simple it is to use. We also integrated it into our Lotus Notes environment and calendaring so that people can easily work with the tool.” A set of reference guides, checklists and moderation tips show how web conferencing works, how to control meetings and how to invite participants through the Lotus Notes calendar.

The approach was decidedly soft-sell. To explain every function and capability would overwhelm people, Münzenmayer said, so Swiss Re positioned AT&T Connect as the tool to use to confer and share slides with colleagues. As employees try web conferencing, get comfortable and want to create larger meetings or add functions, instructions and an internal consulting group are available for guidance.

“We tell people with web-based conferencing, you can share your desktop and your voice. That's it,” said Münzenmayer. “There are a lot of other possibilities, but this is the single thing they need to know.”

Less Travel, Less Cost, More Productivity

Since its implementation, web-based conferencing has exploded in popularity across Swiss Re’s locations. It is used for scheduled and recurring conferences, as well as impromptu meetings. Web-based presentations, demonstrations and training sessions involve largely Swiss Re audiences and occasionally external participants. Every participant can hear, see and, if desired, edit the same content at the same time, making it easy to work together and transfer knowledge.

“It's very interesting that people build their own business case around the tool,” Münzenmayer said. For instance, a Deputy Head in Swiss Re’s Hong Kong office enjoys the last-minute flexibility of the service, thanks to its integration with Lotus Notes. Web conferences can be created in an instant with global colleagues without a need to arrange dial in details separately. Decisions to share screens can be made spontaneously, making team involvement much easier.

The ability to join in conferences without leaving their personal workspace helps employees reduce both long distance travel and the time consuming trips between local sites that Swiss Re refers to as ‘micro travel.’ “Instead of losing hours traveling by shuttle between sites, locating rooms and then heading back to their own offices, our employees can now rely on AT&T Connect and reduce physical meetings if appropriate“ said Münzenmayer. That has personal and business benefits as both time and stress of travel are reduced, as well as the expense which has become a more significant factor with the state of the economy.

The need to trim costs and boost efficiency is a business constant. Well before the recent recession, the AT&T Connect solution was helping Swiss Re employees save time and reduce travel. As the economy has slowed, those savings have grown even more significant as contributors to Swiss Re’s financial results.   

Swiss Re has introduced travel curbs as part of its cost control program, suggesting that instead of physical travel, employees use AT&T Connect. The results were immediate. Swiss Re registered a peak in web-based conferencing usage in February 2011 with 75,000 participants in one month, which is an increase of almost 50 percent from 2009.

A Greener Outcome

Another positive outcome is the potential for reducing CO₂emissions, a key concern for the company. Swiss Re adheres to an ambitious corporate sustainability initiative aimed at making it fully greenhouse neutral. When it achieved its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions earlier than anticipated, Swiss Re doubled its target for reductions to 30 percent per employee to be reached by 2013. “Web-based conferencing helps reduce travel and with less travel we can have a significant change in our CO₂ emission,” said Münzenmayer.

While it may be difficult to document the specific reductions in Swiss Re’s carbon footprint thanks to web-based conferencing, it is clear that the overall benefits of AT&T Connect have boosted its usage. In the first three years the number of monthly participants in web-based conferences grew 250 percent, and almost 50 per cent since 2009. The number of meetings each month nearly tripled. Further growth seems assured as teams become more and more global.

As to the future, Münzenmayer notes Swiss Re is planning network infrastructure improvements in Asia where bandwidth is limited to increase the number of people who can join a conference. He also is looking to streamline the inclusion of external participants. Changes to the desktop will expand one-to-one video conferencing.

Voice of the Customer

“Whenever we have to assess a risk we need to be in contact with many global experts. Web-based conferencing allows us to quickly bring these teams together.” 

- Peter Münzenmayer, Director Knowledge & Records, Swiss Re