CSC Smart Business UK Edition June - Making money work
Making money work
Developed by CSC and Scottish Widows, the mymoneyworks pensions platform is proving a hit with both clients and awards judges
Giving employees at Scottish Widows' enterprise customers a greater degree of flexibility and control over their financial future has not only proved popular with end users, but also with judges at recent, prestigious personal finance awards.
Less than two years after launch the mymoneyworks pensions platform has over 60 clients signed up and aims to grow this to around 100 by the end of 2012. This will bring mymoneyworks within reach of over 50,000 users.
The service has also won the Best New Platform category at the Aberdeen Platform Awards 2011 and Best DC Communication Strategy in the Pension Scheme of the Year Awards 2011. The Aberdeen judges summed up the platform as actually delivering what other personal finance providers were only talking about, making mymoneyworks "relevant, focused and tailored to customer needs and a worthy winner".
The platform has also achieved Highly Commended in both the Platform category of the UK Pensions 2012 Awards as well as the Innovation category of the MCA 2011 Awards.
Technology driven
At the core of mymoneyworks is CSC's proprietary corporate wealth management solution. It is an intuitive, customer-centric online service, designed to provide a high-quality user experience, with maximum speed and convenience to user and service provider alike.
Delivered by CSC as a complete managed service, mymoneyworks is then offered by Scottish Widows as a SaaS (software as a service) solution. CSC has developed a flexible platform using a content management system to give Scottish Widows control over content, allowing plug and play functionality and the ability to customise and modify the solution for its customers. The underlining proprietary technology is an out-of-the-box, highly secure web channel with call centre support.
As a managed service, mymoneyworks sits outside the Scottish Widows IT infrastructure, where gating restrictions in the software development cycle limit releases to just four a year. By positioning the mymoneyworks service outside of the back office environment Scottish Widows benefits from increased flexibility as new customers sign up to the service.
Action on insights
As one of the UK's leading pension providers, the organisation works with many large enterprises, managing the corporate pension schemes which play a big part in helping employees save for their retirement. Yet here, as in other parts of the financial economy, recent upheavals had hurt confidence and undermined trust.
Research showed employees wanted more, including access to financial education and guidance to help them meet their short, medium and long-term financial goals.
This situation required an innovative solution that would empower employees and enable them to manage their finances with greater flexibility, security and confidence. Scottish Widows recognised it could not achieve these tough goals without strong consultancy and technology support. CSC's financial services consulting team had already identified a market opportunity for a new breed of web-based wealth management service and had the blueprint for a solution that would help achieve Scottish Widows' desired goals.
Joint venture
The process for developing and launching mymoneyworks required innovation in three key, tightly integrated areas: market insight, partner management and solution design and development.
Mark Summers, consulting partner in CSC's Financial Services business, explains: "The CSC team analysed trends, challenges, corporate needs and regulatory changes to create the ideal specification. We built an exceptionally strong working relationship with Scottish Widows over a three-year period, agreeing on a joint venture approach under which CSC retained ownership of the software IP. Scottish Widows funded the solution in return for exclusive use of the IP in the UK."
The two companies worked together to overcome issues related to usability and interface design. CSC led the selection of technologies related both to core functionality and security. Connecting these core requirements with point-of-sale skills into a rational, easy to use deliverable required innovative thinking and interconnected working.
"The innovative design of the service offers advantages to everyone involved," says Summers. "mymoneyworks customers provide a best-in-class service to their workforce, maximising benefits take-up and reducing staff turnover. Scottish Widows helps employees plan and save for their future by providing access to a variety of calculators, case studies, education guides and financial planning tools. There is also access to financial products including pension and corporate ISAs. End-users receive a consolidated personal finance service that is easy to use and delivers outstanding security and value."
CSC was so confident in the overall service solution that it adopted it for its own employees in the UK.
Follow the leader
Peter Glancy, Head of Corporate Pensions at Scottish Widows comments: "Scottish Widows is now establishing leadership in a vital segment of the financial services market. We are providing a new kind of service to a technology-literate audience of end users, who are comfortable with buying a wide range of services online. By doing so, and working in partnership with the employer and their financial advisors, we have the chance to be their preferred partner, gaining their trust and building intimacy with them in a way that would otherwise not be possible."
Using technology to drive innovation, Scottish Widows is strengthening its position in the corporate pension field. mymoneyworks has given the company a solid position as a key innovator in web-based products and services.
"That status is very important to us and we intend to use this as the starting point for ambitious further development," adds Glancy. "CSC's innovative vision and exceptional skills, both as a technology and consulting partner, have been fundamental to making this vision a reality."
Learn more about CSC’s work in: Financial services