FuseBox resident Lloyd Wint, a process automation developer at Legal & General, kindly took the time to tell us about how his team is using robotics to improve the experience for their customers and colleagues.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Sure. I’m a process automation developer based in our Insurance business at Legal & General in Hove within our process automation team– often known as the robot team. Day to day that means I’m responsible for working on new automation projects, supporting the roll out of new systems which involve robotics and looking after the IT infrastructure that supports the robots.
We’ll come back to the robotics later, but firstly, how did you become a FuseBox resident?
Legal & General in Hove has a number of residency spaces at FuseBox as we’re partners of Wired Sussex and FuseBox and I’m lucky enough to be involved in that.
Why did Legal & General decide to partner with us?
We really wanted to get more involved with the digital community here and share what we’re doing and learn from other businesses and freelancers too. It’s great to be talking to you today to share what we’re doing in the world of robotics.
So what do you actually mean when you say robot and robotics?
It is quite amazing that some people still think of robots as human-like machines - that’s definitely not the case! Our definition of a robot is a piece of software that can gather information from any system that we use, interpret that information and present it or perform an action. We use both unattended and attended robots. Unattended robots can run through a list of items without being monitored and those work from a single virtual desktop, while attended robots sit on our colleagues’ personal desktops to support them in what they’re doing.
Can you tell us how exactly you’ve been using robots at Legal & General?
One of the ways we’re using the unattended robots is to complete repetitive tasks, such as a change of address or bank details for our insurance customers. This is good for our colleagues because it means they can invest their time elsewhere such as speaking to our customers and giving them a great customer service experience. We also use attended robots to support our colleagues with their work. For example, previously colleagues in our contact centre were using multiple systems to access the information they need. The robot is able to gather the data and present it in one dashboard. This makes it easier for our colleagues to do their job but it also means a better experience for our customer, because they’re getting the information they need faster and the conversation is able to flow better.
What feedback have you had from your customers and colleagues on this?
We’ve had really positive feedback from colleagues and customers alike on this - particularly around how much easier it is to have all the information needed readily available to them.
A knock on effect has been shaving 40 seconds off the average call handling time. It has also improved not only the time it takes to service a customer, but also the length of time it takes to answer customer calls in the first instance – so we can answer customer calls faster.
Using this technology has enabled us to reduce turnaround times for various other processes too, including one which previously took 22 hours and now can be done instantly over the phone.
This has made a real improvement to the service we are offering our customers, which has been evident in markedly improved customer retention rates that could be directly attributed to this change.
So how did you end up working with robotics?
Prior to Legal & General my background was in IT, so when I started here I was working in a role as a developer building strategic solutions for automating systems. I particularly focused on building software libraries for integrating with and controlling the majority of Windows based applications.
When the opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance to be involved with the implementation of robotics at Legal & General. This allowed me to explore where I thought the true benefits in this approach could be realised - scalable, reusable solutions that could create efficiencies by automating processes in an unattended fashion on virtual desktops. I can genuinely say I have been truly impressed with what we have achieved to date.
What do you like most about what you do?
I really enjoy what I do because it’s fast paced, varied and really quite exciting, but it’s also great to see the positive impact the robots can make to both our colleagues internally and our customers.
We’ve been leading the way on robotics in the financial services industry. We were at the forefront of taking the plunge and saying ‘this will be good for our customers and colleagues’ and it has really worked. I’m proud to be part of that.
How do you keep improving the technology?
I am truly fortunate to be part of a team that is focused on embracing a culture of change and continually looking for better ways of working in respect of customer service, colleague experience, innovation and efficiency.
The team is fully supported by Legal & General in our goal of maximising the capabilities of our existing software suite in respect of integrating and automating our systems, with the aim of improving the service we provide to colleagues and customers. In doing so, we also relish the opportunity to explore new technologies that bridge the gap between what we can do now and where we want to be in the near future. We really do aim to be agile and as flexible as we can to meet the needs of the business.
Finally, can I ask – what are you looking forward to the most about being a FuseBox resident?
I’m really looking forward to visiting the FuseBox and trying out all the new technology there. It looks like a really exciting space.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?
Sure. I’m a process automation developer based in our Insurance business at Legal & General in Hove within our process automation team– often known as the robot team. Day to day that means I’m responsible for working on new automation projects, supporting the roll out of new systems which involve robotics and looking after the IT infrastructure that supports the robots.
We’ll come back to the robotics later, but firstly, how did you become a FuseBox resident?
Legal & General in Hove has a number of residency spaces at FuseBox as we’re partners of Wired Sussex and FuseBox and I’m lucky enough to be involved in that.
Why did Legal & General decide to partner with us?
We really wanted to get more involved with the digital community here and share what we’re doing and learn from other businesses and freelancers too. It’s great to be talking to you today to share what we’re doing in the world of robotics.
So what do you actually mean when you say robot and robotics?
It is quite amazing that some people still think of robots as human-like machines - that’s definitely not the case! Our definition of a robot is a piece of software that can gather information from any system that we use, interpret that information and present it or perform an action. We use both unattended and attended robots. Unattended robots can run through a list of items without being monitored and those work from a single virtual desktop, while attended robots sit on our colleagues’ personal desktops to support them in what they’re doing.
Can you tell us how exactly you’ve been using robots at Legal & General?
One of the ways we’re using the unattended robots is to complete repetitive tasks, such as a change of address or bank details for our insurance customers. This is good for our colleagues because it means they can invest their time elsewhere such as speaking to our customers and giving them a great customer service experience. We also use attended robots to support our colleagues with their work. For example, previously colleagues in our contact centre were using multiple systems to access the information they need. The robot is able to gather the data and present it in one dashboard. This makes it easier for our colleagues to do their job but it also means a better experience for our customer, because they’re getting the information they need faster and the conversation is able to flow better.
What feedback have you had from your customers and colleagues on this?
We’ve had really positive feedback from colleagues and customers alike on this - particularly around how much easier it is to have all the information needed readily available to them.
A knock on effect has been shaving 40 seconds off the average call handling time. It has also improved not only the time it takes to service a customer, but also the length of time it takes to answer customer calls in the first instance – so we can answer customer calls faster.
Using this technology has enabled us to reduce turnaround times for various other processes too, including one which previously took 22 hours and now can be done instantly over the phone.
This has made a real improvement to the service we are offering our customers, which has been evident in markedly improved customer retention rates that could be directly attributed to this change.
So how did you end up working with robotics?
Prior to Legal & General my background was in IT, so when I started here I was working in a role as a developer building strategic solutions for automating systems. I particularly focused on building software libraries for integrating with and controlling the majority of Windows based applications.
When the opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance to be involved with the implementation of robotics at Legal & General. This allowed me to explore where I thought the true benefits in this approach could be realised - scalable, reusable solutions that could create efficiencies by automating processes in an unattended fashion on virtual desktops. I can genuinely say I have been truly impressed with what we have achieved to date.
What do you like most about what you do?
I really enjoy what I do because it’s fast paced, varied and really quite exciting, but it’s also great to see the positive impact the robots can make to both our colleagues internally and our customers.
We’ve been leading the way on robotics in the financial services industry. We were at the forefront of taking the plunge and saying ‘this will be good for our customers and colleagues’ and it has really worked. I’m proud to be part of that.
How do you keep improving the technology?
I am truly fortunate to be part of a team that is focused on embracing a culture of change and continually looking for better ways of working in respect of customer service, colleague experience, innovation and efficiency.
The team is fully supported by Legal & General in our goal of maximising the capabilities of our existing software suite in respect of integrating and automating our systems, with the aim of improving the service we provide to colleagues and customers. In doing so, we also relish the opportunity to explore new technologies that bridge the gap between what we can do now and where we want to be in the near future. We really do aim to be agile and as flexible as we can to meet the needs of the business.
Finally, can I ask – what are you looking forward to the most about being a FuseBox resident?
I’m really looking forward to visiting the FuseBox and trying out all the new technology there. It looks like a really exciting space.
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