Need
On March 19, 2014, Chancellor George Osborne delivered a Budget announcement that sent shockwaves through the Financial Services industry. By declaring that “No-one need ever buy an annuity again,” Osborne effectively upended the entire pensions landscape. This ‘Lamborghini Budget’ created an urgent need for innovation within the industry:
- Existing economic models became obsolete overnight
- Algorithms required complete rewriting
- New, innovative financial products needed rapid development
- All changes had to be implemented by April 2015
The pensions industry, including LV=, faced a monumental challenge. They needed to adapt quickly to the new reality or risk becoming irrelevant in a dramatically altered market.
Solution
LV= recognized the potential opportunity amidst the chaos. Richard Warner, then CIO, called in Zuhlke – business transformation experts with an impressive track record of delivering for LV=. Together, they devised a strategy to leverage the existing suite of ‘at retirement’ products. This was their 7-point solution:
- Create a unified, easy-to-understand platform for their diverse product range
- Adopt an Agile methodology and abandon traditional ‘Waterfall’ approaches
- Draw on Zuhlke’s expertise in delivering complex, time-critical Agile projects
- Form a dedicated team combining internal talent and external expertise
- Implement a series of focused ‘sprints’ to deliver working functions rapidly
- Engage all stakeholders, from IT to business functions, in ‘show and tell’ sessions
- Integrate modern Agile developments, DevOps practices, lean UX-led processes, and user-centric design
This approach allowed LV= to overcome significant tech challenges, including the need to pull data from up to 50 different legacy systems.
Value
The innovative solution delivered substantial benefits:
- Long-term Strategy: Agile methodologies became a central pillar of the LV= development culture. IT – once widely perceived as a cost centre – is now respected as a business and revenue driver.
- Market Advantage: LV= gained a six-month head start over competitors, launching the industry’s only purpose-built, fully-functioning solution in response to the new pension rules.
- Financial Impact: The project accelerated profits, reduced operating costs, and achieved the highest ROI of any LV= project.
- Operational Efficiency: Time-to-market for new products and services was significantly reduced.
- Cultural Transformation: The success of the Agile approach led to a radical shift in attitudes and perspectives across the organization.
