Interview with Achim Kolanoski, Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche BKK, a German health insurance provider.
Mr. Kolanoski, do you start blogging with your employees during your first coffee break? Or do you wait for your lunch break? Or the evening when the day’s work is done?
I blog during the day, mostly at work, but sometimes at home in the evening, as a way of closing the day. When you have 50 offices throughout Germany, it’s a challenge to stay in touch with all employees. The management blog on the new intranet is a convenient tool for conveying important information or for offering an occasional opinion. Plus, it’s fun. I get comments from employees at all levels of the organization. It’s a way to find out their concerns and respond to them quickly. At first I was a little worried I might receive 100 comments a day – but employees are discerning in how often they use the function.
I blog during the day, mostly at work, but sometimes at home in the evening, as a way of closing the day. When you have 50 offices throughout Germany, it’s a challenge to stay in touch with all employees. The management blog on the new intranet is a convenient tool for conveying important information or for offering an occasional opinion. Plus, it’s fun. I get comments from employees at all levels of the organization. It’s a way to find out their concerns and respond to them quickly. At first I was a little worried I might receive 100 comments a day – but employees are discerning in how often they use the function.
You want to implement Web 2.0 to strengthen collaboration within your organization. Would you recommend this method to others?
Definitely. I think monologs are out. It used to be, the chairman would inform staff of the new business strategy, say, in a newsletter for employees, and that was that. There was no scope for feedback. But there are a lot of staff members who take an active interest in the company’s goings-on, and would like to be more involved. They can now do this via the blog’s comment function. Needless to say, employees can also write me emails. I’d like employees from all departments to work together more closely. Enterprise-wide projects such as the implementation of the new intranet make cooperation vital. This is supported by functions like our intranet forums.
Definitely. I think monologs are out. It used to be, the chairman would inform staff of the new business strategy, say, in a newsletter for employees, and that was that. There was no scope for feedback. But there are a lot of staff members who take an active interest in the company’s goings-on, and would like to be more involved. They can now do this via the blog’s comment function. Needless to say, employees can also write me emails. I’d like employees from all departments to work together more closely. Enterprise-wide projects such as the implementation of the new intranet make cooperation vital. This is supported by functions like our intranet forums.
You’re not only modernizing internal communications; you’re bringing your entire organization up to date. What does Deutsche BKK want to do differently in future?
We’d like to focus more closely on our clients’ needs. That includes investing more in the delivery of healthcare. We are identifying weaknesses and taking steps to eliminate them. You don’t know whether your medical insurance is good until you fall ill. Deutsche BKK has always been willing to try out new ideas. In Wolfsburg and Brunswick we’ve begun using dedicated, medically trained healthcare assistants to provide mobile advice and support wherever clients need them: in the hospital, at the doctor’s office and at home. For example, if hospital patients aren’t sure how long they’ll continue receiving a certain treatment after their release, the healthcare assistant can intervene and sort that out. Incidentally, initial feedback has been quite positive. Our clients are very happy with this service.
We’d like to focus more closely on our clients’ needs. That includes investing more in the delivery of healthcare. We are identifying weaknesses and taking steps to eliminate them. You don’t know whether your medical insurance is good until you fall ill. Deutsche BKK has always been willing to try out new ideas. In Wolfsburg and Brunswick we’ve begun using dedicated, medically trained healthcare assistants to provide mobile advice and support wherever clients need them: in the hospital, at the doctor’s office and at home. For example, if hospital patients aren’t sure how long they’ll continue receiving a certain treatment after their release, the healthcare assistant can intervene and sort that out. Incidentally, initial feedback has been quite positive. Our clients are very happy with this service.
Health insurance providers have to make limited funds stretch to more and more old and sick people. How does Deutsche BKK hope to solve this problem?
It’s not a problem health insurance providers can solve on their own. It’s the politicians who need to act. We need stable, long-term and equitable funding for the public healthcare system. We have our own ideas about how this could be achieved, and contribute these to political discussions. For us a top priority is ensuring a level playing field among insurance companies. But that’s only possible if companies’ differing client profiles (lots of young, healthy clients or lots of old and sick ones) are balanced out. That’s why the system that exists for the redistribution of premiums among the health insurance providers according to risk exposure needs to be improved. Companies that provide healthcare insurance for a great number of sick people have to receive proper funding. That’s the only fair way to do it.
What role does information and communications technology (ICT) play in helping keep costs in check?
It plays a pivotal role. As a healthcare insurance provider, we capture and process a huge amount of information. We have around 1 million clients and 1 million data records to deal with. Our client management system must be updated regularly, and interfaces to other systems must also be programmed. When it comes to telephone communications with our clients, we have our own high-quality call center staffed with skilled employees. We need totally reliable technology. We want to be available for our clients at all times. We’re currently working on a CRM system that generates a client contact history. This will help us to better serve our clients. The challenge will be to tailor processes more closely to our clients’ needs, and, where it makes sense, to automate them. That will save money. Another one of my goals is to free up resources for personal advice and support. In other words, new technologies will save our employees time to the benefit of our clients.
It plays a pivotal role. As a healthcare insurance provider, we capture and process a huge amount of information. We have around 1 million clients and 1 million data records to deal with. Our client management system must be updated regularly, and interfaces to other systems must also be programmed. When it comes to telephone communications with our clients, we have our own high-quality call center staffed with skilled employees. We need totally reliable technology. We want to be available for our clients at all times. We’re currently working on a CRM system that generates a client contact history. This will help us to better serve our clients. The challenge will be to tailor processes more closely to our clients’ needs, and, where it makes sense, to automate them. That will save money. Another one of my goals is to free up resources for personal advice and support. In other words, new technologies will save our employees time to the benefit of our clients.
