Customer · Insurance · Quadient Inspire

How Lincoln Financial cut form processing from weeks to minutes

A 115-year-old Fortune 200 insurer replaced static PDF forms with guided digital experiences built on Quadient Inspire.

Lincoln Financial Group headquarters
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At the time of the case study

At a glance

Industry

Insurance & financial services

Company

Fortune 200 · 17M+ customers

Environment

Enterprise IT across four lines of business

Quadient solution

Quadient Inspire

 

 

Customer outcomes

Results at a glance

17M+

customers served at the time of the case study

1.4M

forms downloaded each year from Lincoln Financial's website at the time of the case study

7,200

unique forms represented by those annual downloads

Weeks to minutes

beneficiary-change processing time after the Quadient-powered experience

0

issues reported for the redesigned beneficiary-change form after implementation

~30 days

for a small team to build the beneficiary-change experience

The challenge

A complex technology estate was getting in the way of a seamless customer experience

At the time of this case study, Lincoln Financial Group was a 115-year-old Fortune 200 financial services company serving more than 17 million customers across retirement, insurance and wealth protection. Growth through acquisitions had brought many products and technology platforms into the organization, while four lines of business and corporate functions all relied on enterprise IT.

The company wanted to create a better experience for both policyholders and internal teams. That meant bringing together a fragmented technology environment, reducing the operational burden of paper-heavy processes, and creating a digital foundation that could scale across business lines.

  • Fragmented technology built up through acquisitions

  • Four lines of business relying on one enterprise IT function

  • 1.4M static PDF forms a year, handled manually by the back office

  • Incomplete forms causing data-quality issues and rework

Quadient Inspire Flex customer communications interface

The solution

A reusable digital communications foundation

Lincoln Financial chose Quadient Inspire as the core of its electronic communications platform: one foundation every line of business could build on, instead of separate one-off projects. The result: better self-service, stronger brand consistency and a reusable base for further digital transformation.

  • Enterprise scale with consistent branding

  • Guided digital forms replace static PDFs

  • Preference management that links past and future initiatives

  • Business users manage content with less IT dependence

  • Quadient Professional Services trained business teams to manage the framework, including configuration

See how Quadient Inspire works

The results

From weeks to minutes for beneficiary changes

Lincoln Financial started with the beneficiary-change form in its life insurance business. According to the case study, the original form had an unacceptably high number of issues.

By replacing static PDF forms with guided digital experiences, Lincoln Financial reported that issues on its beneficiary-change form fell to zero and processing time dropped from weeks to minutes. A small team delivered that implementation in approximately 30 days.

The broader program helped reduce paper-heavy processes, support more business-user self-service, strengthen brand consistency and create a reusable foundation for further digital transformation.

  • Processing time dropped from weeks to minutes.

  • Reported issues on the redesigned beneficiary-change form fell to zero.

  • A small team delivered the implementation in approximately 30 days.

What Lincoln Financial leaders said

Customer experience is everything

"We are driving toward a seamless digital experience and meeting our customers where they want to be met. We are improving the whole experience throughout, and we're able to do it very quickly with very low risk."
Matt Daniels VP and Chief Architect, Lincoln Financial Group

A foundation designed to capture value

"Our digital strategy really enabled us to improve the customer experience, take the cost and friction out, and, ultimately, solidify our brand."
Scott Roth SVP, IT Enterprise Solutions, Lincoln Financial Group

How they rolled it out

From one use case to an enterprise foundation

Start small, prove the value, then reuse it everywhere.

Digital document editing interface showing a document template with text sections, an orange edit icon, and device icons.

The first use case focused on electronic communications in the retirement plan services business, where customers already showed strong digital adoption and printed statements carried significant print and postage costs. Lincoln Financial spent about a year testing and learning while establishing the initial framework, including workflows, template designs and surrounding processes.

Once that foundation was in place, the next business line and use case could move much faster and with fewer resources.

Historically, about 1.4 million forms were downloaded from Lincoln Financial's website each year. Customers completed the static PDFs and returned them by email or mail. Those downloads represented roughly 7,200 unique forms, supported by a back-office operation that had to manage data across documents that did not share information.

Incomplete or incorrect information also created data-quality problems and prevented some forms from being completed and logged successfully. Moving forms to the Quadient engine allowed Lincoln Financial to replace static documents with guided digital experiences and bring its life insurance business into the broader digital initiative.

Lincoln Financial started with the beneficiary-change form in its life insurance business. According to the case study, the original form had an unacceptably high number of issues. After the Quadient-powered experience was implemented, reported issues fell to zero and processing time dropped from weeks to minutes. A small team delivered the implementation in approximately 30 days.

Lincoln Financial also wanted business teams to take on more of the work themselves. Quadient Professional Services supported training so business users could manage many functions within the communications framework, including configuration capabilities.

With the core digital platform established, Lincoln Financial was positioned to extend the same capabilities across additional lines of business and address new opportunities one at a time.

The case study describes this foundation as a way to move beyond repeated debates about the cost of building separate services for each business line. Instead, teams could solve one business problem, capture the value, and then move to the next.

For Lincoln Financial, the broader objective went beyond digitizing individual communications. The program was designed to improve customer experience, reduce cost and friction, strengthen brand consistency and reinvest captured savings into the business.

The full case study (PDF)

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Frequently asked questions

Lincoln Financial Group used Quadient Inspire as a foundational component of its electronic communications platform. The program supported electronic statements, preference management and guided digital forms, helping the company move away from fragmented static-document processes.

The company had accumulated a large and varied technology stack through acquisitions. It wanted to connect technology across business lines, reduce paper-heavy manual processes and create a more consistent digital experience for policyholders and internal teams.

In the life insurance beneficiary-change use case, the case study reports that issues fell to zero and processing time was reduced from weeks to minutes. The implementation was completed by a small team in approximately 30 days. Lincoln Financial also reported significant savings from reducing printed notices.

Lincoln Financial was looking for enterprise scale, brand consistency and reusable foundational capabilities that could support both immediate communications needs and larger future digital initiatives.

Project Ambition was Lincoln Financial Group's digital transformation program. Its three pillars were improving the way the company does business, enhancing customer experience, and innovating with digital and data.

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