Recognising the need to provide more effective service to their members and customers, UniSuper has appointed Brendan Donoghue to head of customer experience. UniSuper is a $66 billion super fund for the higher education and research sector. Brendan’s appointment aims to strengthen UniSuper’s Member and Employer Experience division and help drive innovation throughout the organisation.
The appointment recognises the need for superannuation providers to become more proactive and innovative in the way they address the needs of their members and university partners.
Chief customer officer Lee Scales, comments, “We’re pleased to welcome Brendan to the team. His passion and expertise will greatly influence the way all of our members and employer partners interact with UniSuper, now and in the future. The capability that Brendan is building in his team will sit at the core of UniSuper being a successful, ’customer obsessed’ organisation.”
Brendan has 15 years of experience in managing customer-focused change and innovation. Prior to his most recent appointment, Brendan worked at the NAB as the head of digital design and UX. Brendan Donoghue comments on his new position, “The role of my team is to champion the voice of the customer throughout the entire organisation, ensuring that every customer has an experience which is personal, seamless and easy to complete..”
“It’s about guiding what we do as an organisation and how it impacts our members. Are we doing the absolute best for our members with every interaction we have them? What can we do to make things better?”
Changing the game
Superannuation is often only considered when someone begins a new job or is about to retire. However, UniSuper is increasingly aiming to shift this and engage with members at all stages of their careers, with the customer experience driving the change.
Brendan Donoghue comments, ““In the past organisations were able to, to a large extent, decide the relationship with customers by defining how and when support and services were to be delivered. Times have changed however, and customer expectations are rapidly evolving. It’s now up to organisations to provide the experience that customers desire.”
For super funds, there are some very tangible benefits to providing more engaging and effective customer service. According to figures from KPMG, the industry experiences a churn rate of 15% from 12.3 million working Australians, where many funds lose almost as many customers as they gain over a year. The opportunities to generate growth from improving retention are quite significant.
“The super industry is currently experiencing a bit of a revolution, where it’s combining design thinking, innovation and collaboration to achieve dramatic and continual change around addressing the needs of members and employers. I am excited about the future and the role my team will play in helping the organisation to increasingly engage with members on a personal and individual basis.”
