Investing in Improvements
In terms of efficiency, Parkin said that the new system, which went into planning at the end of May 2010 and was rolled out in late June, had great results in 85 percent of cases. In the remaining 15 percent of cases, Aon was not able to use the 3G technology and had to redo its work, going offline and then uploading survey information.
"If you have a great 3G connection everything is fine and you have no issues or concerns, which was the case in most instances," Parkin said.
Parkin said that Aon continues to invest money in improving the 3G program. "One of the things that we have done is create a global committee that's spread across all of Aon's regions, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, to look at ways we can to improve the GPS system," she said.
She worked closely with Aon's information technology development team to create the Aon GPS, a web-enabled database that could be used with an iPad.
She also credited Aon Global Risk Consulting team members Mike Panfil, managing director of property risk control¿U.S., Marcel Hanssen, director of risk control¿Netherlands, and Brian Parker, head of risk control and engineering¿Pacific Rim, who helped ensure a consistent global approach to GPS as well as the related iPad application.
Deadlines were tight and the GPS product was released about six weeks after the Abu Dhabi contract was awarded. "I'm a risk control person, but I've become a lot more of an information technology person as a result of doing this," Parkin said.
The return on investment for the Abu Dhabi project was 24 to1. For every $1 invested in Aon GPS, the broker received $24 worth in new client revenue.
Since the use of the iPad technology in Abu Dhabi, Aon has also utilized the system for clients in North America. Aon Global Risk Consulting's innovation committee approved the use of the funds to purchase the iPads and invest in related information technology development.
Based on Aon Global Risk Consulting's success with the iPads, other areas of Aon have looked at ways to use them. Aon is now moving toward using iPads and iPhones for access to email and SharePoint sites.
-- Steve Yahn
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September 15, 2011 Copyright 2011© LRP Publications |
