Recently, a swathe of new legislation has had a major impact on how the insurance industry operates. The EU Directive on Insurance Mediation, the reform of the German Insurance Act and the implementation of the EU’s Solvency II regulations have all changed the insurance landscape – and placed challenging demands on company IT systems.

Expanded obligations in terms of consultation and disclosure place particularly exacting demands on both the back office and field sales force – within the sales organisation and at the point of sale. This shift has prompted companies to restructure their sales channels from the ground up. What’s more, they are finding that they have to engineer new sales channels.

Sales management is caught between focusing on the customer and cutting costs. As well as continuously lowering costs, firms need to boost sales and productivity –and juggle this with more concentrated efforts to attract and retain customers. The key steps to success: optimising workflows and processes, identifying growth markets and new areas of business, and exploiting cross-selling potentials and innovative sales channels.

Well-oiled CRM systems help to hone processes, increase customer satisfaction and make a noticeable contribution to the bottom line. But to reap the benefits of a CRM system, you need to plan it – and launch it – properly. GFT is the ideal partner for this: as IT specialists for the financial services sector, we have the experience, the expertise and the industry know-how to turn CRM projects from successful ideas into reality.