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WEBINAR | People-centric Digital Transformation: Create Superior Agent & Customer Experience

Webinar Policy Administration System
"If you get [user research] wrong, you can spend a lot of time developing solutions that just aren't used."
— Byren Innes, Managing Director & CEO, Jennings Consulting

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Most life insurers know they need to transform. The real challenge? Making sure people — agents, consumers, and internal teams — are actually at the centre of it.

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In this session from the Equisoft Accelerate series, a panel of industry leaders from John Hancock, Jennings Consulting, and Equisoft explores how insurers can move beyond patchwork digitization to build experiences that earn trust, drive customer engagement, and deliver real business results.

From behavioural science and hybrid sales channels to legacy system overhauls and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered self-service, this webinar covers what a genuinely people-first transformation looks like and what it takes to get there.

Our guest panelists

What you'll learn

  • How to apply human-centred design principles to insurance digital transformation and why skipping foundational user research is the costliest mistake insurers make
  • What John Hancock's Vitality program reveals about shifting from one to two customer touchpoints per year to 20–30 meaningful digital interactions per month
  • Why legacy system silos remain the #1 barrier to real-time data delivery and how to build a migration strategy for both open and closed blocks
  • Innovative use cases for eApps, illustrations, needs assessment tools, and agent/consumer portals that are redefining the distribution journey
  • How to build digital trust across the B2B2C ecosystem and what insurers get wrong about reliability, security, and utility
  • Which emerging technologies (AI, large language models (LLMs), cloud data abstraction) will have the biggest impact on agent and customer experience (CX) in the next two to three years

Key insights from this session

The #1 mistake in digital transformation? Building without the end user.

Insurers often rely on internal stakeholders and business analysts to define digital solutions — but end users have fundamentally different insights. Byren Innes of Jennings Consulting makes the case for rigorous, foundational user research: understand the gaps, validate solution approaches with actual users, and establish a north star design vision before committing to the tech stack.

From two touchpoints a year to 30 a month: John Hancock's playbook.

John Hancock's Vitality program demonstrates what people-centric transformation looks like in practice. By combining behavioural science with technology, the insurer shifted from a few annual policyholder interactions to 20–30 meaningful monthly touchpoints through mobile apps, digital content, rewards, and personalized nudges. The result: a life insurance experience that customers actively engage with.

Legacy systems aren't just a tech problem; they're a CX problem.

Insurers who invest in digital front ends without addressing underlying legacy systems end up with inconsistent customer experiences: a slick portal that can only pull data from one of three core systems, or a modern eApp that still takes three days to process. The solution requires a comprehensive migration strategy for both open and closed blocks, built on APIs and cloud data solutions.

Digital trust is built on four pillars, and utility is the one insurers overlook.

Building digital trust in insurance comes down to four pillars: reliability, societal acceptance, security, and a fourth that's frequently overlooked: utility. Does the platform actually give users something of value? That's what drives adoption and what separates portals people return to from portals they abandon.

The future of distribution is hybrid.

The pandemic accelerated eApp adoption, but it also surfaced a more important shift: consumers want the ability to start a journey digitally and get live advisor support exactly when they need it. Hybrid models, where D2C platforms connect seamlessly to advisor-assisted experiences, are now the standard insurers need to build toward.

About our guest speakers

Lindsay Hansen | CMO and Head of Health & Wellness Solutions, John Hancock

Lindsay is the CMO and Global Head of Behavioural Insurance Strategy and Delivery at John Hancock, where she leads the Vitality program — a technology-enabled behavioural insurance offering that transforms how the insurer engages with its policyholders.

Byren Innes | Managing Director & CEO, Jennings Consulting

Byren brings decades of experience advising insurers across North America on digital transformation, distribution strategy, and human-centred design. His firm works across the full spectrum of the insurance ecosystem, from legacy system strategy to eApp and portal innovation.

Brian Carey | Vice President of Insurance Solutions Engineering, Equisoft

Brian is a back-office product expert with deep expertise in insurance core systems and the complex integrations required to deliver real-time data to agents and consumers. He advises insurers on everything from system migration strategy to AI and LLM applications in insurance.

Marc Blanchard (moderator) | Oracle Alliance Executive, Equisoft

Marc leads moderation for the Equisoft Accelerate webinar series, facilitating expert conversations on insurance technology and digital transformation.

Deepen your knowledge: People-centric digital transformation and customer experience

CX transformation starts with the right foundation. Explore the resources below to go deeper on the strategies, technologies, and modernization approaches covered in this session.