Generali Insurance Serbia

Generali Insurance Serbia (Generali Osiguranje Srbija) is the largest private insurance company in the Serbian market, and it has been carefully building the Generali brand since 2006. Established in 1998, the company has experienced rapid and stable development. For over ten years, it has been the market leader in life and health insurance.

Generali Insurance Serbia aims to establish lifelong partnerships with its clients, with digitalization playing a crucial role in achieving this ambition. Digital transformation enables the creation of innovative solutions that enhance customer relationships and provide added value.

One such solution is the CRM platform, which boosts client satisfaction and improves employee engagement, efficiency, and overall business performance. After a thorough analysis of various CRM options, Generali Insurance Serbia selected Salesforce for their internal sales operations, aligning with the global strategic partnership between the Generali Group and Salesforce.

For the Salesforce implementation, Generali Insurance Serbia sought a local partner who could understand their vision and deliver an exceptional customer experience. Another key criterion was adopting an agile methodology for the project.

Kameleon Solutions met these requirements, and the Sales Cloud implementation began in April 2022.

Generali Insurance Serbia defined its core business objectives as:

• Enhancing efficiency and productivity,
• Maximizing lead and portfolio potential,
• Increasing client and employee satisfaction,
• Driving revenue growth and profitability.

To address these needs, we implemented a wide range of existing Salesforce tools and developed custom solutions from the ground up, tailored specifically to the client and their industry’s unique requirements.

The challenges encountered during the project can be grouped into four major categories.

Challenge 1: Managing a diverse internal sales team

Generali’s internal sales team is highly diverse, with variations in age, digital literacy, and length of service. This diversity required a strategic approach to license allocation. To ensure effective training and feedback, the company opted for a phased rollout of licenses. Agents were actively involved in every stage of the implementation, from internal consultations to workshops with the Kameleon Solutions team. Their participation played a key role in the successful adoption of the new tools.

Challenge 2: Business complexity and system integration

As the largest private insurance provider in Serbia, Generali Insurance Serbia offers a broad range of life and non-life insurance policies. To manage this complexity, the Salesforce implementation was divided into four phases, each addressing different types of insurance. Additionally, integrating Salesforce with numerous internal systems posed a significant challenge, as it involved handling vast amounts of data, including millions of policies and tens of millions of records. Implementing a deduplication process was critical to ensure the elimination of duplicate policies and clients.

Challenge 3: Data access management across departments

Given the complexity of Generali’s operations, creating a detailed access scheme was essential. Each team member needed access only to data relevant to their role and department. This controlled access approach enhanced efficiency by ensuring that employees saw only the information pertinent to their tasks, streamlining workflow and reducing information overload.

Challenge 4: Optimizing lead management

A key focus was developing an efficient lead management system that enabled both the manual entry of potential client information by agents and the automatic capture of leads through web forms. The goal was to provide each prospect with optimal service while ensuring an equitable distribution of leads among agents.

We addressed the challenge of implementing multiple parameters to assign each lead to the most qualified agent based on the specific situation. Additionally, we established a clear, step-by-step process with defined timeframes to ensure timely conversions of potential clients into actual customers.

The entire project was completed in just nine months, with the Kameleon Solutions team continuing to provide platform maintenance afterwards.

Together with our colleagues from Generali Insurance Serbia, we developed an innovative solution called GIA—Generali’s Interactive Assistant. Built on the Salesforce platform, GIA enables the internal sales team to manage their portfolio centrally while accessing all necessary policyholder information. Fully integrated with Generali’s custom-built applications, GIA enhances both agent efficiency and customer relations, improving the overall user experience.

As a cloud-based solution, GIA is accessible to agents via mobile phones and tablets, ensuring real-time updates and always up-to-date information. Agents can now deliver high-quality service from anywhere while instantly logging important details into the system, replacing the old practice of using notebooks and papers that could easily be misplaced.

Notably, this project marks the first CRM cloud solution in Serbia’s financial sector to receive approval from the National Bank of Serbia.

What was the process like?

We begin each project by conducting workshops with the client to thoroughly define their business needs and expectations. Through multiple sessions and in-depth analysis of the gathered information, we create a detailed project plan.

For this project, we opted to implement it in four phases using the agile methodology. This approach allowed us to deliver a functional application as early as the first phase, while subsequent phases focused on enhancing existing features and introducing new ones. Agile methodology ensures the application evolves continuously and adapts to the client's changing needs.

The core solution we implemented was Salesforce Sales Cloud, with our team developing custom functionalities tailored to the specific requirements of the client and their business model.

In the first phase of implementation, we focused on system setup and data integration through the Customer 360 platform.

We established a visibility system, enabled single sign-on authentication for users, and configured key processes for managing leads and selling life insurance. Initially, licenses were granted to a select group of agents specializing in life insurance. The new solution officially launched in July 2022, just three months after implementation began. Following the successful completion of this phase, three additional phases were initiated to further enhance the system’s functionality and efficiency.

In the second phase, we integrated Salesforce with life insurance sales and service applications and created a series of reports and dashboards to track agent performance in detail.

We also optimized previously implemented functionalities to improve system performance and operational efficiency.

The third phase focused on integrating data and establishing sales processes for non-life insurance.

We developed new reports for activity management, allowing for more detailed performance monitoring and analysis. During this phase, licenses were extended to the first team of non-life insurance agents, granting them access to the system and its new functionalities.

The fourth and final phase completed the integration of Salesforce with non-life insurance sales and service applications, covering all key aspects of the implementation.

This phase marked the successful conclusion of the project, ensuring full alignment between all systems and the client’s business needs.

During and after the Salesforce implementation, the Kameleon Solutions team led the initial training using the "train-the-trainer" model for Generali Insurance Serbia’s internal trainers. These trainers then shared their knowledge with their colleagues, enabling the entire sales force to quickly and effectively master the new system. Additionally, Generali appointed a dedicated team member to oversee ongoing training, maintenance, and improvements of the Salesforce system, ensuring its long-term success.

Generali demonstrated exemplary business practices by placing significant emphasis on the internal promotion of the new platform, named GIA—Generali’s Interactive Assistant.

Even before licenses were distributed, the company initiated comprehensive internal communication efforts to prepare the sales team for the transition. Special events were organized, actively involving agents and boosting their engagement. Transparent communication from management helped the sales team understand upcoming changes, providing ample time to adapt and ensuring a seamless transition to the new system.

To support users, Generali established an extensive internal education program that included video tutorials, live manager-led training, branch visits, and online consultations. Simple, clear instructions were also made available, helping users familiarize themselves with the system’s functionalities and benefits.

We would like to extend our gratitude to Generali Insurance Serbia for recognizing the critical role of internal education and onboarding. Their commitment laid a strong foundation, enabling employees to efficiently and successfully utilize the new solutions.

Sales agents now have a comprehensive 360-degree view of every potential and existing customer across Generali’s life and non-life insurance offerings, resulting in increased satisfaction not only for clients but also for employees.

From the outset, Generali Insurance Serbia adopted a careful, phased approach to license allocation to ensure users received adequate training. This strategy allowed for continuous feedback from users and the implementation of necessary improvements based on their suggestions. Below, we highlight the impact Salesforce has had on a group of 331 agents—representing 36% of the internal sales force—who have demonstrated significant improvements in key performance metrics. These quantitative results underscore the positive influence of the new system. Looking ahead, forecasts for future performance are highly optimistic, especially now that Salesforce has been fully rolled out to the entire sales force and all licenses have been successfully assigned.

The percentage of renewed policies increased by 6%

The implementation of the Salesforce solution has significantly enhanced policy tracking, leading to a 6% increase in policy renewals. This improvement not only strengthens customer retention but also maximizes the customer portfolio, boosting revenue and overall business profitability.

Customer retention rate increased by 1.5%

Thanks to Salesforce, Generali Insurance Serbia successfully retained 950 more clients than in the period before the system's implementation. This 1.5% increase in retention underscores the improvements in customer support and the optimization of relationship management processes.

Cross-sell index improved by 0.02

Before Salesforce was implemented, on average every third customer typically held around four policies. Today, that number has increased to five, reflecting a measurable improvement in the cross-sell index. This indicates the success of efforts to sell additional policies to existing customers, which has boosted both sales performance and the efficiency of the sales team.

Personalized approach and a 360° view of each customer

All data on potential and existing customers—including contact information, policy details, and claims history—is now integrated into a single platform. This 360° overview provides complete visibility into relevant customer information, enabling agents to deliver personalized and tailored services to every client.

We created an environment for more efficient operations

The sales team now has centralized access to all essential information, thanks to seamless integration with internal applications. This eliminates the need for multiple tools, streamlining the workflow and significantly improving the speed and efficiency of the agents' work. Management also benefits from real-time access to performance reports, enabling better oversight and data-driven decision-making.

We ensured platform availability on mobile devices

All in-house applications have been successfully integrated into the Salesforce/GIA platform. The cloud-based solution allows agents to access these tools from mobile devices at any time, enhancing both their efficiency and availability in the field.

We eliminated the risk of losing leads

Previously, agents tracked leads on paper and in notebooks, risking the loss of valuable information. The new system securely stores all lead data, ensuring no opportunity is overlooked. Leads are automatically entered into the sales process or set as reminders for future follow-up, safeguarding every potential client interaction.

The project required extensive coordination across multiple teams and departments within Generali. However, due to seamless communication and outstanding support from the client, who remained highly responsible and responsive throughout the entire process, we were able to complete the project within the agreed timeframe.

Following the implementation, the Kameleon Solutions team continues to work on enhancing the GIA platform, incorporating feedback to ensure ongoing optimal performance and an exceptional user experience.