Zurich Case Study

Name: Farmers Life Insurance Company, USA division of Zurich Life.

Sector: Finance

Website:www.farmers.com

Project Description

Farmers operate in a sluggish economy with increasing competition and government regulation.

Consultants Online’s unique experience in delivering business advice on new product development from concept to launch made it ideally suited to give Farmers a new strategy and direction.

A three month plan was assembled which included:

• Establish a vision and strategy with stakeholders.
• Pre-market testing with focus groups and sales team
• Training of agents and customer support staff.
• Set targets and measures to ensure objectives are achieved.

Project Results:

• Full commitment of the sales team and customer support staff.
• Highly competitive pricing strategy with appropriate risk assessment.
• Product launch on time and within budget.

Project Skills:

• Market research and customer needs analysis.
• Identification of key issues and application of best practice solutions.
• Evaluation of likely impact on resources, risk and profitability.

Tools and Techniques Used: 

The typical New Product Development project consists of a series of steps starting with ideas and leading to product launch. These steps can be grouped into a series of phases. Each phase has a number of activities, usually completed by marketing and development teams working together.

Two important mechanisms provide management control:

1. A management review at the end of each well-defined stage in the development. This iscalled a Gate Review.

2. Criteria against which the project is judged in order to make a Go, Kill or Hold decision.

This requires an approved action plan for the next stage (complete with people required, money, and an agreed timeline), and a list of tasks and date for the next gate.