Collaboration technologies will play a central role in the cost-cutting strategy at insurance group Aviva, formerly Norwich Union, as the company seeks to reduce spending by £500m by 2010.

The group has embarked on a process documentation and information sharing drive in support of its One Aviva programme ­ a plan launched in 2007 that aims to make the disparate parts of the group work smarter and better.

One initiative will see Aviva extend its use of business process management (BPM) software, to create a platform that can map its processes and improve collaboration. Another system, to be implemented onsite, will improve its ability to design, execute and modify processes.

“Achieving excellence in using tools such as BPM, to do more for less, is one of the projects we will be driving hard this year, as well as introducing rock-solid, preventative risk management controls,” said Toby Redshaw, chief information officer at Aviva.

Redshaw said improvements in the Lombardi-supplied platform are a priority as the company seeks to build what it calls a process asset library featuring reusable problem-solving information. He added the library will enable faster decision-making and generate short-term cost efficiencies.

“I am very pleased that the work we have done in this area is truly helping the business become more competitive,” he said.

Aviva has previously used BPM software to fine-tune its human resources processes, such as staff recruitment and relocation, and to improve its quality management procedures. In the latter case, the technology is used to take comments made on Aviva’s UK insurance web site to provide a feedback mechanism for service quality.

In addition, the company is optimistic about the internal adoption of a separate, searchable wiki, which was launched last summer to improve sharing of employee knowledge and support integration of the different parts of the group.

“Only leading-edge businesses are getting the real value of collaboration technologies ­ - you won’t find another company in the sector with fully rolled-out capabilities to the level that we have,” said Redshaw.

“Social media helps introduce a global business culture and it connects staff much more efficiently than getting people to wear a company T-shirt. Our employees love it and it is great from a cost perspective as it has a zero training footprint.”