Prudential 2002 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Enhancing the customer experience
In 2002, we continued to use technology to drive
service improvements in access, responsiveness and
convenience. We made our online sites more inter-
active and content-rich.
We gave our group universal life and group vari-
able universal life participants secure access to
account information and the ability to designate
beneficiaries, change coverage and contribution
amounts, and request withdrawals and loans online.
We also created more flexibility for participants in
our group variable universal life product by
enabling them to transfer assets among any plan
investment options.
We broke new ground for third-party distributors
with the XpressLife Program. Our Web-based
Prudential Xpress business-to-business platform
already gave third-party distributors sophisticated
tools to market certain Prudential products and to
perform such tasks as initiating business, managing
cases online and obtaining marketing materials. With
the addition of XpressLife, they can now start the
underwriting process for our individual life products
faster by submitting a simple, one-page form via mail,
fax or the website.
Our online efforts extended to Canada, where our
relocation business launched Relocation Centre
Canada, a centralized, password-protected website for
Canadian corporate clients and government agencies
and their transferring employees. The site links all
parties associated with a relocation transaction and
provides real-time information on an employee’s
move, including relocation policy updates, destination
information and peer discussion forums.
We continued our focus on delivering best-in-class
service offline, as well. For the third time in four years,
Prudential received the prestigious Annuity Service
Award from DALBAR, a financial services research and
rating company. We earned the award for providing our
retail annuity clients with a level of superior service
exceeding that of our peers. Our customer service repre-
sentatives scored above DALBAR’s industry benchmarks
in all four categories tested: exceeding expectations,
attitude, accommodation and knowledge. Our mutual
fund area was also lauded by DALBAR, receiving a
2002 Key Honors designation for high quality in
customer service to retail mutual fund investors.
We will continue to leverage technology to deliver
the right level of service and convenience to the right
clients in the right way.
12 Growing and Protecting Your W ealth
Prudential Financial has a long history of product
innovation. In 2002, two of our products in particular
were recognized as “stand-outs” in terms of
responding to client needs in the marketplace.
O ur individual long term care insurance
product, LTC By D esign, received the
highest rating for product strength ever
awarded by LTCPolicyComparisons.com, an
industry website for insurance producers.
LTCPolicyComparisons.com evaluated the
most current information about existing long
term care insurance policies from 39 companies
using actual contract language. N ot only was
our product praised for being cutting-edge, it
was also highlighted for having some of the
strongest and clearest contract definitions in
the industry. LTC By D esign meets every criteria
specified by the N ational Association of Insurance
Commissioners to qualify as a quality long term
care plan, but it goes well beyond that. It offers
added features, such as enabling covered services
to grow as new trends and technologies emerge,
that anticipate our clients’ future needs.
O ur new section 529 college savings product,
the Arrive Education Savings Plan, earned
similar accolades last year. Savingforcollege.com,
a consulting company that specializes in
evaluating the overall usefulness of 529 plans,
gave Arrive its top rating, based on the plan’s
flexibility, availability, investment approach and
program resources.
Most 529 plans offer one money manager,
which limits investment choice.W e collaborated
with Evergreen Investment Services Inc.,
SunAmerica Capital Services and Schoolhouse
Capital LLC to create a plan that brings together
four leading money managers. It’s a reflection of
our Advised Choice strategy— giving our clients
access to a wide range of money management
styles and investment options.
Top-rated products