Case study

UWV delivers an outstanding multichannel customer experience at scale

UWV collaborated with Canon to design a bespoke end-to-end customer communications solution to match the organisation’s unique outbound messaging needs

Two work professionals looking at a laptop

Canon has been providing Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen (UWV, translated as Employee Insurance Agency in English) with hardware and software for the past thirty years. On the behalf of the Dutch government, UWV carries out social and employee welfare services including managing employment and benefits data, assessing citizens’ illness and capacity to work and paying out employee insurance claims.

As the administrative authority that is responsible for the national implementation of employee insurance schemes, UWV plays a crucial role in ensuring that 1.2 million families get the support they need. It currently sends over 60 million messages to its customers per year. It is therefore essential that the organisation is able to communicate clearly and efficiently with recipients, particularly about regulatory changes which will impact their lives.

  • Objective

    UWV needed an end-to-end Customer Communications Management system that could make it faster and easier to create and personalise communications while also cutting costs.

  • Challenge

    UWV was under governmental pressure to do more with less, ensuring all communications reflect fast-moving legislation and policy updates and more recently introducing digital communications despite existing legacy IT.

  • Approach

    Canon implemented an ecosystem of software and hardware solutions that could integrate with UWV’s own systems to enable them to effectively produce and manage their outbound communications end to end.

A group of people sitting in around a table in a meeting

UWV uses a huge amount of document templates. They are linked to a variety of databases, which means that data is coming in from a range of different systems. Designing or customising the templates therefore requires a lot of technical expertise. The correct attachments need to be added to each template, and messages need to be sent to UWV customers in the correct formats via the correct channels.

Written by Canon Europe

Why Canon

UWV chose to work with Canon because:

  • Trust: The track record between Canon and UWV goes back to 1991 so the two businesses had a strong relationship built on trust and shared expertise
  • Experience: Canon has over a decade of experience implementing Customer Communications solutions at scale and are the industry experts in process engineering and orchestration for these solutions
  • Support: Canon and its support delivery team have the technical expertise to not only procure and produce the solutions UWV needs but also manage them on its behalf

Two people looking at a tablet

Approach

Holistic Customer Communications Solution

Canon implemented an ecosystem of technologies to enable UWV to effectively produce and manage their customer communications end to end. These technologies allowed UWV to:

  • Personalise communications

    A Quadient Inspire solution allows UWV to automate the personalisation of documents to reflect the up-to-date situation of the customer, without business user intervention.

  • Automate templates for multiple channels

    Quadient Inspire automatically templates outbound messages to fit the destination channel. This means UWV no longer needs to manually format messages when responding to or contacting customers.

  • Easily schedule and spool jobs

    PRISMAproduction allows UWV to control and manage its entire document production process with this intelligent spool management system. An advanced user-friendly dashboard lets UWV manage daily tasks and administer the systems running PRISMAsatellite software.

  • Reliably produce print letters at scale

    UWV uses two Varioprint 6000 devices which support volumes of up to 10 million A4 size impressions per month to match the organisation’s high volumes of outbound communications.

  • Centrally manage production

    Print production is managed centrally through PRISMAproduction Server, a simple workflow and output management system.

  • Manage the integration
    Canon helped UWV to integrate Quadient Inspire, which supported faster, easier and more resilient integration with UWV's own systems, making it easier to extract information from the systems to support personalised communications.

    Consultancy
    Canon’s support delivery team works with UWV on a fixed consultation structure, holding operational consultations on a weekly basis and tactical supplier consultations and service meetings every month.

    Risk mitigation
    Canon also provides a business continuity contract for incoming and outgoing mail from UWV. This is a backup service to ensure that these processes can be taken over by Canon immediately in the event of a failure.

    A group of people sitting around a table

    Benefits/Results

    UWV uses a huge amount of document templates. They are linked to a variety of databases, which means that data is coming in from a range of different systems. Designing or customising the templates therefore requires a lot of technical expertise. The correct attachments need to be added to each template, and messages need to be sent to UWV customers in the correct formats via the correct channels.

  • Multichannel communications made easier

    UWV no longer needs to manually template communications designed for its two channels, making it easier to deliver messages in the way that best suits the customer.

  • Consolidated print room

    Consolidating all hardware into a single print room has helped UWV to reduce administrative hassle in the workplace and streamline workflows, boosting employee efficiency and productivity and reducing the risk of errors.

  • Doing more with less

    Canon helped UWV to save valuable time and cut costs by reducing the amount of management required from UWV employees.

  • Room to grow

    Canon’s solutions are designed to grow as UWV does, meaning new distribution channels can easily be added in the future as needed.

  • Accurate and compliant

    Canon’s technologies ensured that UWV’s large customer base received communications which were accurate, compliant and reflected their personal circumstances, as well as current regulation.

  • Seamless transformation

    UWV was able to gain new capabilities without having to go through the complex and time-consuming process of removing or overhauling its existing systems.

  • Related Products and Solutions

    Explore further

    Discover more Canon partnership stories:

    Contact us

    Find out more about partnership opportunities with Canon