Super fund transformation in mission to better support the men and women who serve Australia

This is branded content for Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation.

For Damian Hill, the rapid pivot of the Australian workforce to working from home last year as COVID-19 took hold came at a particularly interesting time.

Mr Hill was preparing to begin his new role heading up the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC), which included leading the business's ambitious transformation program.

In what could be seen as somewhat symbolic of the broader changes happening at CSC, including a greater focus on digital services, he began his first days in July last year working virtually and relying on technology to connect with his team.

"I had started leading the organisation but I couldn't even visit our headquarters in Canberra to meet people because of the restrictions and lockdowns," said Mr Hill.

"In my first three months I only actually met four people in person, of which three were IT people."

The team at CSC is now almost a year into what is a five-year program that includes harnessing the latest in digital technology to better support and serve its customers - current and former members of the Commonwealth government and the Australian Defence Force.

The program is part of CSC's mission to lead the way in the sector as an innovative and modern organisation that responds to the changing needs and expectations of its more than 700,000 customers.

CSC's investment in technology as part of the program includes new administration and customer engagement platforms which use automation to provide more holistic customer data, streamline processes and speed up processing times.

A renewed focus on data quality also allows CSC's staff to provide more relevant and tailored experiences for its customers.

"The investment to digitally transform is about improving our customers' experience, making our services more efficient, easier to use and more personalised. Over the next five years our customers will see a very different CSC," said Mr Hill.

"We are really proud to be serving the people who have served Australia - members of the ADF and the Australian public service. We're focused on putting them at the core of everything we do, to help them feel more confident financially and empowered to make important decisions about their future."

An integral part of the transformation process has been CSC's customer experience program, The Compass, which provides unparalleled insights into what its customers want from their super to ensure their services are tailored accordingly.

For example, some of the key insights from customers included a need for clearer information about the level of weekly income they would receive through their super in retirement, as well as a smoother and easier interaction with CSC.

"Through The Compass our customers have told us they wanted more precise information about exactly what they would get in their hand, what income they would receive every week when they retired," said Mr Hill.

"They told us this would help them plan ahead so they could be more comfortable about the future. So we started highlighting that information to them when we re-designed our annual statements.

"To make it easier to interact with us, one of the things we've done is set up a specialist loss and hardship group so anyone who has suffered a death in the family or a disability is referred to this team who have a particular understanding in this area."

Superannuation and retirement planning is a complex area and can be confusing, but research shows that people who take the time to become more financially literate generally feel more confident about what the future holds for them.

"CSC's expertise and deep understanding of its customers' unique financial situations allows us to guide and advise them in their wealth building and retirement journey," said Mr Hill.

"More than 300,000 customers rely on CSC in retirement, which gives us a unique insight into what this specific customer group want from their super experience, so we can tailor our services according.

"What we do find is that our customers' confidence in their retirement is significantly higher for those who have had the opportunity to be involved in the planning process.

"One of the key points of our transformation is simplifying the information we provide, taking out the jargon so it's not a daunting experience to approach us."

We're here to help. Learn more about CSC at https://www.csc.gov.au

This is branded content for Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation.