What you need to know:

• Suncorp has joined the likes of Commbank and NAB in implementing a decisioning engine from Pega.
• Its new approach breaks the reliance on traditional segmentation and speeds times to market.
• The bank is now confident in delivering one on one real time conversations, and in building more personalised experiences.
• Across the group, business transformation is driving a surge of customers into digital channels, which now deliver 68 per cent of all sales and 44 per cent of all service transactions.
• Almost two thirds of mass brand renewals are also now completed digitally.
• Big investments also into AI and automation are also moving the needle, per CIO Adam Bennett:  Suncorp has deployed more than 465 robots, automated over 24 million transactions, and saved up to 600,000 hours (equivalent to approximately 300 FTEs based on a 38 hour week) in FY23

Suncorp’s implementation of a decisioning engine in its banking group has released it from the constraints of pre-defined segmentation and now means it can confidently engage in one-to-one real time conversations with its customers, according to its technology chief.

Sounds like marketing speak nirvana. But it's moving the needle.

Like Commbank and NAB, Suncorp is one of a number of enterprise scale Australian financial institutions to bet on the decisioning model espoused by companies like Pega (the incumbent in this instance) and SAS. While the model is seen as complex and expensive, it can also deliver huge returns. Forrester Research’s Rusty Warner recently told Mi3 he knows of some firms which are realising half a billion dollar returns by boosting customer lifetime value over and above increasing transactions and revenue.

Suncorp confirmed the implementation of Pega's decisioning engine to Mi3, its first public comments acknowledging the project which began in 2021.

According to Suncorp CIO Adam Bennett, the group's aim with decisioning is to deliver personalised conversations to its customers at the right time and place, across multiple channels including mobile app, email, social media, and contact centre. "This reduces noise and helps customers to achieve their goals faster," he said.

“Over the past year, we have integrated a decisioning engine – provided by Pega – within our Suncorp app where customers interact with us on average 26 times per month. We’ve already developed personalised experiences where we recognise your birthday, understand if you have equity in your home or whether you have completed a task to set up your new account.”

He said the decisioning engine enabled Suncorp to have individual one-to-one conversations with its customers through its mobile app in real time.

“Historically, we had to rely on pre-defined segments and spend a lot of time analysing the results before making adjustments, which increased time to market and business costs.”

Asked how the capabilities of a decisioning infrastructure exceeded those of a traditional marketing tech capability, Bennett suggested immediacy, accuracy and relevance are key differentiators.

“Our historical challenge has been making digital experiences relevant for each individual customer. Our new decisioning engine can calculate hundreds of propensity scores in real-time, where we previously would have used pre-defined segments to make decisions. This didn’t give us the insight around what the customer was doing 'right now', whereas our new decisioning engine uses machine learning to help us become even more personalised and relevant.”

As to how the decisioning infrastructure improved Suncorp’s overall view of the relationship it has with its customers, Bennett said the company's aspiration is to deliver ‘Banking you can feel good about’. And that's what it is helping to actually deliver.

“A better understanding of our customers is essential to delivering this. Having integrated our new decisioning engine into one key customer touchpoint via the app, we are already seeing considerable improvements to the customer experience.”

With the foundations in place, Suncorp is looking to go further, scaling across channels and feeding in real-time and behavioural data.

“This will deliver greater consistency across channels and improve our ability to contact the customer at the right time with the most relevant context to help them even more," per Bennett.

Group transformation

The decisioning engine, part of  the Customer Experience Management (CXM) Transformation Program at Suncorp is one aspect of a wider group digital transformation.

That transformation was a key theme to emerge from the presentation of its FY23 results last week, with the banking saying that digitisation, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have helped support the performance of Suncorp Group.

Following its FY presentation Suncorp revealed that digital transactions increased for the Group’s mass insurance brands across home, motor and CTP (compulsory third party) products. Digital channels now deliver 68 per cent of all sales and 44 per cent of all service transactions. Almost two thirds of mass brand renewals are also now completed digitally.

After a three-year overhaul of digital lodgement processes, half of all home and motor digital claim lodgements now come through digital channels, with the figures even higher for natural disasters.

And in a hat tip to AI, Suncorp says it has deployed more than 465 robots, automated over 24 million transactions, and saved up to 600,000 hours in FY23, equivalent to approximately 300 FTEs based on a 38 hour week.

In comments that echoed Macquarie Banks’s Rosalind Coffey, Head of People, Culture & Client Experience at Macquarie Bank earlier this year on the importance of linking improved customer experience to employee experience, Bennett outlined what he called significant progress towards delivering better customers and employee outcomes. He also emphasised the impact on also driving growth and greater efficiencies across the business.

“Technology, as a key enabler of the FY23 plan, has continued to drive operational transformation, utilising digitisation, automation, and AI across the value chain. We have empowered our people to think and work differently and this has been a critical component of our success," per the Suncorp technology chief.

“The investment and efforts of our people to deploy innovative technology solutions has made things simpler and easier for our customers, helping make us a more efficient and effective organisation."

Looking ahead, he said work continued on simplifying and modernising Suncorp’s tech platforms as part of the next three-year plan, which will also include completing its cloud migration by the end of the year.