Systems Analyst - Voice Technologies

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Widely known through the "You're In Good Hands With Allstate?" slogan, Allstate helps individuals in approximately 17 million households protect what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow through approximately 14,100 exclusive agencies and financial professionals in the U.S. and Canada. Customers can access Allstate products and services such as auto insurance and homeowners insurance through Allstate agencies, or in select states at allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate?.


The position is located in Buffalo Grove, IL

The purpose of the department is Claim Technology Services (CTS) is the technology partner to the Property-Casualty Claim Service Organization (P-CCSO) - one of the largest business client bases within Allstate Corporation. CTS is partnering with P-CCSO to provide technology solutions in support of achieving their business objectives. The CTS department is responsible for the development and maintenance of end-to-end system applications beginning when an Allstate customer or claimant files a claim.

The scope of this job is Systems Analyst - Applies knowledge of business processes to create high level technical requirements and designs to develop and support optimal IT solutions.

The individual will be responsible for

1. Primary Responsibilities: Analyzes and translates business and functional requirements into technical requirements to create high level technical design. Serves as an advocate for technical and architectural knowledge and standards within the team. Provides input into detailed project estimates and workplan. Applies business and IT knowledge as a basis to drive optimal technology and business solutions. Supports and contributes to module and integration testing and functional testing. Facilitates the change analysis process for technical requirements and design. Supports the evaluation of vendor software and other technology tools. Partners with appropriate APT groups to provide necessary operations / environment / desktop documentation.


2. Specific Responsibilities: Reviews, understands, and analyzes business and functional requirements to create the technical requirements for the most complex projects. Analyzes business and functional requirements and recommended architectures to create the technical design for the most complex projects and difficult maintenance. Identifies potential technology risks and documents possible mitigation strategies. Understands the technical details, integration, and functions of multiple applications and/or more complex hardware or software within a team. Provides technical input from the team into architectural assessments. Acts as point-of-contact during architectural assessments for area applications. Assists in enforcing architectural adherence for technologies in application areas. Assist with detailed project, milestone planning and estimating. Reviews and validates accuracy of other's estimates.


3. Specific Responsibilities: Recommends technology solutions to meet business requirements. Uses knowledge of integrated requirements to evaluate proposed software products. Serves as Subject Matter Expert in specific technical area of expertise. Supports the planning, conduct, and review of module and integration testing, particularly on more complex projects. Consults on the content of functional test conditions for applications, projects, etc. Supports data analysis and validation from the more complex functional tests.


4. Specific Responsibilities: Manages the scope and change control process and provides direction for area of expertise. Manages and documents issue resolution. Partners with the business across all major functions in their area of responsibility to ensure new/revised technical requirements and high level technical design are defined and documented. Recommends technology solutions to meet business requirements. Maintains understanding of software industry and provides direction for future solutions. Coordinates communication of changes and issues to vendor. Obtains agreement from various APT groups on required operations / environment / desktop documentation and manages development of the documentation.


5. Other Responsibilities: Mentors and coaches peers and colleagues. Builds and sustains relationships. Supports process improvements. Supports corporate strategy. Provides informal training to all levels on the team. Proactively identifies areas for improvement in team members and provides feedback on suggestions for improving processes. Builds, cultivates, and maintains long term relationships. Manages the expectations of customers. Assists in maintaining contact with software vendors and other groups external to the Allstate organization. Identifies, designs and promotes complex cross-group performance initiatives either internal to APT or the supported business. Supports, identifies, and promotes opportunities to support the APT and corporate strategy. 

Experience Required:
3 - 5 years experience with voice technologies such as IVRs, speech platforms, CTI, and call center tools (Witness, Aspect, etc.). 3 - 5 years experience in application development on a speech engine such as Nuance, and a speech platform such as VXML. 3 - 5 years experience as manager or overall project lead for speech application development projects.

Computer Proficiency:
MS Office (Powerpoint, Word, Excel, Visio, and Project)

Education:
College Degree - Preferred
Major preference: Computer Science, Engineering or Information Systems

Allstate offers extensive benefits, including medical, vision, dental, profit sharing, pension, group life, paid time off, tuition reimbursement, short and long-term disability, flexible spending account, adoption reimbursement, and group legal care. If you are interested in this position, please click on the following link: