In summary:
nib and Mantel Group have partnered since 2015 to modernise nib’s IT infrastructure and support its strategic shift towards a customer-centric, digital-first model.
AWS has been the bedrock of key initiatives across cloud migration, data security, digital and DevOps transformation, and AI/ML adoption, which have enabled nib to enhance customer satisfaction and health outcomes, drive innovation, and maintain a competitive edge in the health insurance market.
Industry
Healthcare & Insurance
Key Services:
Cloud migration
Data security
DevOps transformation
Digital transformation
AI/ML adoption
The beginning of a healthy partnership
nib and Mantel Group’s partnership commenced in 2015, and coincided with APRA’s regulatory expansion into private health insurance and nib’s exploration of cloud technology. nib needed assistance establishing the necessary foundations, governance, and operating controls for their cloud adoption, and sought a trusted partner to leverage modern technology in support of their business initiatives.
nib’s strategic imperative to innovate continuously was hampered by the limitations of managing on-premise infrastructure. This, coupled with attrition concerns among profitable customer segments due to rising costs, necessitated a transformation. nib has proactively shifted its model from a traditional “payer of claims” to a “Payer to Partner” (P2P) approach. This strategic pivot is designed to enhance digital engagement and improve health outcomes for nib customers, and leverage innovation to foster both customer retention and acquisition.
How Mantel Group helped
At the inception of nib and Mantel Group’s partnership, the focus was on establishing AWS foundations and guardrails utilising standard patterns, setting up cloud operating models, and migrating applications to the cloud.
As the partnership deepened, Mantel Group migrated nib’s first APRA-regulated, extreme inherent risk system of record to AWS, along with other large-scale migrations supporting nib’s data centre exit strategy. The completion of these cloud adoption projects enabled a series of data and digital projects, where Mantel Group assisted the nib team with system and data aggregation to advance their P2P strategy. These measures have driven nib’s future growth through:
- Migration and Modernisation: Critical Microsoft SQL Server workloads were migrated from VMC to AWS native, lowering operational costs, freeing up additional resource capacity, updating SQL servers, and improving error handling and resiliency for nib. This also established the foundation of nib’s shift towards AI/ML capabilities and helped to reduce on-premise cost by $606,411 at 62% with a 5-year ROI of 302%.
- Securing private customer information: Recognising that trust is paramount in the health insurance industry and that any breach of personal information can cause irreparable damage to brand reputation, nib proactively invested in security measures to safeguard customer trust. Rigorous testing, including both manual and automated evaluations of flow logs, confirmed the effectiveness of these measures. Additionally, a comprehensive encryption strategy was implemented, ensuring 100% of the environment utilises encryption both in transit and at rest, further mitigating risks and demonstrating nib’s commitment to data security.
- DevOps: nib modernised its core Travel insurance technology by moving away from older, standalone monolithic applications to a new, integrated insurance platform. This approach allowed nib to break down its large, complex systems into smaller, more manageable microservices, improving adaptability and response to change. Throughout this process, nib carefully managed the technical challenges involved in data integration and security, while also ensuring the system remained reliable, operational and resilient.
- Digital: As part of nib’s P2P journey, Mantel Group supported a fast go-to-market experiment for GreenPass (nib’s first health services product), resulting in the validation of nib’s product strategy for P2P and an expansion of its product portfolio over a period of 12 to 18 months. Mantel Group were then well-positioned to further help shape personalisation work for nib, understanding how a seamless customer experience works across all of its services (health insurance, travel, P2P, etc.) and accelerating the P2P transformation.
- AI/ML: nib is leveraging AI/ML to enhance customer relationships through personalised experiences, such as a skin assessment tool and streamlined claims processing. The STP initiative involves mitigating data security risks while managing a sizeable and diverse collection of documents. Integrating Amazon Textract, Amazon Bedrock and GenAI has significantly improved claims processing efficiency and accuracy, resulting in faster turnaround times for members.Furthermore, by implementing predictive models and dashboards, nib empowers its marketing team to create targeted campaigns, provide more personalised services and reduce customer churn. The success of these AI/ML solutions, evidenced by high accuracy rates and user engagement, underscores nib’s commitment to innovation and customer-centricity.
Driving nib towards a new frontier
Throughout all these changes, nib has maintained a lean IT operating model, all while supporting business expansion. As Australia’s 3rd-largest health insurer, nib has brought these changes to market ahead of its competitors and is proactively engaging with customers, seeking feedback and improvements for their products and offerings.
This shift in market positioning has necessitated nib take a more dynamic approach to IT, to stay in line with long-term strategy. The strategy to move away from managing on-premise infrastructure to become a cloud-first innovative health partner has enabled nib to lead the way, providing improved health outcomes for it’s customers. nib has been able to make strategic acquisitions and achieve integration benefits through the series of cloud enablement initiatives achieved over the last eight years with Mantel Group.
What did we learn?
Mantel Group’s enduring partnership with nib has been defined by a commitment to exceeding expectations and valuing the results over the commercials. By operating as a true partner invested in project outcomes, Mantel Group and nib have been able to push the boundaries of what’s possible, which in turn has driven great benefit for nib’s customers.
Crucial to this success has been assembling a cohesive, culturally aligned team that approaches every project with dedication and a sense of importance, driven by the possibilities of the impact they can have on people’s health. This shared passion for excellence and collaborative spirit fostered an environment of trust, enabling us to deliver industry-leading solutions.
