Terri Scheer Connect

The core challenge was to develop a solution that reduced the friction for real estate agents who are end users that submit quotes and place requests for insurance. The current process required real estate agents to complete forms that would be processed over the phone by Terri Scheer’s call-centre staff. The staff manually entered cover details into a system, which was time-intensive for both real estate agents and Terri Scheer staff. To transform how the cover was processed, Terri Sheer wanted to create a platform that was directly integrated into its systems reducing the processing time and eliminating the need for agents and staff to be on the phone. 

As a heavily regulated industry, there are strict disclosure requirements that real estate agents must follow to be able to offer insurance to landlords. Terri Scheer wanted to integrate their product training and create a unified platform where agents can meet all their compliance requirements, get quotes for landlord insurance, and place cover. With a high turnover rate of property managers in real estate, Terri Scheer was also challenged to keep accurate and timely records that would be maintained so it needed to be easy for agencies to administer their list of property managers.

Another challenge facing the project was meeting a hard deadline imposed by regulatory requirements. While they were already on an Agile journey within the organisation, Terri Scheer was concerned at an enterprise level if all the teams could come together and deliver fast enough. Katalyst had previously built the sales and claims platforms for Terri Scheer and demonstrated its effectiveness in the rapid delivery of purpose-built software using an Agile methodology. This existing relationship and proven experience allowed Katalyst to propose an ambitious plan with a fixed cost but variable scope. This approach requires a strong relationship of trust between the client and supplier, working together to prioritise which features to develop, resulting in the delivery of greater value in a shorter timeframe.

As this was a key strategic project with high visibility, there was a significant list of proposed features and requirements from various stakeholders. Through a series of workshops, Katalyst worked with Terri Scheer to clarify and elaborate on the features to ensure they met the overall requirements of the project. With a hard delivery date required to meet regulatory requirements, the final scope was triaged using the MoSCoW method to ensure the most important features would be delivered. The project team triaged an extensive list of user stories and distilled the stories down to what was important to the design of the application workflows. 

Experts in Agile software delivery, Katalyst proposed an iterative approach to build in cycles that contained four sprints (a sprint is an Agile term for a time block). Each cycle dedicated one sprint to feature design using a process known as “shaping”, which is a lightweight approach to exploring and selecting solutions. Then three sprints are used to build the features and produce working software to showcase at the end of each cycle.
 

The scale of this project meant there were many teams involved. Terri Scheer SMEs, Suncorp security, architects, legal team, identity management, and other external stakeholders who are responsible for enhancements to the existing insurance platform. Katalyst provided a team that included a senior project manager, team lead and architect, and software engineers. With deep experience in enterprise project delivery, Katalyst’s team extended itself beyond the development of software to closely support the delivery of the overall project.

In the design phase, the Katalyst team met with Suncorp’s specialist user experience team called “AAMI reimagined” who presented their findings from extensive ongoing UX research. Katalyst used the UX learnings and incorporated these into the design. 

One key insight focused on complex forms; when presented to a user with subject matter expertise, such as a real estate agent, the optimal format is a structured and grouped question set on the same page to minimise the cognitive load. Katalyst also leveraged form structures research from Gov.uk, which uses a design approach based on evidence from research papers. 

With an end user who often spends much of their working day away from the office, the project was designed from the ground up to be mobile-first. This enables various activities to be carried out in the field including getting quotes on-site with landlords, viewing existing cover, and even enabling real-estate agents to complete compliance training between appointments. One hundred per cent of the functionality of the application is available on mobile and desktop. 

The project was a transformation of how Terri Scheer works with real estate agents. Rather than just digitising the existing form process, the application would remove the need for call-centre processing by connecting directly to the key systems. This meant extensive integration work was required which involved collaborating with teams in Suncorp to understand their infrastructure and design an architecture that met their standards, security, and compliance requirements.

Katalyst used rapid building techniques such as developing simulated interfaces that allowed the project to demonstrate a working system before it was able to be connected to Terri Scheer’s internal systems. This meant the project team was able to showcase working features to senior leaders so they could see the progress at each milestone.

In parallel to developing the application, Suncorp was also rolling out its strategic IT infrastructure, and it was specified the Terri Scheer Connect application would be the first project to be deployed to this new infrastructure. The project was deployed using Openshift and ForgeRock WDM identify management. Katalyst was also the first Suncorp supplier to integrate with the new infrastructure, which was being deployed only a few weeks ahead of Katalyst’s build. Through collaboration and feedback, the Katalyst team was able to help Suncorp to test their infrastructure deployment as the work progressed.

The application was launched on time and rolled out to agents with positive feedback on the effectiveness and usability of the platform. This new platform delivers a solid foundation for Terri Scheer’s future digital expansion to deliver their insurance products and services to agents and landlords in new ways.

Katalyst has developed a deep understanding of Terri Scheer’s business and established an ongoing relationship spanning many years. Their organisation has continued to work with the Katalyst team with more ambitious projects using Katalyst’s trusted process which is proven to be highly effective using Agile and augmenting enterprise capability. This has led to the repeated successful delivery of working software that is purpose-built to the needs of the organisation.