Organizations that went “virtual” overnight at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic have each responded differently to the new work environment. Some remote workers thrived, while others missed the face-to-face interactions that keep them focused and productive.

One thing employees at Voya Investment Management immediately understood was this: without up-to-date news and information to keep them connected with teammates and customers, they may as well be working from the moon.

In the volatile, fast-moving financial services industry, Voya Investment Management, the asset management arm of Voya Financial, needed to move quickly to meet the increased need for timely, relevant information. The Fortune 500 company, which has over 6,000 employees in four locations, solved this challenge by expanding its use of Allego to provide more video content to more audiences.

“Allego is Voya’s YouTube – a very visual streaming platform that can be a very powerful tool.”  — Jeff Lovanio, Head of Learning and Development, Voya Investment Management

Voya Investment Management, an Allego customer since 2016, uses the learning and enablement platform to share high-priority internal information to keep financial advisers up to date on market changes, collateral, and product messaging. When the company’s teams began working from home, it began repurposing recordings of select Zoom video conferences for external as well as internal audiences to extend its communication reach.

Meeting the Information Needs of a Distributed Workforce

After the onset of the pandemic, Jeff Lovanio, Head of Learning and Development at Voya, observed the shift in employee attitudes toward such technologies, especially mobile video. Many employees, he said, are now more comfortable recording and sharing videos of themselves (or video conference meetings) than they were before the crisis.

“I’m seeing more and more people actually putting the camera button on and sharing their videos. After all, if another person is using video, it’s kind of awkward if they’re on camera and you’re not, right?” said Jeff.

“Allego is Voya’s YouTube – a very visual streaming platform that can be a very powerful tool,” he added. “This pandemic happened at a time when we are fully connected. So we have the ability to do a Zoom meeting or GoToMeeting or WebEx and share this video. Video is becoming more and more part of our lives.”

Seeing the Potential of the Platform

“[Previously] we used Allego for internal use only,” said Jeff Lovanio, Head of Learning and Development. “That provided some comfort to our compliance team and for people who created content … that we didn’t want to share with the public because there might be sensitive information.”

After the arrival of the pandemic, however, the company realized the platform’s potential use. “We recorded a video with two audiences in mind: our clients and our financial advisors. We recorded a video in Zoom, Brady Bunch style. We started with the chief investment officer of our equity team, and went around the horn, with each analyst giving a two-minute update about the sector they cover,” added Lovanio.

“We uploaded the video to Allego, and got it compliance-approved for external audiences and also for internal training. This approach is just in its infancy, but we plan to do more videos like this. Next, we’re going to be videoing a securitized credit video with a dual audience in mind.”

Creating an On-Demand Knowledge Repository

In addition, a growing number of Voya’s sales reps use Allego to record 30- to 60-second video “check-ins” that quickly provide clients with updates on topics that may be of interest. One key benefit of sharing pre-recorded videos is that recipients can watch them whenever they have time, wherever they happen to be, instead of taking time away from clients and prospects to hop on video conference calls.

Another benefit is the ease and speed with which managers and sales enablement professionals can create and curate a continuously updated, on-demand library of training content. “We’re leveraging Allego as an on-demand repository and finding new ways to use it. We’re also using it for onboarding by creating training channels. So if someone didn’t have time to watch a training video when it was released, they can go back at any time to get trained up,” added Lovanio.

The salesforce is also substituting mobile video for email and voicemail as a means of staying in touch with customers and teammates. Because it’s a more immediate and personalized communication tool than either email or voicemail—one that shows a human face along with the message—many reps believe the videos will improve engagement among recipients.

Lovanio noted the power of having content of all types in a central hub, which allows financial advisors to access it easily. He observed, “Any video, any link or any document can be uploaded to Allego, and then curated … so that people have it right in front of them in one spot – as opposed to: ‘I have to go here for this and there for that.’ Now, that takes some planning and organization by the person who’s acting as the quarterback behind Allego. But at the same time, if you have the right person in there and you’re making it easy for people to find content in Allego, it’s a home run.

“There are so many different places you can go for information, but if you have the right person there to gather it together and tie it up in a nice bow for people, especially for onboarding and training channels … it’s a powerful tool.”

Meeting the Challenges of a Changing Market

At a critical time, Voya Investment Management met the challenges of a rapidly changing market and a remote workforce. By extending its use of Allego, the company fulfilled the training and onboarding needs of its financial advisors and enhanced communication with clients—capabilities that will help the company thrive long after the pandemic has run its course.

Learn More

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