Episode 5 : Combining people expertise and excellence with technology

Luigi is the kind of person who truly lives by his values and beliefs. Raised in a big Italian family, he is driven by the values he was taught during his childhood: honesty, respect, hard work, empathy and sharing. These have driven him throughout his personal and professional life and still fuels his mission of always giving his very best to everything he’s involved in! Since he joined our PCS team 11 years ago, just after he graduated from his master’s degree in International Finance, he has grown his career to become the leader of a 13 people strong team supporting our Italian, Iberian and LATAM partners and Clients.

We had a chat with Luigi to learn some more about his views of achieving service excellence and the role played by technology in this effort. For him it’s clear that “Technology is a great enabler, however, it becomes a much more powerful tool if you combine this with people expertise to deliver true service excellence”.

What’s made you stay and develop your career at Lombard International Assurance?

The company’s culture! We are always talking about how we, as a company, deliver service excellence to our clients and partners. And we take the same approach internally - Lombard International Assurance truly has a commitment to deliver excellence to its own people as well. It’s a company that cares, invests and gives you the opportunity to grow and develop yourself.

I’ve worked for several companies in the past and I must say that Lombard International’s corporate culture truly stands apart. Many companies claim they have the best employee value proposition, the best work environment or the best career path. The reality is that very often it is just wishful thinking. At Lombard International Assurance it’s real and tangible. I feel lucky and thankful for it.

What does service excellence mean to you?

I think we all agree on the definition that excellence means going beyond the ordinary and the necessary to exceed expectations. What I find interesting is to try and look at what triggers the motivation and the capacity of our people to deliver service excellence. As already mentioned, I’m convinced that it’s not possible for a company to deliver excellence to partners and clients if it is not able to do so for its own people.

How can you sustain delivering outstanding service externally if people are not treated well internally? That would be simply impossible. If a company cares for its people and is able to demonstrate a bold commitment to excellence towards them, they will be motivated to act in the same way for the company’s partners and clients. All stakeholders must buy into a vision of service excellence, from colleagues to clients, from providers to shareholders. It must be an inclusive approach.

To sustain this, people must have that culture of service excellence under their skin as well. It must be a natural and instinctive characteristic, meaning they act in that way in their daily life, should it be with their family, friends, employer, or client . And last but not least, service excellence will always be the result of dedication, hard work and focus.

How do you think technology can help enable service excellence?

Technology is so important in our lives and work. It’s a very strong catalyst of scalability and employee motivation as it enables people to focus on what they do best: solve complex situations, anticipate our clients’ needs and find new ideas. There is no value added in dealing with repetitive mundane tasks thus technology is very helpful in that sense.

However, I believe that technology can only go so far, it becomes a much more powerful tool if you combine this with people expertise to deliver true service excellence. In the financial services sector, a company can have the best mobile app, the best digital onboarding process or the best website - these can be good differentiators - but ultimately we are a people business and at times, nothing beats human interaction!

Apps can’t build trust, which is exactly what we do within PCS. As we’re about to launch into a new decade, I see technology and people having a symbiotic relationship, with each element closely intertwined. It’s only when they are working in harmony that we can truly deliver a level of service that is unmatched.