Northwestern Mutual Keeps Its Website Dynamic With SharePoint

Northwestern Mutual: Web Site Innovation

When Milwaukee-WI based Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company began an overhaul and redesign of its Web site in early 2009, the goal was to create a rich and engaging brand experience that would be easier to navigate by current and prospective clients and easier to update and maintain by internal personnel.

With help from strategic provider Infosys, the site was rebuilt on SharePoint and re-launched within a year. Using out-of the-box functionality, an estimated 400 static Web pages were replaced with 12 templates. A key improvement in the site for Northwestern Mutual is that SharePoint functionality allows business users to make content changes and updates to the Web site directly, and as a result the changes can be made as quickly as in fifteen minutes. Previously, requests for even minor content changes had to be routed to the IT department, and would compete for priority with other IT requests, sometimes taking weeks or as long as a month to be completed.

“Eighty percent of content changes are able to be done without IS,” says Paul Brown, MIS director. “Any changes in templates, navigation or code, we will be involved.” Still, Brown estimates that the reduction of content-based changes has shaved several hours off the Information Systems department’s workload weekly.

The company uses SharePoint’s version controls and version previews as part of its content management process for tracking and approving changes. In fact, from a compliance standpoint, SharePoint’s versioning tools have made checks and approvals easier as pages and content can all be routed electronically, cutting down on the amount of paperwork.

From a customer-facing perspective, changes were significant as well. As a company, Northwestern Mutual puts a strong emphasis on personal relationships, conducting 100 percent of its business through face-to-face meetings as opposed to online. While the new site is not an e-commerce site, the Web team focused on making the site easier for current and prospective customers to find the information and contacts they were seeking. In focus groups, prospective customers reported easier navigation and fewer steps involved in finding a local office or contacting a financial representative.

Looking forward, the company is considering moving an intranet-type system to SharePoint that would give internal users shared access to business projects and tools. Perhaps more significantly, the company is also considering adding features that might increase the Web site’s role in enhancing face-to-face relationships with clients.

“With Web content, our end goal is to allow for personalization of the experience based on preferences,” says Matt Bryant, Deputy Director – Application Architecture. “In this way, SharePoint sets us up for the future.”