Church Mutual Insurance drives $2.5M in cost savings with Pega

The Business Issue

Church Mutual Insurance specializes in taking care of the institutions that people depend on most – including nonprofits, religious organizations, camps, and more. For over 150 years they’ve offered insurance for these organizations, making sure that they’re there to serve their communities when they need it most.

But Church Mutual’s success came at a cost. Their systems, processes, and data management strategies had not evolved to support the rapid growth they’d experienced. Despite their growth, Church Mutual was held back by multiple challenges:

• Outdated legacy systems: The insurer’s aging infrastructure was rigid and unable to support their growing operations. Beyond that, employees were accustomed to old workflows, making it difficult to introduce change.
• Siloed systems and disjointed data: Each department operated in isolation with separate systems that did not communicate with each other, meaning updates to key data often had to be manually input across multiple platforms.
• Manual and time-consuming workflows: Processes that should have been automated – such as policy renewals and underwriting – were handled manually, consuming excessive time and resources. For example, after their rapid growth, time spent on manual renewal tasks increased by 50%, from 30 minutes to 45 minutes per transaction.
• Pressure on staff and rising costs: Inefficiencies put immense pressure on back-office staff, with mandatory overtime becoming a norm. Employees were struggling to keep up with the growing workload, leading to dissatisfaction and escalating operational costs.

The Solution

To address these challenges, Church Mutual partnered with P3 Fusion to implement the Pega Platform™. P3 Fusion worked closely with Church Mutual to develop a clear roadmap that aligned with both tactical and strategic goals, allowing for a phased approach to the transformation. This method ensured that each system implementation, from underwriting to customer service, was seamlessly integrated into their broader strategy.

Instead of trying to overhaul everything at once, Church Mutual prioritized specific high-impact areas like renewals, sales automation, and underwriting. By focusing on critical processes first, the insurer saw immediate improvements and built momentum for subsequent phases.

The solution also focused on breaking down departmental silos and building a foundation for data sharing and process reusability. Pega’s Center-out™ approach allowed various modules – such as sales automation, customer service, and marketing – to operate on a unified platform. Key business rules and user interfaces were reused across different functions, eliminating redundancy and maximizing efficiency.

One critical success factor was maintaining strict adherence to Pega best practices, which enabled smooth upgrades and avoided costly rework. The project team successfully completed two upgrades with minimal disruption thanks to their disciplined approach.

The Results

The implementation of Pega led to significant, measurable results across Church Mutual’s operations:

• 95% reduction in back-office touchpoints: Before Pega, the back-office team manually handled 100% of renewals. With Pega, 95% of those transactions were fully automated, allowing staff to focus on more value-added tasks.
• $300,000 in savings within the first few months: By March 2024, back-office efficiency gains had already saved Church Mutual $300,000. Workflow automation reduced processing time and labor requirements, leading to substantial cost reductions.
• $2.5 million in annual savings: As automation expanded across various processes, Church Mutual realized $2.5 million in annual savings.
• 200% efficiency gains: By the end of 2023, Church Mutual had achieved a 200% increase in efficiency compared to its pre-Pega operations. For example, the time required to process a renewal dropped from 30 minutes to just five minutes, with back-office staff handling only 5% of transactions.
• Improved employee satisfaction and work-life balance: The resulting reduced workload through an elimination of mandatory overtime, meaning Church Mutual employees were able to regain work-life balance. This not only improved morale but also had a positive impact on overall productivity.

Watch their in-depth journey in their PegaWorld session.