Has your organisation, group or division brought into fruition an insurance initiative - product, service or business practice that has made a difference to your customer offering, as well as a positive financial impact on your business? Tell us how your initiative has been successfully implemented and how it is making a difference to your business.
Best Corporate Social or Environmental Responsibility Programme
This award will consider all areas of corporate social responsibility - the reaching out of organisations past their traditional business boundaries into the communities where they operate, locally and globally, in order to make a difference beyond the bottom line, to impact lives and places for good. These initiatives may also include green initiatives made by companies, which have a positive effect on the environment.
Best Marketing Initiative - New & Traditional Media
Effective communication with potential and existing customers about your products and services is challenging, even an art. How has your marketing campaign stood-out above the competition and made its voice heard in the marketplace, and how have people responded to it? Tell us about your 2007/2008 marketing successes in any media.
Best Direct Channels Initiative
This award is for initiatives and improvements in any direct channel offering of the financial services industry. Whether an internet, call centre or mobile phone offering, or something else entirely, we want to hear what is up and coming in direct channel business? What has given your organisation the edge over the competition? And how did you do it?
Excellence in Governance, Risk and Compliance
Regulations, market pressure and stakeholder demand has made governance, risk and compliance (GRC) critical issues that impact a whole organisation. This award looks at how excellent GRC practice can be rooted into an organisation using a strategic, company-wide approach. Candidates for this award will be able to demonstrate how their overall strategy empowers staff and creates processes to meet the requirements of GRC.
Most Effective Back Office Initiative
What has changed for the better in your bank, building society or insurance company back office over the past year or so? Has your organisation made innovative strides forward in the way you run your organisation? Can the customer see the difference? We would love to hear what you have done and how you have done it.
Most Effective Customer Segmentation Strategy
How does your organisation use customer segmentation? - traditionally, in a value-based way, for organisational or marketing purposes? How have you developed your strategy to effectively collect and manage your data to achieve your stated goals? Tell us your successes in customer segmentation, documenting the way in which you have used this technique to improve processes, gain customers or impact the bottom line in some other way.
Most Effective Sourcing and Partnerships Strategy
In the fast moving financial services industry, many institutions have chosen to focus on core competencies and outsource other parts of their business. This is for differing reasons - for example, benefits of scale, cost reduction, knowledge acquisition - and has met with differing levels of success. The Innovation Awards have recognised some outstanding partnerships over several years - in 2008 we would like to hear about your recent successes in the field of sourcing and partnership and how your initiatives have come to fruition, positively impacting your business.
Most Effective Front Office Initiative
Has your organisation transformed, improved or innovated in its customer facing operations over the past year? What is your organisation doing to create a differentiated proposition in its systems, practices and procedures for the front office? Tell us the facts and figures that show the success of these changes.
NEW Most Effective Cultural Transformation
This is a new award, which embraces successful broadly-aimed transformation programmes across an organisation. Organisation Transformation is a necessity in the fast-paced markets of today, but the challenge is to create a programme that identifies the business performance goals, creates a strategy for change and that brings people on board in a positive way. Tell us about the impact of your transformation and the people/business benefits, which the programme created.
Most Innovative Application of Technology - Banks & Building Societies and Insurance
Open to all financial services organisations, including Data Centres, we would like to hear about your 'light bulb' moments, where you have taken advances in technology and applied them in a way that has made significant differences to your operation. Tell us how you have used technology innovatively and how this has been successfully implemented into the running of your department, group or organisation.
Most Innovative Customer Service Programme
Most organisations would agree that customer service is important, but this is not always so evident to their customers. The Financial Innovation Awards have a long history of great finalists in Customer Services categories, who have led the way in dealing with their customers in a way that makes sense to their customers, the way they do business and the bottom line. How is your organisation leading the way in customer services?
Most Promising New Product - Banking
Does your bank or building society have an interesting, innovative or cutting edge product or service (launched since January 2007) that has been successfully implemented and with great potential for ongoing success? This award welcomes entries that show successful product or service implementation and demonstrates its impact on the market and its financial success.
Most Promising New Product - Insurance
Have you been involved in the launch of an insurance product or service that has broken new ground over the past year (since January 2007)? We would like to hear about your successful new product, how it has met customer demand, its market share growth and its financial impact.
Most Promising Initiative - Building Societies
This award is for innovation in the Building Society sector. Our experience in the Financial Innovation Awards has seen many innovative programmes from mutual organisations, and we would love to hear about initiatives within your building society which have had a positive impact on both your customers and the bottom line.
NEW Technology Vendors - Most Innovative Financial Services Solution
This award is for the innovative development of a software package, application or tool set for the financial services industry. If your technology company has created an innovative solution that has a demand in the marketplace, has grown market share and is making a significant financial contribution to your organisation, then this award is for you.
NEW Technology Vendors - Most Effective Business Process Partnership
This award is aimed at recognising those technology organisations who have a service-based offering in partnership with financial services institutions. Who is managing an effective utilities management or shared services network on behalf of financial services clients? We would love to hear your success stories in this business area.
NEW Best Payments Initiative
Enormous changes have taken place in our lifetime in the payments industry, and those changes have not ended yet. This award is for all payment methods and if you have a cutting edge payments programme, which is faster, or providing a better or new service, we would love to hear how you have done it. Tell us how your payments initiative has impacted the market.
NEW Wholesale and Investment Banking - Innovation in Risk Management
Has your organisation built an innovative risk solution to provide improved analytics, risk control or risk mitigation for your own or your customers' businesses? If so, this award will recognise these innovations in an area that is critical for good management and profitability for business in the capital markets.
NEW Wholesale and Investment Banking - Best Innovation in Trading Systems
Trading is about speed of execution, rapid information processing and fast decision-making. If your firm has built a trading platform that enhances any of these requirements, for yourselves or for your customers, this award will recognise those innovations.
NEW Wholesale and Investment Banking - Best Innovation in Back Office
Efficiency in back office processes and services has become a major element in building competitive advantage and controlling operational risks. This award recognises these innovations whether for the benefit of your organisation or for the benefit of your customers.
Award for Overall Excellence
This award is presented at the Awards Ceremony to the entry that the judges feel best meets the Innovation, Change and Excellence principles on which the Financial Innovation Awards are based.
