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IBM iX for Baloise: From Digital Platform to AI Integration and Cloud Migration

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An appealing user experience thanks to a central platform with a uniform brand presence

Banking & Financial Services
Insurance
Digital Experience Platforms
Magnolia

baloise.ch

A comprehensive digital service portal for financial and insurance services

As part of a long-standing collaboration with the Swiss financial services provider Baloise, IBM iX has created a central portal for the Group’s entire product world – consisting of various banking and insurance products. The previous websites of the national companies were given a uniform look. As part of a comprehensive rebranding in 2022, the website and the associated Scout app also got a facelift. The most recent measure was the integration of generative AI into the editorial process in order to optimise meta descriptions for the Baloise website. As the latest measure, the migration of all Baloise websites and the Magnolia CMS to the cloud was carried out.

A future-proof digital service platform that combines all services under one roof

 

Devices

All services on one digital platform

The Baloise Group, headquartered in Basel, offers insurance solutions and financial services to individuals and companies throughout Europe. In the first joint project in 2014, IBM iX supported the relaunch of the Baloise Group’s websites and implemented them technically on the basis of the Magnolia Content Management System (CMS). In 2017, individual websites were combined under baloise.ch in the course of a second relaunch. As a creative and technical partner, IBM iX was responsible for concept, UX and visual design, frontend and backend implementation as well as analytics. This included the creation of new website components, the connection of various interfaces, user tracking, analysis of user data, motion design and social media content. The completely redesigned myBaloise – a personalised online portal where customers can find all contract details as well as extensive self-services –  has also been seamlessly integrated.

Uniform brand identity for all websites & the Scout app

As part of Baloise’s global rebranding in 2022, IBM iX has technically implemented the redesign of several digital presences of the Swiss financial services provider. To make Baloise’s smart financial and insurance solutions more tangible, the websites for Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg have been given a uniform brand look. And the Baloise Scout app, which enables users to bring in new customers in exchange for a commission, has also been transferred to the new corporate design. Under the motto “One Brand”, the financial services provider, which had previously operated with a multi-brand strategy, is now presenting itself under the cross-border brand “Baloise”. And it does so with a new spirit and appealing imagery on all devices.

Digital Experience Platform for collaborative & agile work

The Digital Experience Platform (DXP) implemented by IBM iX, which allows the management of content and functions across all digital channels, is based on the CMS Magnolia, which is particularly flexible and scalable. With its modular structure and integrated analysis function, the system can be continuously optimised, change requests can be incorporated and maintenance as well as support can be carried out agilely. The new design was implemented in conjunction with the design tool Figma and the collaborative use of Baloise’s design system. Design systems help in the development and design of digital products such as applications or websites.

Successful cloud migration

Within the project ‘Journey to the Cloud’, IBM iX, together with Baloise and Magnolia, carried out a comprehensive migration of all Baloise websites to the cloud. The Magnolia CMS, used for managing the websites, was transferred from the company’s own data center to the cloud using Magnolia’s offered PaaS solution. The rollout in the cloud was carried out in three phases, starting with the smaller Baloise websites, followed by the country sites for Germany and Switzerland, and finally those for Luxembourg and Belgium.

To securely and contemporarily design access to the Magnolia editor interface, a SSO solution was implemented using Microsoft Entra ID. Through SSO, users can be centrally managed, employees can use their usual company-wide access data for authentication. This seamless and secure login process not only increases security but also optimizes the user experience and makes it a smart and efficient solution for modern, secure web applications.

For Baloise, the migration to the cloud is an important step in their digital transformation, ensuring a future-proof web presence for the company. With this, the requirements of the Business Continuity Management (BCM) of Baloise are ensured, which aim to secure operations and minimize downtime. Additionally, Baloise benefits from a very high availability of the CMS, which in turn guarantees constant accessibility of the websites. Finally, through the migration to the cloud, compliance with European data protection standards is ensured.

“It was crucial for us to have a reliable partner at our side for the implementation of our complex project. Together with IBM iX, we were able to successfully master the challenges.”
Michael Besel
Head of Digital at Baloise   

Overview of the digital transformation

Integrating AI to optimise Meta Descriptions

With the help of a targeted analysis, IBM iX found that numerous Baloise websites had inadequate meta descriptions. However, these descriptions are important because they can increase the click-through rate (CTR), positively influence rankings, increase relevance through targeted keywords and enable a better user experience through clear summaries of page content. To optimise the meta descriptions on the Baloise website, IBM iX integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into the editorial process after a proof of concept (PoC) showed that ChatGPT can effectively generate high-quality meta descriptions in multiple languages. Since then, the integration of AI into the editorial workflow has simplified the maintenance of SEO texts and improved the quality of meta descriptions.
More efficient editorial process

The implementation of the AI integration into the editorial process was carried out directly in Magnolia via an interface. This allows Baloise editors to make any necessary adjustments independently. This is also possible on a country-by-country basis, so that all Baloise national subsidiaries can create prompts that suit their own purposes. First, the existing meta description is checked for length, language, and other factors. If it is not optimally formulated, a new meta description is proposed directly in the dialogue, which can be accepted, adapted or rejected by the editors. The result is far greater efficiency in the editorial workflow and improved quality of meta descriptions and thus of all Baloise websites.
User-centric digital solutions of tomorrow 

Baloise is a modern and reliable partner of tomorrow that can do more than just traditional insurance – with smart financial and insurance solutions, supplemented by a wide range of innovative services relating to the needs of housing and mobility – always with people at the centre. This is exactly what is reflected in its digital presence, which focuses on users and their experience. After all, users today expect an engaging user journey at all digital touchpoints. The relaunch of the website, the improvement of the digital offering structure and the creation of user-friendly applications, including the extensive personalised online customer portal myBaloise, laid the foundation for a successful and secure future for the new Baloise brand.
Significant increase in traffic and sales

In the year following the global rebranding, both total and organic traffic to Baloise’s websites increased. In addition, Baloise recorded an enhanced volume of brand searches and a boosted engagement rate. In addition, the sales figures of online products were significantly increased by the new platform.

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