Irish Life Health and Abtran: A Long-Term Partnership Supporting Health Insurance Customers Across Ireland

Abtran began working with Irish Life Health in 2006, when it first entered the health insurance market as Vivas Health. Since then, we have built a strategic, long-term partnership, managing end-to-end customer services for individual and group policyholders.

Operating in a regulated environment, Abtran ensures compliance with the Central Bank of Ireland’s Minimum Competency Code (MCC) and Consumer Protection Code (CPC). All customer-facing staff are APA-qualified, with back-office and supervisory staff accredited at diploma level. In partnership with IT Sligo, we also developed an Insurance Apprenticeship Scheme offering APA, CIP and Level 8 Degree certification.

To meet seasonal spikes in demand, particularly in Q1, we double our team size through a multi-disciplinary planning process across talent, technology and workforce management. In 2021 alone, we handled 220,000 calls and processed 175,000 claims, achieving a CSAT of 87 percent and an NPS of +46.

Our fully managed service includes:

• Customer-facing activities such as sales, care, retention, complaints, and claims support
• Front-office policy administration, including upgrades, adjustments and plan advice
• Back-office claims processing, data entry, secure cheque management and audit preparation
• Outbound lifecycle campaigns, pre-renewal engagement, and payment collections

Key achievements include:

• Retention uplift: Improved customer retention from 87 percent to 92 percent in one year by using customer segmentation, profiling, and predictive tools to target at-risk members proactively
• Process improvement: A 13-week Lean Process Review increased daily claims productivity from 15 to 21 per assessor and reduced costs by 22 percent
• Digital transformation: Introduction of web chat and a FileNet document management system reduced handling times by 32 percent and improved self-service completion
• Gamification: A targeted initiative for the sales team led to a 5 percent increase in retention and a jump in conversion rates from 27 to 42 percent
• Unified communications: Successfully transitioned all outsourced service providers to a single telephony platform across Irish Life Health’s group, aligning customer experience across all channels

Compliance is deeply embedded into our delivery model through a combination of real-time quality monitoring, structured development, and governance practices. We ensure adherence to all regulatory standards by continuously monitoring customer interactions and applying corrective measures where necessary. Our agents maintain their qualifications through ongoing professional development, with a structured CPD tracking system in place to meet regulatory requirements.

In addition, we maintain robust governance through a clearly defined communication framework that includes daily stand-ups, weekly and monthly operational reviews, compliance meetings, and quarterly business reviews with Irish Life Health. This approach ensures transparency, accountability, and consistent alignment with regulatory obligations and client goals.

Beyond operations, Abtran has supported Irish Life Health’s broader well-being mission. Our team contributed feedback for developing the “MyLife” app and regularly engages in joint culture and CSR initiatives, including ambassador visits and internal health awareness campaigns.