LocalTapiola Life

Measurable, people-centred change builds tomorrow’s competitive advantage

How do you transform an entire business while keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly and ensuring new ways of working become embedded across the organisation? LocalTapiola Life is finding the answer through people-centred change management and change measurement, helping to steer a historic transformation and build a lasting competitive edge.

Objective

A major business transformation is successful when people remain engaged throughout the journey

LocalTapiola Life launched the largest transformation programme in its history to strengthen its future competitiveness. In addition to modernising systems, the programme is redesigning products, services and operating models. The impact will extend beyond LocalTapiola Life to all 19 independent regional companies within the LocalTapiola Group. The aim is to elevate the customer experience to a new level while building the capabilities needed to support future business growth.

“We realised that we could not approach such a significant transformation simply as a systems implementation project. Alongside the technical development, we wanted to ensure that our people and managers understood the changes and received the right support at the right time,” says Veera Lammi, Programme Owner at LocalTapiola.

Change management was embedded into the programme from an early stage. LocalTapiola’s own experts and Gofore’s change management professionals formed a joint team tasked with creating a clear and measurable approach to leading the transformation. The objective was to ensure that new ways of working become part of everyday operations, that the intended business benefits are realised, and that the impact of the transition on both customer experience and employees’ day-to-day work remains well managed.

LocalTapiola Life

LocalTapiola Life is part of the Finnish LocalTapiola Group. The company provides life insurance, savings-oriented life insurance products, and supplementary pension insurance solutions for both private and corporate customers. While the transformation initiative is owned by LocalTapiola Life, its impacts extend to other stakeholders across the LocalTapiola Group.

Solution

The multi-year transformation was broken down into manageable change journeys

The joint team formed by Gofore and LocalTapiola developed a change management framework for the programme that structures the multi-year transformation into distinct change journeys, objectives and actions. Combining a systematic approach with regular change measurements helps ensure that the transformation can be effectively managed and guided.

“Measuring the change experience and providing stakeholder-specific reports helps our leadership team and managers analyse progress and make informed decisions. We have continuous visibility into where different stakeholder groups stand in relation to the transformation and where our efforts need to be focused at any given time,” says Lammi.

Change management has been brought to life through initiatives such as manager training programmes, visualisations of the change journey, tailored communication packages for different stakeholder groups, and an online learning course. The transformation has been made tangible and relevant to employees by actively involving them and communicating through familiar channels already used in their day-to-day work.

Timely, people-centred measures help employees adapt to changes in their day-to-day work while keeping workloads manageable. At the same time, they help safeguard service quality during a period when some parts of the organisation are already preparing for the future while others continue to operate under existing ways of working.

“When a transformation of this scale is broken down into clear and manageable elements, it becomes much easier to understand. People gain a clearer picture of what will change in their work, when the changes will affect them, and what support will be available,” says Jenni Koski, Change Lead at LocalTapiola.

"We realised that we could not approach such an important transformation as merely a systems implementation project. Alongside the technical development, we wanted to ensure that our employees and managers understood the changes and received the support they needed at the right time."

Veera Lammi, Director, LocalTapiola Life

Outcome

Managed change enables renewal without disrupting daily operations

Although the programme is still ongoing, change management has already made the transformation easier to understand. At LocalTapiola Life, people now speak about the transformation using a shared language and have a clearer understanding of what it involves and how it is being delivered.

“Without change management, we would be navigating this transformation amid considerable uncertainty. Instead, we have continuous visibility into what lies ahead and can act proactively. That has brought a sense of confidence and control throughout a complex, multi-phase transformation,” says Lammi.

Change measurements and employee feedback indicate that the programme is progressing in the right direction. By supporting employees in adopting change at a pace that works for them, LocalTapiola helps maintain service quality while ensuring that the intended business benefits of the transformation are ultimately realised. At the same time, the organisation has strengthened its own change management capabilities in ways that will support future transformation initiatives.

“It has been rewarding to see the work gain recognition across the organisation. The fact that we are increasingly being asked to share our experiences and provide guidance on change management shows that good practices have a way of spreading,” says Koski.

Project highlights

Objective

LocalTapiola Life launched the largest transformation in its history to strengthen its competitiveness, enhance customer experience and build a foundation for growth. Change management was brought into the programme at an early stage to ensure that the transformation progresses in a controlled manner in everyday work and does not remain merely a systems transformation.

Solution

Gofore and LocalTapiola Life built a people-centred and systematic way of managing change. The multi-year transformation was broken down into manageable change journeys and quarterly actions. Implementation included, for example, manager training, target-group-specific communications, and regular measurement of the change experience.

Outcome

The programme is still ongoing, but the impact of change management is already visible in everyday work: people now share a common understanding of the transformation, and progress is guided by data. Targeted support helps keep work running smoothly, reduces the burden of change, and supports the realisation of business benefits. LocalTapiola Life has also strengthened its change management capabilities for future transformations.

Expertise