Unqork + Cognizant: Transforming Retirement Operations Through Technology

Together, Unqork and Cognizant empower organizations to address the challenges of today’s retirement marketplace—without writing a single line of code.

Few retirement solutions were designed to meet modern consumer expectations for on-demand services and omnichannel digital experiences, nor do they take full advantage of the latest technological advancements to drive operational efficiencies. As the sector becomes increasingly competitive, digital transformation has pivoted from nice-to-have to table-stakes.

“Going digital,” however, is far from easy—particularly in complex and highly-regulated sectors such as retirement. This is where the partnership between Unqork and Cognizant can be so impactful. 

Cognizant is a market leader in the retirement solutions space, working with 18 of the top-20 insurance companies in North America. Unqork’s enterprise no-code platform empowers organizations to rapidly build and effectively manage robust digital solutions in some of the world’s most complex and heavily regulated sectors. Together these two companies can help retirement providers navigate the new technological landscape.

The transformation of the sector was the topic of a recent webinar featuring insights from Unqork’s Farooq Sheikh (Insurance GTM Lead) and Christian Barrera (VP of Alliances and Ecosystem), Cognizant’s Sue Rickard (Chief Architect), and Marc Wiznia (Lead Industry Consultant), as well as MassMutual’s Head of Workplace Operations, Eric Wietsma.

“As we look across the industry, we’re seeing quite a few opportunities in terms of digitization of experience, digitization of operations—indeed, the digitization of entire ecosystems across sponsors, participants, and producers” — Farooq Sheikh, Unqork’s Insurance GTM Lead

“Cost pressures are hitting providers across the spectrum. Companies need better automation solutions to reduce manual efforts and enable self-service,” explained Eric Wietsma. “Self-service, however, is not just a cost issue—it’s actually a demand by customers and sponsors. Participants across the board want self-service functionality, and we need to have the technology solutions in place to enable them.”

Digitization should not be framed as a consideration for one part of a provider organization (i.e., not just the CX team, or something for the COO), but rather as a sustained organization-wide initiative as transformation can deliver benefits throughout a company in the form of increased operational efficiencies and enhanced internal- and external-facing stakeholder experiences. “As we look across the industry, we’re seeing quite a few opportunities in terms of digitization of experience, digitization of operations—indeed, the digitization of entire ecosystems across sponsors, participants, and producers,” explained Farooq Sheikh.

The Drivers of Change

While there are many drivers of transformation in retirement operations, the panel explored six chief trends, including:

• Customers are demanding more value for their money, driving the need for scale and efficiency

• Quality of customer experience ​is becoming increasingly vital to buying considerations

• Personalization ​is becoming an important factor for helping consumers financially prepare for retirement

• Smart digital forms can enhance data collection and sharing by leveraging pre-populated forms to simplify data entry, increase data accuracy, and scale data validation

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning​ now can efficiently process exceptions at scale

• Automation technology has advanced to the point that it can support intelligent workflows, routing, and integrations while reducing the reliance on manual and paper-based tasks

“Across the board, consumers have become used to having tailored offerings in other industries. They want things that are unique to their own needs. Personalized offerings can also lead to better results in terms of retirement preparation,” explained Cognizant’s Marc Wiznia. “Addressing these different trends would have been difficult without digital solutions.”

Want to learn more? Watch the full webinar replay above.

Building digital solutions to address today’s challenges is only the first step of the journey. Just as important is the capability to address tomorrow’s challenges (e.g., new competitive offerings, regulatory changes, or new technologies). By combining Cognizant’s expertise and the inherent flexibility of Unqork-built applications, companies are able to address the challenges of today, and be prepared for the ones of tomorrow.

“This platform really is uniquely positioned to take advantage of any new emerging technologies as quickly as the industry challenges change, and we bring it all together and a comprehensive platform,” added Sue Rickard.

To learn more about how Unqork can help your company adapt to the new normal, schedule a personalized demo with one of our solutions experts. 

For more information on how Cognizant can digitally transform your insurance business, click here.