Communication strategy for a new core system implementation

A new core system implementation is never only a technology change. It can alter policy administration, pricing workflows, claims handling, cash collection, regulatory reporting and the daily workload of people in Sydney and Melbourne offices. A deliberate communication strategy turns those operational shifts into a coherent story, giving staff, customers, brokers and executives the context they need to act with confidence.

For Australian insurers, the context adds obligations that must shape the message. APRA’s CPS 230 standard raises expectations around operational resilience and third-party risk, while the Privacy Act 1988 establishes baseline rules for personal information. Customer and broker updates must avoid misleading conduct under ASIC requirements and comply with the Spam Act 2003 when they are commercial electronic messages.

This guide explains how to create a communication strategy for announcing a new core system implementation without treating communication as a one-off press release. Leaders need a basis for decisions, project teams need changes visible, employees need to know what happens to their roles, and policyholders need reassurance that cover and claims service will continue.

The strongest approach treats communication as a managed workstream with an owner, approved messages, audience-specific delivery and a feedback loop. That discipline is especially useful when implementation is divided into product or regional waves. It lets the organisation explain what is known, what remains under assessment and where questions belong, without overloading every leader with ad hoc updates.

Establish the purpose and governance

Begin by defining the business purpose and what successful communication must achieve. Set measurable objectives such as leadership alignment, staff understanding, customer confidence, broker readiness and fewer avoidable support enquiries. Separate communication goals from technical milestones, so a technically complete build is not mistaken for successful adoption.

Give the workstream a sponsor, a programme lead, an information owner and contributors from operations, finance, risk, compliance, customer service and the technology vendor. Use a simple approval matrix: the sponsor confirms priority and tone, subject experts verify facts, and legal or compliance reviews regulated statements. This prevents a project update from becoming an unauthorised public commitment.

Maintain a version-controlled message register, decision log and calendar as the single source of truth. Every approved statement should have an owner, audience, approval status and expiry or review date. A regular briefing rhythm lets leaders and managers receive the same facts, while a named escalation route handles urgent issues outside that cadence.

Map audiences and dependencies

Map audiences by impact, influence and readiness rather than by organisational chart alone. The board and executive team need decisions and commercial consequences; employees need role-specific instructions; brokers and aggregators need product and service details; and customers need clear statements about cover, billing, claims and the channel for help. Record each audience’s concerns, likely questions and responsible sender.

Include stakeholders who can stop or amplify the change, such as claims teams, underwriting, finance and accounting, tax, internal audit, service providers and Australian works councils or unions where relevant. General insurers must also account for a mixed distribution model involving direct channels, licensed brokers and aggregators, each of which may need a different briefing.

Prioritise audiences using a simple matrix of urgency and exposure, then tailor the depth of each message. A customer does not need migration architecture, while a claims manager needs workflow detail, escalation paths and the exact handovers involved. Segmenting the audience prevents irrelevant technical material from obscuring the decision or action being requested.

Build a reusable message toolkit

Build a narrative that answers four questions in order: why change is necessary, what will be different, what customers and colleagues should do, and when they will hear more. Lead with a clear rationale, then connect the programme to service resilience, product agility or operating cost. Keep benefits evidence-based and label future dates as subject to readiness gates.

Use four consistent message pillars across audiences:

Translate those pillars into reusable assets rather than drafting each update from scratch:

Every asset should pass factual, legal and brand review before release. For finance, accounting and tax audiences, technical advisers should validate statements on reinsurance commutation tax treatment whenever reporting workflows may be affected. The approved version should state the reporting context and responsible specialist, avoiding a broad assurance that one system change produces a particular accounting outcome.

Sequence communications around delivery waves

Sequence communication around readiness, not arbitrary dates. Before external release, verify that claims, billing and customer-service teams have tested the agreed messages, that support scripts are live, and that regulatory or contractual notification requirements have been assessed. An announcement should not precede the organisation’s ability to deliver the promise it makes.

Begin with leaders and directly affected teams, then move through dependent business areas, enterprise channels, brokers and customers. In a staged cutover, provide wave-specific detail rather than a misleading single launch date. Where an external notice is operationally necessary, coordinate it carefully with internal readiness so employees are not learning from the market first.

Set a publishing rhythm before go-live: readiness updates, employee briefings, customer notices, broker briefings and final confirmation. Explain what has moved, what remains in testing and the next decision point. Silence between milestones creates uncertainty, while excessive daily bulletins create fatigue, so adjust frequency to the risk and pace of change.

Select channels for Australian operations

Match the channel to the task and the habits of Australian operations. Many teams live in email, Teams, SMS and intranets, and frontline colleagues often need mobile-friendly instructions during customer visits or claims work. At the same time, do not assume every customer is digital-only: maintain telephone, post and broker-supported routes for complex or sensitive matters.

A national rollout may span Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, creating handovers across Australian Eastern, Central and Western Standard Time. Schedule briefings so every region receives relevant information during its working day, publish times in the recipient’s local zone and record sessions for absent colleagues. Local execution details should be owned locally rather than improvised by a central team.

For external audiences, combine a customer portal or app notice, email or SMS, broker bulletins and, where justified, a media statement or social update. Regulatory communications should remain separate from promotional material. Every message needs a clear sender, reply route and support reference, and sensitive data migration or security details should never be placed in a general announcement.

Prepare for questions, resistance and incidents

Anticipate resistance by listening before launch. Review employee surveys, support trends, project risk logs and recent customer feedback, then prepare answers for the concerns most likely to slow adoption. Give managers a short briefing, permission to acknowledge uncertainty and a route to escalate specialist questions. Visible responses to valid concerns build more trust than repeated messages claiming that nothing will change.

Prepare an incident matrix for leaked information, missed commitments, delayed processing and confusion about a message. Assign authority for holding statements and set approval times so teams can respond quickly without improvising. A holding line should state what is known, what is being checked, when the next update will arrive and where customers can seek help; it should not speculate about cause, blame or regulatory impact.

Connect the communication plan to the compliance workstream rather than treating it as a separate approval. Compliance teams can draw on practical guidance about streamlining insurance compliance to align change records, control evidence and regulatory workflows. Preserve artefacts for each release, log third-party actions and test that stored customer communication preferences continue to work after the platform change.

Launch, measure and sustain trust

Launch with an accountable readiness gate. The sponsor should confirm that facts are approved, audiences are covered, support capacity is in place and feedback routes are working. Delivery teams can then release material through the planned sequence, monitor responses and feed urgent questions back into the decision log. Communication readiness belongs alongside technology, operational and financial readiness.

Measure understanding and behaviour, not merely email opens. Useful indicators include briefing completion, knowledge-test results, sentiment, adoption of new workflows, support contact volume and recurring questions. Pair communication results with operational measures such as billing accuracy and claims hand-off performance, then revise the message when data shows confusion or resistance.

Take the plan into the room where insurance leaders, finance professionals, technology teams and emerging leaders can test it against real implementation pressures. Register for IASA Conference to explore relevant sessions, compare approaches during professional networking and meet technology vendors, consultants and software providers in the exhibit hall, then return to your programme with a governed communication schedule ready for approval.