Umhlanga Insurance Rollout

A cleaner handoff from proposal to live verification

The brief came from an insurance operation in Umhlanga that was already capturing customer details online, but the move into identity verification felt clumsy. Forms were being completed on one screen, then customers were being pushed into a separate video step with too much friction and too many moments where a session could stall.

We shaped the rollout around the actual customer journey. The first task was to reduce the gap between the proposal stage and the live verification session, so the customer understood what would happen next, what document to have ready, and how the agent would guide the call. The insurer wanted a process that felt orderly for customers and manageable for teams handling high volumes of new applications.

The work sat inside a wider FICA style onboarding process, but we kept the language operational rather than legal. The focus was on identity capture, face comparison, liveness checks, consent handling, and recording the session details for audit purposes under POPIA aware controls.

• Client type: insurance onboarding team
• Town: Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal
• Project type: remote video identity verification rollout
• Channel handoff: digital proposal form into live session

What the workflow had to cope with

The client needed the process to work for customers across South Africa, not only in one office area. That meant the session had to cope with variable mobile signal, mixed device quality, and customers who were not used to joining a verification call. We also had to keep the agent script tight enough for repeated use, without sounding rushed or robotic.

There were three practical constraints. First, the customer entry point needed fewer steps. Second, the verification team needed a clearer path for deciding when an ID image was readable, when the face match was acceptable, and when a session should be escalated. Third, the insurer wanted internal staff to know exactly where the verification result sat in the broader onboarding record.

Instead of treating the rollout as one big process change, we split it into controllable parts. That gave the operations team room to test each step and spot where customers hesitated. It also helped the training team show staff how to talk through the session in plain language, which matters when someone is joining from home, a branch, or on a phone in traffic.

• Fewer handoffs between form completion and live verification
• Clearer agent prompts for ID capture and face comparison
• Session records aligned to internal onboarding files
• Escalation points built into the workflow

The rollout build and training plan

We worked through workflow mapping first, then moved into integration planning and agent script design. That sequence kept the system logic and the human steps aligned. Once the map was agreed, Jared handled the integration notes with the client’s digital onboarding team, while Anele shaped the staff training plan so the people running sessions could use the same language from day one.

The script had to cover the customer greeting, consent prompt, document handling, face check, liveness confirmation, and the close of session notes. We also built guidance for edge cases such as blurred ID images, a poor camera angle, a customer joining from a noisy place, or a mismatch that needed another look from the quality team. Sibusiso worked on the quality checkpoints, so the team had a clear line between routine approvals and sessions needing review.

Support for the insurer did not stop at the live session. We also set up the reporting flow, the escalation design, and refresh training notes for later use when the onboarding team changed staff or adjusted the process. That kept the rollout from depending on one or two people knowing the whole chain by memory.

• Workflow Mapping and Integration Planning
• API Coordination for the onboarding handoff
• Staff Training and Refresh Training notes
• Agent Script Design and Escalation Design

How the first weeks were paced

The project ran over five weeks in a staged way. Week one was for discovery and mapping, with the onboarding steps broken down from proposal submission to final verification record. Week two dealt with integration planning and the session journey, including the wording that would appear before the call started. Week three focused on script testing and quality monitoring rules. Week four covered pilot launch support with live cases. Week five was used for stabilising the process and tightening the reporting lines.

That structure let the client see where delay or confusion could enter the flow. It also meant the team did not overload the first pilot users with a new process all at once. By the time the pilot was running, the insurer had a clearer view of what agents needed to ask, what customers needed to prepare, and how to record each verification outcome in a consistent format.

Thabo and Megan stayed close to the operational side, while Leila guided the verification team structure so day-to-day handling matched the approved workflow. Naledi kept the operations view practical, especially where session volume and staff handovers needed a steadier rhythm.

What changed for the onboarding team

The most useful result was not a flashy feature, but a calmer path from application to verification. Customers had fewer unclear steps, and the team had fewer moments where they had to restart a session because the document was not ready or the next instruction was vague. The insurer also gained a better way to monitor sessions and review where a handoff had failed.

The quality side improved because the same checklist was being used more consistently. That made it easier to compare sessions, spot repeated errors, and adjust the script or training note where needed. The client also had a clearer record of which cases were completed, which were escalated, and which required another internal look before the account could move forward.

• Cleaner transition from proposal form to live identity session
• More consistent agent handling across the team
• Clearer session records for internal onboarding review
• Better visibility of escalation cases and quality flags

What we would carry into the next rollout

The same approach would suit any insurance or financial onboarding team that wants video identity checks to sit neatly inside an online application flow. The main lesson from Umhlanga was that the customer journey should be written before the session script gets fixed, not after. When the handoff is clean, the rest of the work becomes easier to train, audit, and support.

For a similar rollout, we would keep the pilot small, use the early sessions to test the wording, and make sure the escalation path is visible to both the verification team and the client’s operations staff. We would also keep reporting simple enough for managers to read without needing a long explanation, because a useful report should show where the process is working and where the friction still sits.

Our contact form is the starting point for projects like this, including onboarding flows for insurers, lenders and other teams that need remote identity checks across Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Gqeberha.

• Pilot first, then widen the rollout
• Keep the agent script tied to the customer journey
• Build quality checks into the working process
• Make the reporting readable for operations teams