BKK Linde
Self-services in focus digitalization in several stages
BKK Linde (Betriebskrankenkasse Linde) is a certified statutory health insurance fund which welcomes members throughout Germany. BBK was founded in 1952 for the employees of the company Linde AG and its group operations. It has been open to those seeking health insurance coverage throughout Germany since 2007. As a health insurance fund, BKK Linde operates independently within the umbrella organization of the BKK.
BKK Linde delegates customer concerns digitally
BKK Linde is an independently-managed statutory body under public law. It is based in Wiesbaden and represented at a total of nine locations throughout Germany. BKK Linde currently has 240 employees who take care of everything relating to the health and wellbeing of its approximately 138 thousand insured customers. To further complement the range of services it offers, BKK Linde cooperates with chosen partners in the health care sector. The health care network of BKK Linde allows for a service offering that extends beyond the statutory framework.
EASY ApiOmat enables us to provide this excellent digital user experience quickly and efficiently, while fulfilling the exacting requirements surrounding the protection of social security data at the same time.“
Robert Leubner Head of Marketing, BKK Linde
In the digital age in particular, customer requirements are changing more quickly than ever before – and BKK Linde wants to respond to these requirements with its range of services. In the digital world, customers no longer perceive any differences to exist between the individual channels of communication at the private level and those pertaining to their insurer. They expect to be able to complete all standard tasks online. Bearing this in mind, as a first step, BKK Linde has enabled its customers to send in sick notes and invoices, all written correspondence, as well as requests for health insurance membership certificates and the electronic health card online.
EASY ApiOmat is the technological cornerstone for being able to realize these customer requirements. EASY ApiOmat was chosen because it provides a flexible basis for the current and future requirements referred to above. Regardless of the device which is used to map the respective customer request on the frontend, with the EASY ApiOmat, multi-experience for supporting all frontend channels can be implemented just as quickly as the backend connection between the different systems. The adaptive integration of legacy IT with NewTech as well as IT governance are also a matter of course for EASY ApiOmat and therefore come as standard.
BKK Linde initially responded to these challenges when it launched its service app in 2015. Due to the positive customer response, BKK Linde initiated and implemented additional follow-up projects. With the EASY ApiOmat, BKK Linde has also been able to respond adequately to the social challenge of 2020 –- the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Project information
Bonjour – digital routing of customer inquiries
Before the coronavirus, there was no reason to give much thought to a digital inbox. The coronavirus changed things, however. In this context, BKK Linde unhesitatingly replaced the paper-based inbox and direct customer contacts with digital processes – and automatically delegated all requests to the responsible customer service advisors. As BKK Linde was already well-positioned digitally with EASY ApiOmat, it was possible to implement this idea quickly.
The main task of a digital inbox is offering customers a “virtual letter box”. The two particular challenges:
Firstly, it is also necessary to automate the downstream processing steps so that the customer inquiries reach the customer service advisor. After all, the advisors are sitting at their computers at home.
Secondly, the information sent over with the customer inquiry requires protection under data protection law.
The digital mail service was made available on both the website of BKK Linde and in its service app. The straightforward integration of a web-based form for sending documents on a website would have made little difference – the challenge here is in distributing the customer inquiries to the customer service advisors in their homes.
The solution
Using a HTTPS connection, the documents that are “posted” through the digital letterbox are sent directly from the website of BKK Linde to the EASY ApiOmat-Backend via a VPN connection.
Once received, the documents run through a rules-based process – which is precisely where the system extracts the information required to forward the documents to the correct customer service advisor. The EASY ApiOmat-backend sorts and classifies by employer sector as well as by claim, insurance and benefits management – and sends the customer inquiries on their way to the customer service advisor.
This also applies to the documents BKK Linde still receives by mail; these must not be forgotten, either. However, one manual step is required here: One employee – alone in an empty office – scans the documents, and the rest is done by the aforementioned process, as all the other employees are working from home.
Mission accomplished
In the following 3 months, almost 30,000 inquiries were processed, forwarded and completed – across several locations, to the full satisfaction of the customers and with the best protection against the coronavirus for everyone involved. And note: implemented in five days.
- ApiOmat on premises Installation
- TypeScript SDK
- Bitmarck connection
- File server connection for archiving
- PDF generator
- MYSQL connector
- SOAP connector
- Role based ACLs
All in all, BKK Linde successfully puts its customers at the heart of its digital services. The customers’ requirements are also consistently at the forefront during the planning of new digital offerings, regardless of how quickly these may change – after all, because BKK Linde has used EASY ApiOmat from the very start for its technical infrastructure, new digital services only take a few days to introduce. Customer feedback on the new services is also taken into account quickly, and improves the services product. BKK Linde is therefore a shining example of successful, customer-oriented digitalization.