Co-op Financial Services - Business Case Development

The Co-operative Financial Services is part of The Co-operative Group, the UK's largest consumer co-operative and has some 6.5 million customers and offers a range of financial products. The Co-operative Bank provides a full high street retail banking services which includes Current accounts, mortgages, credit cards, savings and loans and in addition has a nationwide corporate banking operation. The Co-operative Insurance provides pensions, life assurance, savings, general insurance including face to face financial advice.

The Accord Partnership was called in to develop a business case and advise on the integration of six call centre operations across the insurance and banking operations. After completing a detailed analysis of the existing operations, Accord made some high level recommendations that included updating the existing technology infrastructure and considering possible outsourcing solutions in line with other ongoing IT projects. As a result, the team was asked to run an RFI project to identify costs and develop a comprehensive road map to move the project forward. This was given Board-level approval to proceed.