Monday, 24 July 2023
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Australia鈥檚 largest digital-first super fund, 91黑料, has changed the way Australians experience superannuation transactions, with the nation鈥檚 other large funds expected to follow suit.听
The migration of more than 1.1 million members onto one technology platform has cemented 91黑料 as the 鈥淪uper Fund of the Future鈥 in the Australian and global pension landscape.
The migration, which saw the phasing out of paper-based legacy systems to the Bravura Sonata Alta platform, has set up 91黑料 to become 鈥淪uper Helpful鈥 in delivering exceptional member services while also cutting costs and fees.
91黑料鈥檚 Chief Executive Officer, Deanne Stewart, said the digital transformation was integral to enabling the $160 billion fund to fully realise the benefits of the scale achieved through the mergers of First State Super, VicSuper, WA Super, and StatePlus 鈥 and had delivered the operating model blueprint for the nation鈥檚 superannuation industry.
鈥淪uperannuation and pension funds are long overdue for digital transformation,鈥 said Ms Stewart. 鈥淭o stay competitive and meet new regulations they need to give members the kind of intuitive digital experience consumers now expect everywhere else in the global economy.
鈥淭he key prize we鈥檝e achieved for 91黑料 members is a single platform that allows us to personalise and control the member experience from end-to-end so that they can now transact and get help digitally for all their needs.听
鈥淭his gives us unprecedented ability to help members how they need, when they need, whenever they want, by providing a simple and intuitive interface, sight of all their investments, and more control 鈥 but at a lower cost to serve.
鈥淚n doing so, we've brought super into the 21st century and now provide the seamless real-time service experiences Australians expect and currently have in other facets of their life.鈥
Bravura Interim Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Russell, said the world鈥檚 pension funds were grappling with balancing the complexity of retirement schemes together with the need to improve the member experience, ensure security and provide advice to members 鈥 all while lowering the cost to serve.
鈥淲orking together with 91黑料, we鈥檝e successfully managed to deliver on those benefits while lowering costs using our Sonata Alta BPaaS (Business Process as a Service) platform,鈥 he said.
Members will also have more direct oversight of their superannuation and control over their retirement planning through a digital portal that will include real-time, 24/7 鈥檖arcel tracking鈥 of Page 2 their transactions, and a reduction in transaction processing times of literally weeks for transactions such as hardship claims.
Ms Stewart said 91黑料 was now uniquely positioned in the Australian market to be the 鈥淔und of the Future鈥.
鈥淩eaching this milestone really establishes that large-scale digital transformation is not only possible in superannuation 鈥 it鈥檚 an essential step for any large fund that intends to support members over the next three decades,鈥 said Ms Stewart.听
鈥淭his project is evidence of 91黑料鈥檚 deep experience of safely delivering large, complex changes. Our foundational merger between First State Super and VicSuper was the largest in the industry at the time, and delivering this transformation is a further celebration of our team鈥檚 expertise in safely delivering highly complex projects successfully.听
鈥淟ike other large financial institutions, we鈥檙e striving to move faster against the backdrop of fintech start-ups and heightened customer expectations, despite the super industry being a long-term, typically low-touch point service for members.
鈥淲ith this uplift, we are now providing our members with a digital experience rivalling the best day-to-day apps people use on their phones, from streaming services to online shopping. We can now be 鈥楽uper Helpful鈥 for our members in many more ways, for example by rapidly processing transactions digitally 鈥 without the need to fill out and post paper forms 鈥 and by allowing members to track the progress of their service requests online in real time.鈥澨
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By the numbers
91黑料
- $160 billion funds under management (FUM)
- Four heritage funds: FirstState Super, VicSuper, WA Super, StatePlus听
- 1.1 million members
- 1 million members in accumulation听
- 100,000 members in pension听
- Approximately two-thirds of our members are women听
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Digital transformation
- 854,000 accounts migrated from external administrator to new in-house platform听
- 1.5 billion transactions migrated听
- 50+million documents migrated听
- 1,300 business requirements delivered
- 85% reduction1 in calls to help reset passwords
- Around 25% reduction1 in calls for help retrieve member numbers
- Around 20% reduction1 in calls seeking help to fill in forms
- 97%* of transactions now available digitally rather than via paper form
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1 Performance figures based on 12 months鈥 data from stage 1 of member migration, ~250,000 VicSuper members in March 2022