We have been sharing a series of articles on modernizing insourced pension administration, including the value of the case for change and modernization research and readiness activity.
Fuse has developed a Modernization Playbook, specifically for insourced pension administrators, to help structure and navigate this complex effort. We have hand’s-on experience with pension transformation programs of all kinds and have created this document to support leaders in planning and executing successful modernization programs. In it, we define:
The Case for Change: Why should you modernize?
Modernization Research and Readiness: What should you know?
Delivering Modernization: How do we do it?
This is the third of three articles sharing our expertise and lived experience with you.
Delivering Modernization: How do we do it?
So, now that you understand your internal case for change and readiness and you’ve researched the external market offerings and peer lessons learned, you are ready to make decisions and deliver modernization for your organization!
At Fuse, we think about delivering modernization in three major phases:
Preparation, where market research and readiness assessments are hardened into documented program plans. Program governance and guiding principles are defined, and resourcing and change management plans developed in detail – these elements may inform procurement needs if additional capability or capacity is required to support the organization’s modernization beyond a solution partner. This phase also includes defining the future state, understanding your stakeholder journeys, and readying your data; while there is a balance to be struck between making decisions in advance of selecting a potential partner, a clear starting point perspective on current state challenges and future state aspirations is a powerful accelerator to modernization programs.
Procurement, which can include an optional RFI but always requires a comprehensive RFP, informed by business and technical requirements detailed enough to provide your organization with sufficient confidence that potential partners, whether COTS, best of breed or build, can meet your needs. This phase includes market engagement, partner evaluation and selection, and contract negotiation, all of which are time-consuming but critical activities to establish a strong foundation for successful modernization partnerships.
Implementation and Launch, in our approach, encompasses fit-gap assessment, environment provisioning, data migration, solution build and delivery, and rigorous implementation oversight. These processes engage diverse stakeholders and skillsets and require effective teamwork and communication to identify and make decisions in a coordinated, timely fashion. The Implementation phase can also include the transition to ongoing maintenance and support, working with vendors to address defects, maintain system stability and invest in continuous improvement. Delivering modernization is a marathon, not a sprint, and things will go wrong along the way – strong leadership support and program management discipline is critical to maintaining focus and morale as the journey progresses.
This work is easy to describe, and hard to do. Many pension administrators in Canada today are currently contemplating or delivering modernization today and no journey is without its challenges. Modernizing pension administration has many points of friction that we at Fuse are fascinated with and frustrated by: Why is it so slow and so expensive? Why is governance so hard? How can we make modernization more digestible for pension organizations, and more impactful for their stakeholders? As we partner with the industry to do this work, we are also focused on how we can collectively fix this work to improve outcomes for the industry.
To that end, we are launching a Pension Administration Modernization Survey to better understand where organizations are in the modernization journey, shared priorities, and challenges. The survey is ~10 questions long, open until September 15 and results will be shared with participants. We would love to hear from your organization!
For a copy of our detailed modernization playbook, or with any questions or suggestions on this important topic, please drop us a line at hi@fusestrategy.co.