Comms Hub gives pension administration teams one intuitive workspace for every member interaction. Member information, communication history and actions sit together in one place, so administrators can resolve queries faster, more consistently and with less training.
It’s 10am on a Monday and the phone rings. Sarah, a deferred member, is calling about her retirement quote, which is already in progress. She has been in touch several times with questions about the form. Before the administrator can help, they must review several cases and notes just to get up to speed.
It sounds like a simple query. But when it relates to a large case, even the most experienced administrator can take time to work through the history and find the right details. For someone new, or who only covers the phones occasionally, it can be daunting.
Comms Hub is designed for exactly this moment. It gives administration teams a modern, intuitive workspace, with member information, communication history and actions together in one place.
“Our clients told us that answering even a simple member query could mean moving between several functional areas and relying on knowledge that takes time to build. We designed Comms Hub around how teams actually handle member contact, so administrators can easily find the right member, understand their story and act from one place. That means faster, more consistent answers for members and more confident administrators.”
Harriet Hirst, Chief Client Relationship Officer, Heywood
The administrator starts with a live search. Sarah can't give her membership number, but her surname, date of birth and part of her postcode are enough. The live search functionality returns full or partial matches across key member identifiers immediately, so the right record is found quickly.
Before going further, built-in security validation guides the administrator through the required checks. The outcome is recorded, so there is clear evidence that the checks were completed, whilst satisfying audit expectations. A configurable call script then prompts the key questions and any required wording for this type of enquiry, so nothing is missed, providing a consistent member journey no matter who answers the phone.
Sarah's record brings together her personal, contact and employment details with a summary of linked workflow cases. The 360-degree member timeline shows her history in one chronological view, drawing on information from across the Heywood product portfolio.
The administrator can see Sarah's email, the retirement quote case it created and where that case is now. There's no need to ask Sarah to explain everything again. She gets an informed answer, and the administrator doesn't need to know which system each item came from.
The administrator logs the call, categorising it by contact type and reason and adding a short note. Because a case is already in progress, the interaction is linked to it rather than starting a duplicate. Had this been a new request, the same step could have started a new workflow.
Sarah would like an update when her quote is ready. Email, SMS and Engage secure messaging are all available from within Comms Hub. A quick SMS can prompt her when the quote is ready, and every message becomes part of her record.
The call is resolved in a few clicks, and the next administrator who speaks to Sarah will have the full picture.
The benefits go beyond a single call. Every interaction logged in Comms Hub feeds the Insights dashboards included with implementation for Insights customers. Operational managers can see contact volumes, channels and reasons for contact, and how contact turns into workflow activity.
If calls chasing retirement quotes are rising, managers can see it, find the cause and measure whether a change, such as a proactive SMS update or updates to member documents, reduces avoidable contact.
Comms Hub has been designed around the tasks administrators carry out every day. Clear navigation and breadcrumbs help users see where they are and return to an earlier step without losing context. Accessibility has been considered throughout, including support for assistive technologies such as screen readers.
The result is a workspace where new and occasional users can become productive sooner, with less training. It also helps every administrator handle similar enquiries in a consistent way.
Pension administration is complex, and Altair provides the depth of functionality needed to support it. But administrators handling everyday member queries don’t need every feature. They need quick access to the right member information, a full history of what’s already been said and the tools to resolve the query.
In practice, teams were losing time switching between Altair, email inboxes and other systems. Interactions across different channels weren’t always captured, which left gaps in the member’s history. New and occasional users needed extensive training for tasks that only use part of the system. And fragmented records made it harder to maintain a clear audit trail. Comms Hub has been designed to address each of these challenges.
Comms Hub has been developed alongside early adopter Local Government Pension Scheme funds, whose feedback has helped shape its design.
Comms Hub gives pension administration teams one place to find the member, understand their story and act. That means faster, more consistent answers for members, a more complete and auditable member record, and better insight for the people running the service.
Comms Hub is a workspace for pension administration teams using Altair. It brings member information, communication history and actions into one place, so administrators can resolve member queries faster and with less training.
It is for pension administration teams using Heywood's Altair system, including new and occasional users who need to handle member enquiries without detailed system knowledge.
Email, SMS and Engage secure messaging, all managed from one workspace alongside the member record.
A chronological view of a member's interactions, communications and workflow activity, drawing on information from across the Heywood product portfolio.
Yes. Interactive Insights dashboards are included with Insight customer implementations, showing contact volumes, channels, reasons for contact and how contact turns into workflow activity.
Want to talk about what Comms Hub could do for your team? Request a consultation.