Ilmarinen adopted agile operating models in record time

A man and a woman walking outside next to an office building

In short

Customer

Ilmarinen

Challenges Giving up old operating models and silos in favor of a more agile approach free of internal struggles for resources.

Results Nitor helped Ilmarinen achieve overall agility in six months.

Benefits The new operating models led to faster and more accurate decision-making, which in turn made it far easier to prioritize tasks and share resources.

Ilmarinen, a Finnish pension insurance company, took an open and progressive approach to making its operations more agile and achieved in only six months what typically takes companies up to two years. Overall agility was actively adopted throughout the organization in record time in 2017.

Finland’s largest earnings-related pension insurance company handles the pension cover of nearly 1.1 million people

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company is a private earnings-related pension insurance company established in 1961. Owned by its customers, Ilmarinen is Finland’s largest earnings-related pension insurance company and is annually responsible for the pension cover of nearly 1.1 million Finns. A staff of close to 600 handles the insurance matters of nearly 550,000 employees and over 75,000 entrepreneurs.

Aiming at agile operations and a low hierarchy

The cooperation initiated between Ilmarinen and Nitor aimed at creating an agile, customer-oriented operating model. For Ilmarinen, agility means that decisions on new matters and measures can be made quickly, easily, and transparently. In other words, those with the most experience of the task at hand also get to make the decisions. This change in approach required management to boldly dismantle old structures and give up some of its decision-making powers by lowering the hierarchy and delegating responsibility more widely to experts in different fields.

From silos to a transparent organisation

Ilmarinen’s business was clearly siloed, with employees distanced from one another and communication taking place through a hierarchy of supervisors. The different silos sought approval for their development projects from the management group in charge of development and funding. At times, approved projects were launched without a clear picture of the capacity actually available. This easily led to internal struggles for resources.

1.1 M

pension customers

600

number of staff

6 months

overall agility achieved

More fluent and less hectic work

The establishment of teams comprising a variety of professionals encouraged experts in different fields to pull together in order to create value for customers. The new model led to more fluent and accurate decision-making, which also made for a more agile prioritizing of tasks. In addition, Ilmarinen learned to complete one development project at a time, which freed professionals from having to work on several projects in parallel. This eliminated internal competition for resources and made the atmosphere at work less hurried.

The new operating model made work more agile

Internal silos were dismantled in collaboration, and new value flows were devised with the help of a redesigned team structure. The new teams consisted of professionals from different fields, who jointly participated in developing customer value. The work also involved external suppliers. The new agile approach based on value flows also mitigated challenges related to the multi-supplier model, with professionals in different fields now collaborating on one development task at a time.

The goal was to move decision-making closer to experts instead of all the decisions being circulated through the management team for development. This was expected to reduce the time spent waiting by two to four weeks. The goal was achieved.

From now on, decisions on new projects will still be made by the management team, but all other decisions can be made quickly by the relevant experts. Decision-making became faster and more accurate, with the person most familiar with the topic being able to make decisions independently.

One of the most important Lean principles adopted by Ilmarinen is the idea of not initiating a new project until the previous project has been completed. The adoption of this principle in decision-making eliminated the feeling of hurry at work.

Training and commitment ensured success

Staff training played a key role throughout the process. The basics of agile operations were introduced through training and practical exercises, which helped the participants quickly move from their old approach to the new model. A bold, open-minded management was fully committed to the change process and was willing to give up its own power structures to create something brand new that would benefit the company overall.

The internal change process was a huge project for Ilmarinen and one that we were pleased to be involved in. In our role as change partner, we strove to support Ilmarinen in achieving the kind of change that best serves their own goals and objectives.

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