Global collaboration and innovation at TAL

At TAL, our commitment to innovation drives us to continuously enhance our products and services. This commitment is shared by TAL’s parent company, Dai-ichi Life, which provides opportunities for TAL team members to connect and share ideas with innovative thinkers globally.  

Recently, members of the TAL team participated in the Dai-ichi Life Group IT & Innovation Leadership Programme, which focuses on applying global thinking to solve local challenges. The six-month program brought together 20 professionals from eight countries – Australia, New Zealand, the US, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and India – to co-create innovative solutions to common insurance problems. 

Tackling the member engagement challenge 

For TAL representatives Colleen Norris (Senior Partnership Manager, AMP) and Shane Bennett (Senior Manager, Retirement Digital Solutions), the experience was both professionally enriching and strategically valuable. 

“This was a truly global learning and development initiative,” said Colleen. “We were asked to think big, work collaboratively and tackle persistent problems in our industry with fresh eyes and a focus on digital innovation, artificial intelligence and customer-centric design.” 

The program focused on exploring opportunities to reimagine current state and improve customer and member engagement. Each sub-team selected a global theme to explore, which culminated in a final pitch to Dai-ichi Life executives. 

“All of our presentations really focused on the core theme of under-engagement among key users, which is a shared challenge across all markets and product segments,” Shane said. “We really pushed ourselves to validate core requirements and redesign processes from the ground up, using technology to reimagine how we connect with members.” 

Colleen agreed: “An underlying theme across most teams was the need to better engage users and design seamless, tech-enabled experiences that meet customers and members where they’re at.” 

Exploring blue-sky solutions 

Shane explained that his team’s innovation approach was two-fold: “one approach is to use tech to augment current processes while maintaining human oversight. The other is an iterative test-and-learn approach. It’s not about going all in from the start; we can begin with a low-risk application, learn from it and then build scale.” 

The experience gave both participants fresh perspective on designing smarter, more proactive solutions. “It got me thinking about how we can innovate to make our insurance proposition tighter, faster, smoother, easier for members,” said Colleen.  

One future-focused idea explored the integration of data from health apps, Medicare, MyGov and other government sources to automatically adjust insurance cover as members hit life milestones, like buying a home or starting a family. 

Colleen commented: “Imagine a world where your insurance adjusts automatically when you hit a milestone, and all you have to do is tick a box.” 

Shane noted the value of proactive design. “It starts with being more efficient with the information we already have, augmenting with external data sources to take complex decisions off the member’s plate using these insights to offer the best options for them.” 

Both Colleen and Shane agreed that the program has helped shift their focus from solutions to problems. “We can often fall into the trap of jumping to a solution too quickly,” Shane said. “This program forced us to become obsessed with the problem and deeply understand the member’s needs first.” 

A collective innovation mindset 

While challenges remain, particularly around data privacy, regulation and consumer trust, the frameworks and mindsets developed through the program are already shaping TAL’s local innovation strategy. 

“The program really highlighted the power of being part of a global organisation,” said Shane. “There’s so much innovation happening across the Dai-ichi Group, with some markets already trialling ideas we’re only beginning to explore. Bringing that thinking back to our fund partners in Australia is invaluable.” 

Colleen added that TAL’s reputation stood out during the program. “It was clear the group was looking to the TAL team for leadership and inspiration. That recognition really reinforced the strong culture of innovation we have here.” 

“This wasn’t just a tech initiative – it brought together people from claims, marketing, strategy, data and partnerships,” said Shane. “Innovation at TAL doesn’t sit in one team; it’s embedded across our business because we’re all committed to doing better for our partners and their members.” 

Next steps: from ideas generated to implementation 

Following the conclusion of the Dai-ichi Innovation Leadership Programme, all participants were invited to submit their ideas to the Dai-ichi Innovation Fund. This fund is dedicated to supporting innovative projects and providing the necessary resources and funding to bring these ideas to life.

"At a local level, we’re applying the insights and frameworks gained through our global exposure to explore how they can be integrated into our teams and partner operations. That’s why we’re taking a deliberate test-and-learn approach and trialling new ideas in smaller, controlled settings, refining them based on real-world outcomes, and scaling thoughtfully as we build confidence and gather insights," said Shane.

Colleen concluded that managing expectations around the rollout of new technologies and processes in a highly regulated environment is key. "Our focus is on delivering innovation responsibly, ensuring that each step is well-tested and supports the needs of our partners and members before broader implementation."