It was also recommended that ERCS services
be reorganized by case complexity. This change
created new roles (e.g., senior- and junior-level
ERCs and subject-matter experts), increased
skill variety, and identified a viable career path.
ERCS could now leverage the consultants’ skill
set, knowledge, and capability based on the
needs of the customer and the complexity of
the case. For example, junior and senior ERCs
could resolve a majority of the cases that came
to ERCS. However, certain cases required a
very deep level of knowledge or information
that existed only in other departments of The
Hartford. In these cases, additional research was
needed. The subject-matter experts often had
the experience to resolve an issue without having
to go outside ERCS and/or the relationships
necessary to acquire the information from other
departments quickly. By capitalizing on subjectmatter
experts, such cases could be flowed
immediately within ERCS. This deepened the
skill variety and allowed subject- matter experts
to have higher task significance and to add
value to the process.