We're making the transition from "What is" to "What if?" We're giving our teams time and space to experiment in our new innovation lab, investing millions in startups that are leveraging technology to solve big problems, and hosting meetups, hackathons and other events to advance innovation and technology in our region.
A decade ago, when we started to see the impact technology would have on our industry, we formalized our innovation program at Northwestern Mutual. The ideas that began to emerge made it possible for us to transform from a traditional life insurance company to a digital business with a singular focus on helping people achieve financial security. And, we know that is not good enough. We must continually disrupt ourselves to deliver the best possible experience for our clients and for our advisors. Innovation is how we’ll get there.
Reach gives our financial advisors real-time mobile access to their business' data. Using the app saves time compiling reports so they can focus on their client's financial security.
Reach is a mobile app that's designed to help our financial advisors manage their businesses more efficiently. By reducing the amount of time spent manually accessing reports or phoning our call centers, they can spend more time working with their clients. Reach was a joint effort between our internal tech team and financial advisors in the field.
Socialeads is a startup that won our first ever ReversePitchMKE challenge. The platform leverages data science and machine learning to help financial advisors connect with the right people at the right time.
Socialeads is a startup company that won our first ever ReversePitchMKE challenge. Socialeads analyzes social networks and other data so financial advisors can stay up-to-date on client milestones (like having a child, buying a home or saving for college). Socialeads received initial seed money from Cream City Venture Capital and will be testing the idea's viability in our accelerator.
Thrive was an experimental, free tool to help families compare college costs and lessen the impact of student loan debt. Created during our first company-wide ideation campaign, the team iterated on the idea through our accelerator program to test its viability.
Thrive was an experimental, free tool designed to help families easily compare college costs and proactively lessen the impact of student loan debt. The idea for Thrive came out of our first company-wide ideation campaign, and the team was the first to go through our 12-week internal accelerator program to test the idea's viability.
Butterfly Island is a virtual reality game that provides distraction therapy for children with cancer. The employee-submitted idea was built with Ronald McDonald House of Southeast Wisconsin.
Butterfly Island is a virtual reality game designed to provide distraction therapy for children with cancer. One of our employees came up with the idea and its development was funded by our company's Foundation in partnership with the Ronald McDonald house of southeastern Wisconsin. Butterfly Island is free and available on the Google Play Store.
Role Call is a mock prospecting application designed to boost the confidence and success rate of new financial advisors when they pick up the phone to call a client or potential client.
Practice makes perfect. That's the idea behind Role Call, a platform designed to boost the confidence and success rate of new financial advisors when they pick up the phone to call a client or potential client. The platform lets financial reps make mock calls and receive direct feedback from mentor coaches through the application.
Posting+ is a CRM-enabled mobile app that saves our advisors time through automation workflows and helps create a more consistent experience for clients.
Posting+ is an app that makes it more efficient for our financial advisors to process meeting notes and schedule follow-ups with clients. The app captures case notes with voice dictation, automatically generates follow-up letters and creates tasks in the client relationship management (CRM) software for the next meeting.
Intelligent things learn, adapt, make decisions and act – often without human involvement. How will AI and automation impact the future of work, society and a person’s ability to achieve financial security?
Just as digital has transformed industries, new tools and technology can transform individuals. Which digital tools improve lives and experiences? How are individuals becoming more digitally savvy at home and work?
There are now thousands of startups laser-focused on delivering targeted products and technologies that solve acute business needs. What opportunities can be seized by leveraging these new sources of innovation?
Voice, gesture and augmented reality will change how we interact with computers – and each other. How can these new interfaces provide seamless and friction-less interactions among people and technology?
More than just fitness trackers, even hospital-grade devices are becoming personalized and affordable for most consumers. How will people leverage these sources to take control of their health and well-being?
Want to take ownership of your career? If you're comfortable with change, self-motivated and always eager to learn something new, check out the opportunities at Northwestern Mutual!
We're only as strong as the community around us. See what we're doing (and join in the movement) to make Milwaukee a more vibrant hub for 21st century business.
Disruption is as old as time itself. It's always been a force for progress. And to create the future, companies must continually disrupt themselves and their markets to find and deliver the best-possible experiences to clients.
Read More