Founded in 1992, BGL Group is a leading digital distributor of insurance and household financial services with 3,000 employees. Its divisions and brands include Compare the Market, Budget Insurance, Dial Direct, Les Furets, Beagle Street and Junction Partnerships.

I was employed by BGL in Peterborough as a full time employee for over ten years in a number of different BA, Delivery, Product and Relationship roles before establishing my freelance career in 2015.

Senior Business Analyst, Junction

January 2009 to May 2014

Reporting to Associate Director, Junction Commercial Delivery

Junction is the division in BGL that provides in-house insurance solutions for affinity partners, which include M&S, Post Office, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Halifax, RAC, Barclays, Santander.

Skills utilised: Agile, Waterfall, Prince 2, Process mapping (as is – to be), 1-2-1’s, Interviews, Shadowing, Recruitment, MS Project, MS Visio, MS Office, Team Management, Project Management, Process Improvement, Mentoring and Coaching, Financial Services, Digital, Ecommerce, Data Migration, New Scheme Development, Online Self-Service, Wire-framing, IBM AS400, .Net, General Insurance, Requirements elicitation, Workshop Facilitation, Business Requirements documentation, User Stories, Supplier selection, Relationship Management, Software Implementation, System Implementation, Quality Assurance and User Testing, Prototyping, Show and Tell, IT Infrastructure, Data Analysis, Senior Stakeholder Engagement, Greenfield Development, Management Information, User Experience, Contact centre, Telematics, Solution Design, Cost/Benefit Analysis, Business Case production.

• Collated and documented project requirements and business cases for complex change projects, operating on an IBM iSeries AS400 and .net platforms.
• Implemented online quote-and-buy and self-service customer experiences for numerous affinity partners.
• Regular interaction in internal and external brand marketing teams.
• Lead BA for digital rebrand of RAC Insurance.
• Implementation of online tracking for affinity partners, including Google Analytics.
• Ensured business requirements documentation was appropriate for a range of internal andexternal stakeholders.
• Worked closely with internal IT development teams (IBM and .net) to ensure solutions were delivered to the desired time, cost and quality criteria.
• Worked closely with Quality Assurance and User Acceptance teams to define testing requirements.
•  Managed a team of 8 Business Analysts and 2 Development Leads responsible for the delivery of change for multiple affinity partners.
• Managed and delivered multiple technical and business projects – including digital, risk management, new products, pricing and problem resolution.
• Regular liaison with internal and external stakeholders, at various levels.

Key projects included:  Implementation of Call Credit’s data hub, RAC commercial review (all aspects of online/offline customer experience), RAC Digital Rebrand, Lloyds TSB set-up and data migration, customer/insurer debt process improvements, No Claims Bonus process improvements, improved customer refund process, online self service centre design, quotation question set review and data mappings, RAC Telematics online and offline customer journeys.

Product Delivery Manager, Group Product Development

January 2007 to December 2008

Reporting to the Associate Director, Product Delivery

Group Product Development (GPD) manages the BGL relationships with its insurer partners and delivers in-house IT solutions for product and scheme builds/updates.

• Prepared GPD’s Product Delivery Plan (PDP), including the development of the project initiation process
• Represented GPD within Group and Business Unit projects
• Developed and presented business cases and departmental requirements for new projects
• Resolved issues and queries raised by business units and support functions
• Managed the day-to-day relationship between GPD and Product Systems (the team which builds and maintains the insurer schemes/rates)
• Responsible for overseeing the delivery of all GPD activities in respect of new Polaris underwriting schemes

Product Manager, Group Product Development

November 2005 to January 2007

Reporting to the Senior Product Manager

• Managed relationships with a portfolio of insurers. Key account manager for the Group’s RAC relationship
• Responsible for all product development aspects for LocalBroker (BGL’s Retail online trading division), including the management and delivery of all new insurer agencies.
• Identified potential new product offerings and opportunities; liaising with partners/internal departments in order to implement new products
• Represented GPD for Group projects
• Resolved issues and queries raised by business units and support functions

Product Delivery Manager, Bennetts

August 2005 to October 2005

A 3-month secondment, reporting to the Bennetts’ Managing Director

Bennetts was the business unit in BGL that specialised in motorcycle insurance; sold to Saga in 2014

• Responsible for the development and delivery of new business fees for the division
• Undertook extensive competitor analysis, preparing high level reports for the Managing Director
• Prepared a number of requirements documents for business commercial delivery initiatives, which involved liaison with the Bennetts’ business and support functions
• Worked closely with Contact Centre operations regarding internal processes and procedures in order to understand and make recommendations for improvement

Support Co-ordinator, Budget Retail

February 2004 to August 2005

Reporting to the IT Systems Manager

Budget Retail was the high-street division of Budget Insurance, which was sold to Swinton Insurance in 2006. CDL was the insurance software package used by Budget Retail

• Provided onsite training and support for three months during the CDL wide-area network implementation/rollout project to 90+ branches
• Played a lead role on the Budget Retail helpdesk, responding to user queries and problems, and escalating to CDL or Retail Management as appropriate
• Ensuring the accuracy of data and financial transactions transferred to CDL from the legacy systems during the CDL rollout project
• Undertook a review to identify areas of fraud and worked with the MI team to develop exception control reports
• Prepared financial control procedures and rolled them out face-to-face to all Budget Retail’s operational areas