On Jan. 11, Transamerica announced the opening of the Innovation Zone, a state-of-the-art lab in Johns Creek, Ga., where agents are welcome to review new technology as well as test and offer feedback on the future of these platforms.
Built in partnership with Salesforce, an industry leader in client relationship management technology, the Innovation Zone is a collaborative space that ties all aspects of the agent platform and displays them in one location. It offers agents an opportunity to be part of the development process of technology that aims to maximize their ability to help families build a lifetime of financial security.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Innovation Zone was held on Nov. 15 in Johns Creek, hosted by Dave Paulsen, Chief Distribution Officer at Transamerica. Fifty field agents were selected to attend the ceremony and test the sales platform demos.
“One of the reasons we believe the Innovation Zone is so unique is that it gives agents real-time ability to see what’s being developed, connect with the developers, and let them know their needs and priorities. Through the Innovation Zone, the agents can give us their valuable input about the tools, systems, and technologies they need to best serve their clients and train their agents,” Paulsen said.
Seasoned, as well as prospective, agents from all the distribution areas are encouraged to tour the Innovation Zone and interact with the platform on test computers, providing their feedback and suggestions. The new, high-tech sales platform offers demos on business building strategies, including identifying top prospects and action steps, servicing and maintaining existing clients, and growing relationships. It also offers training to help field agents to increase productivity and efficiency in their organizations.
“Our goal is to provide our agents with the best that technology has to offer, so they can help their clients build financial security for life. The Innovation Zone gives our agents a place to participate in the development of the tools that will help their clients achieve this goal and, in doing so, will help our agents achieve a higher level of success,” Paulsen said.
Transamerica Financial Network migrates to Salesforce’s Financial Services Cloud
Transamerica has made a point of using Salesforce recently to enhance its company culture and bottom line.
“The Salesforce Platform is a very mobile, 21st-century environment that complements [our] talents at connecting with clients,” said John Joseph, Chief Strategy Officer at Georgia-based Transamerica Financial Network (TFN). “We are making Salesforce part of the culture of the organization. We see Salesforce not just as a technology company, but as part of our family that helps us serve our customers every day.”
TFN is a financial services marketing organization that is part of Transamerica. Its 60,000 independent agents and financial advisors are now using Financial Services Cloud to serve families for life. TFN is using Salesforce as a way to reimagine what Customer Relationship Management (CRM) means for its entire field force. A Salesforce customer since 2012, TFN has put all of its agents and advisors on Financial Services Cloud, driving a massive customer-centric transformation of its business, with Salesforce at the center. Community Cloud provides a single hub for TFN agents and advisors to connect with their recruits and find training, while Service Cloud powers the TFN service and sales desks. Meanwhile, Einstein Analytics and the Salesforce Platform are helping drive actionable insights throughout the company. “Truthfully, we are capturing data on Salesforce that we’ve never captured before,” Joseph said.
With customers, advisors, and agents all on the same platform, the full power of the Salesforce ecosystem provides more personalized engagements throughout a customer’s financial life journey. “Our mission, at the end of the day, is to help families,” he said. “As we start releasing more and more features and functionality on a regular basis, agents and advisors will see the value add of how Salesforce can help drive their businesses, help their client families, and help grow those family relationships.”
Switching everyone at TFN over to Financial Services Cloud required an en masse migration of data to create all-new user records for more than 29,000 agents. The project, which included redesigning the user interface for agents, took 12 weeks.
TFN developed a momentum program to promote the change, because, Joseph said, “We don’t want to force our field to use Salesforce. We want them to adopt it for the right reasons.”
Employees from TFN headquarters are travelling throughout North America to show what Financial Services Cloud could do for network members, both personally and professionally. Said Joseph, “A lot of folks really woke up and thought, ‘Wow, this is really a new way of doing business.’”
For more information visit www.transamerica.com.
