Students helped make the life insurance process smoother in collaboration with Swedbank Life Insurance SE

The Digital Innovation Industry Project course at the University of Tartu’s Institute of Computer Science brings together students and companies to tackle digital product development challenges. Companies propose ideas for student teams to work on, creating opportunities for businesses to gain fresh perspectives and for students to experience hands-on product management in practice.

Last semester, Swedbank Life Insurance joined the project. According to Kadri Rumm, Head of Development in the Life Insurance division, the collaboration produced far more than they initially expected.

“Our main goal was to gain new ideas and an external perspective – something we might not reach through our everyday discussions and brainstorming sessions,” explained Rumm. She added that the aim was not to develop a ready-made prototype for immediate implementation, but rather to collect fresh ideas to inform future process improvements.

The project proposed by Swedbank Life Insurance focused on improving the customer experience when signing a life insurance contract in a digital environment. Although customers can already sign life insurance contracts in the online bank, the company saw an opportunity to modernise the process and make it more user-friendly.

According to Rumm, working with students went very smoothly: “I gave the team as much freedom as possible and tried not to direct them too much. It was fascinating to see how they approached problem-solving. When necessary, I provided feedback to ensure that the solutions aligned with real-world practices.”

The end result exceeded expectations. “It was a pleasant surprise – a solution we would not have come up with internally. The ideas generated were valuable, and user testing confirmed or challenged some of our previous assumptions,” Rumm said.

As a result of the students’ work, Swedbank Life Insurance gained new insights that will be considered in the further development of its digital processes. The experience confirmed that collaboration between universities and companies can provide fresh perspectives and lead to genuinely useful solutions.

Submit your project proposal for the Digital Innovation Industry Project course today! We welcome submissions for the spring semester until 6 February.