Today the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, Iain Anderson, published an issues paper setting out lessons customer service organisations can learn from a private health insurer’s experience upgrading its systems. The change impacted its ability to deliver services and resulted in a substantial increase in complaints.

“Although the paper is about an insurer’s experience, it is by no means the only insurer, or organisation, that has experienced similar problems when upgrading systems,” Mr Anderson said. “Any customer service organisation can consider the lessons learned by the insurer before planning major changes.”

The insurer undertook a major system transformation, replacing or updating several of its key systems and platforms. The upgrade coincided with other events separate from the changes, including problems with phone system and a previously postponed premium increase. The issues paper reflects on the insurer’s experience and provides best practice guidance for insurers and other organisations to consider when planning and implementing major system changes to mitigate any adverse impact on consumers.

It is important to note the events in the paper are not related to the recent Medibank data breach in any way.

The issues paper can be found on the Ombudsman’s website.