Case Study - Sumitomo Life Insurance Company Sales Training Department
Since its founding in 1907, Sumitomo Life Insurance Company has supported the lives of many customers and their families through its life insurance business.
In addition to providing death protection, medical and nursing care protection, and preparation for life after retirement, in 2018 the company launched a new insurance product called "Sumitomo Life Vitality" that not only "prepares" for risks but also supports "health promotion" and "reduces" risks. The company is working to further improve its products and services with the aim of contributing to the "well-being" of its customers and society.
We spoke with Mr. Sakaguchi and Mr. Takeda from the Sales Training Department about the behind-the-scenes system that supports the education of sales staff, the face of Sumitomo Life.
*Department names are as of the time of the interview in November 2023.
In our sales field, which is the core of our company, we aim to realize the well-being of our customers and society by contributing to "health promotion with vitality at its core" based on our previous philosophy of "providing peace of mind through insurance" and by working to "provide services that support fulfilling lives."
In particular, we provide continuous education to our customers over a five-year training period in order to practice consulting rooted in the social security system in order to provide insurance tailored to the life plans of each individual customer.
The old learning management system (formerly S-TUBE) was a system specialized in video viewing, so it became a self-study space for people who wanted to watch, and it was difficult to ensure that students watched thoroughly. In addition, it was not possible to check the level of understanding or provide individual guidance afterwards.
By introducing SmartSkill Campus, it has become possible to clearly color-code content into "what each individual must view," "what all employees must view," and "what can be viewed as self-study content."
At S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus), you can learn "educational content for sales staff."
Broadly speaking, the app is equipped with "must-watch content" such as initial training for new employees, compliance and mission for all employees, and "self-study content" for self-improvement in spare time. In addition, the app also provides content for positions other than sales positions.
Continuing education to practice consulting that is tailored to the lives of our customers
What does the Sales Training Department at Sumitomo Life Insurance place emphasis on when training your sales staff?
Issues before implementing SmartSkill Campus and key points for selecting an LMS
Please tell us about the challenges you faced before introducing the LMS (Learning Management System) and the education you envisioned with the introduction of the LMS.
SmartSkill Campus makes it easy to check viewing history, as well as administer tests and check results , so we have a system that can gauge individual levels of understanding. We would like to use this to provide individualized guidance in the future.
What were the important points you considered when selecting an LMS (learning management system) vendor, and what ultimately led you to introduce SmartSkill Campus?
The reason for selecting SmartSkill Campus is, first of all, its high versatility, including customization. Another major factor was the ease of understanding of the UI/UX on both sales terminals (tablets) and smartphones. We also highly evaluated the system infrastructure, which can operate stably even when accessed simultaneously by more than 30,000 employees , and the high searchability, which allows users to search not only titles but also words entered in the memo field of each piece of content . The initial and running costs were also extremely low compared to other companies.
What ultimately made us decide to go with them was the support system and enthusiasm of the staff. We contacted the sales and customer success staff frequently, and they responded very quickly. As we continued to consider the options, we were able to build a relationship of trust.
How to use S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus), issues faced in large-scale operation and how to solve them
What can you learn at S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus)?
Also, how are you using it?
Currently, 35,000 people are taking courses at S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus).
What were the biggest challenges you faced operating at scale?
You also customized the home page. What aspects of the UI did you devise?
In terms of functionality, we recognized that the biggest issues were "stable operation of the system" and "simultaneous access" due to the large scale of operation. With your cooperation, we carried out various simulations and considered the matter, and so far we have been able to use the system without any problems.
In addition, the old S-TUBE did not allow viewing on sales terminals (tablets), but with S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus), after consultation between our system department and your company's developers, it was made possible to view the programs on sales terminals as well.
In terms of UI/UX, we customized the top screen with the aim of providing good usability for all users, even though there are a wide variety of users, and ensuring searchability and the development of a navigation system that allows users to quickly find the content they want to watch . As some staff members have no concept of "scrolling," we made the layout so that the whole page can be seen at a glance, based the color scheme on yellow and orange, which are said to "lift your mood" and "improve your thinking," and emphasized the "My Page" to eliminate the problem of "not knowing what to look at." We also implemented various measures.
When replacing the old S-TUBE with S-TUBE, the biggest challenge was transferring the content. The number of contents was reduced from the original 5,000 to 1,600, and we were able to complete the actual transfer work with your cooperation.
To assist the relevant departments within the company, we created our own manual and gave multiple lectures via Zoom to the content creation departments, which allowed us to make the transition without any major confusion.
S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus) operational system and measures to increase awareness within the company
What kind of system does your company have for operating S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus)?
With the aim of first getting the sales staff interested and excited about the product, we came up with a PR character, "S-TUBE Man," and filmed an educational video in-house. We then distributed this to all sales staff before S-TUBE went live, ensuring that everyone watched it.
The first release was "We're now up and running, please log in!", and the second release was "S-TUBE has changed like this, and has improved in these ways!". The release was divided into two stages.
I heard that you are doing some interesting things to notify sales staff and increase awareness. Please tell us about them.
The sales staff enjoyed it, and it became a topic of conversation within the company about "Who is the S-TUBE man?", which attracted interest in S-TUBE. As a result, the login rate in the first month reached about 95%, and it is still maintained at a level of over 80%.
Sumitomo Life Insurance Company Sales Training Department
Replacement of LMS used by 35,000 sales staff,
Through thorough viewing, the login rate in the first month was approximately 95%.
Furthermore, in order to create a work environment where each employee can "work for a long time with enthusiasm," we strive to promote mutual understanding among employees through active dialogue and to ensure the well-being of our employees.
After the system was introduced, a three-person operations team was put in charge of handling the system. They mainly support the management of users and content associated with joining and leaving the company and transfers, as well as the management of content registration for other departments.
We also provide support for staff errors, and while the old S-TUBE system received around 30 inquiries from users per day, the frequency of inquiries has dropped to 0 to 2 or 3 at most under S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus). Operation has been made smoother by creating manuals and delegating authority to each branch office.
We extract and analyze data on the company-wide usage status, and we receive easy-to-understand data in monthly reports that allow us to grasp the status of internal usage. We also appreciate that if there is anything our operations team does not understand, we can consult with them immediately and they will respond.
Please tell us what you appreciate about the system or support structure.
In terms of the system, there are very few problems. The old S-TUBE system had some system problems, but REVIC Global is on standby from early in the morning during large-scale operations to prepare for any problems, so I feel very safe.
Other than that , they regularly update functions and are flexible in incorporating our opinions and requests. They also have an attitude of working together with us to build the system, moving forward in tandem. There were many unexpected things from the development stage, but each time they worked with us to come up with ideas to solve the problems, considered them, and led us to a solution, which we really appreciated.
In terms of people, their response time is overwhelmingly fast, and their approach is very flexible. When we tell them what we want to do, they really think from our perspective and propose a solution, so we trust them very much. When introducing a system like this, I had the impression that support would be cut off abruptly after the implementation for reasons such as "that level of support is not included in the contract," but they are still the same kind and supportive people.
Is there anything you would like to achieve or challenge in the future with S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus)?
With the introduction of this system, we have now created an environment for viewing video materials. In the future, we would like to provide a package of content that goes beyond just viewing videos (studying knowledge) to training (speaking skills) and testing (verifying proficiency), and create a system that can elevate the content to a level where it can actually be used by our customers.
In addition, although services are currently provided only from the head office, sales challenges actually differ depending on the characteristics of each market, etc.
I hope that each site will provide content tailored to their respective issues and further improve customer service. The functions have already been implemented, so I would like to make S-TUBE even more familiar to the site. I will continue to use and promote S-TUBE so that the world will become one in which education would not exist without it.
Our work is based on the premise of "human-to-human warmth," but we would like to challenge ourselves to "integrate people and digital" by adding "various digital powers, including S-TUBE" to individual education, guidance, and customer service, and by connecting them together.
By improving the skills of each employee, we aim to create a workplace environment where employees can continue to work enthusiastically for the long term, thereby achieving the well-being of both our customers and our employees themselves.
Future outlook for S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus)
Evaluation of REVIC Global's solutions
Company Name
Sumitomo Life Insurance Company
Industry
Insurance
Number of people
Approximately 35,000 people
assignment
From a place of self-study to a place of learning that includes mandatory education
Stable operation of systems in large-scale operations
Viewing on a business device (tablet)
TOPICS
Continuing education to practice consulting that is tailored to the lives of our customers
Issues before implementing SmartSkill Campus and key points for selecting an LMS
How to use S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus), issues faced in large-scale operation and how to solve them
S-TUBE (SmartSkill Campus) operational system and measures to increase awareness within the company
