Then & Now: Transforming our Internal Wholesaler Environment Kerry Fretz Sun Life Financial - Canada

Sun Life Financial distribution channels Wholesale –Independent MGA’s, PPGA’s, National accounts, inter-corporate partners (distribute Sun Life Financial branded products) –Approximately 7000 advisors Clarica Sales Force –Exclusive sales force (distribute Clarica and Sun Life Financial branded products) –Approximately 3500 members

Internal wholesale team Leadership Team Account Managers Inside Sales Support Team Regional Teams

The past - what we had ACT – Lotus Notes Database from 1999 Glorified address book No support from vendor No hierarchy capability No geographical support No ability to attach notes to a record No reporting feature Excel spreadsheets Cumbersome Never current

What we wanted A web enabled relationship & contact management tool to: –manage activity and contact with partner organizations –hierarchical structure per contact –remote / offline capability –integrates with Lotus Notes and Blackberry –ability to import/export data feeds

What we wanted – cont’d –security control –maintenance and support –adhoc reports or lists –creation of letter & communication templates for mailings Data conversion and clean-up Canadian French Training and ‘best practices’

What we did Reviewed seven vendor packages starting in Jan 2005 Selected SmartOffice® product in March 2005 and implemented in August 2006 –hosted on Sun Life Financial server –no customization –purchased SmartOffice ® Enterprise for Wholesalers Package and SmartOffice ® Mobile Spent significant time and effort to clean up existing data Converted to Windows XP Manual completion of contact information

What we learned Hierarchy of contacts is not as robust as our business organizational structures Switching to in-house hosting significantly delayed timelines –challenge to duplicate environments on servers –higher SQA costs with longer defect resolution time

What we learned – cont’d Hands-on internal training well received yet not timely –rolled out in the summer and tool not used until the fall Needed more hands-on training for “super user” prior to implementation Still learning about “what we have” PDA need – sooner rather than later

Where we are today StrengthsCapitalize on Strengths  100% participation by internal wholesale users (mandatory)  Immediate improvement in reporting capability  Allows for mass communication to all users and contacts  Real time activity tracking  Connects the entire team  Exploit learnings, trends and activity from reports  Explore other SmartOffice ® capabilities / modules that could be integrated into the business  Leverage information and reporting  Data feeds WeaknessesAddress Weaknesses  Poor French support  Delivery timeline for PDA support has been delayed  Commit to Canadian French services being implemented at the same time as English  Continue to followup for BlackBerry support

Where we are today OpportunitiesMaximize Opportunities  Still learning about all the “possibilities” within SmartOffice ®  Lots of information to interpret  Consistent process and training across all regions  Web tool allows for multi-users  Allow us to understand how, when and how often we interact with partners  Report on service levels  Leveraging what we have across other channels ThreatsMinimize Threats  Convergence in product & technology vendors  Mobility of users  Develop strategic partnerships with mature product & technology vendors  Need BlackBerry early 2007 to maximize full use of purchased modules

In summary Internal Wholesale team are very pleased with SmartOffice ® Still learning about ourselves and our distribution partners More training / Webinar’s between internal wholesale community Integration with PDA / mobile tools –users won’t fully embrace SmartOffice ® until accessible through BlackBerry