Picture of an Actuaries Institute employee

Actuaries Institute

As the peak professional body for actuaries in Australia, the Actuaries Institute needed to refresh its brand, modernise its technology, and deliver a more connected digital experience. Luminary worked with the Institute to consolidate its tech stack, streamline content management, and improve member engagement through an ambitious, collaborative rebuild.

Client:

Actuaries Institute

Tagged:

Education

Platform:

Who We Helped:

With a legacy of 125 years, the Actuaries Institute is a trusted voice representing actuaries across Australia and internationally. Its digital experience, however, had grown increasingly fragmented. 

The Institute’s existing tech stack had evolved into a complex ecosystem of mismatched platforms, with three separate content management systems supporting a single digital offering. This disjointed structure created a poor user experience, both for members and  for internal teams managing the site.  

At the same time, the organisation was undergoing a brand refresh to reflect the changing demographics of its membership. There was a strong desire to modernise the look and feel of the website, improve the functionality of the member portal, and prepare the digital platform for a headless future, including potential support for an app. 

Underlying it all was a commitment to maintaining the Institute’s position as a thought leader in the actuarial profession and continuing to deliver a high-quality, authoritative experience across its extensive content library. 

What we did

While the Actuaries Institute arrived with a strong design direction already in place, Luminary helped enhance and extend those designs and brought them to life through a fully reimagined front-end experience. 

From the outset, this was a highly collaborative engagement. The Institute’s team brought strong agile maturity and a deep understanding of risk, attributes that made them ideal partners in scoping and prioritising an MVP. Throughout the project, the two teams worked as one, regularly re-scoping and adapting as requirements evolved. 

The project began with a technical discovery phase to assess CMS solutions that could support the Institute’s complex requirements. The discovery uncovered a selection of CMS platforms that could support the new strategy and requirements of the Actuaries Institute. 

Picture of a laptop open with an Actuaries website on the screen

Kontent.ai was selected as the new CMS due to its ability to meet the multifaceted needs of the Institute, from technical flexibility to ease of use for marketers and content managers. As a Kontent.ai Gold Partner and global leader in its implementation, Luminary was well-positioned to guide the Institute through the platform’s capabilities and ensure the solution was future-proof. 

One of the most technically challenging aspects was the migration of content from WordPress to the new platform. This required careful alignment of taxonomy and content structures, with particular attention to mapping the Institute’s vast library of articles, podcasts, videos and events.

A standout feature of the project was the overhaul of the member experience, particularly around tracking Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. Members must log 100 CPD points annually, and this requirement touches nearly every facet of the website. 

Luminary re-architected the logic around how points are earned, logged and displayed, creating a decision tree that accounts for multiple states (logged in/out, member/non-member). This complex system feeds into a dashboard that allows members to export and edit their CPD history. 

Picture of all the Actuaries Institute interfaces

The headless approach also allowed content creation to begin early. By sprint two, the Institute was already populating content in the new system. By the time the site launched, they had been creating content for four months, meaning the launch phase effectively doubled as extended user acceptance testing. 

In parallel, Luminary delivered a comprehensive SEO uplift. This included in-depth keyword research, on-page SEO improvements, schema markup, and a structured approach to 301 redirects – mapping more than 5,000 URLs. The team also made it easier for content editors to follow SEO best practices through helpful CMS labelling and training. 

Picture of the Actuaries Institute laptop and iphone

The outcome

The new website brings together what were once three disconnected experiences – the main site, a separate content hub, and the member portal – into a single, unified platform. 

From a member’s perspective, the experience is significantly improved. They can now log in, consume content, track CPD points, and export their records – all from a single portal. For internal teams, the consolidated tech stack means faster updates and a more efficient workflow, with all content managed in a single headless environment. 

Kontent.ai’s modular content model supports reuse and consistency across the site, reducing duplication and enabling the Institute to scale its publishing efforts with ease. For content managers, the editing interface is simple, structured and user-friendly, removing barriers to timely content updates. 

The new site also launched with an Lighthouse SEO health score of 86 percent – a testament to the rigour of the pre-launch optimisation. And with a strong cadence of ongoing support, including SEO reviews, analytics reporting, and performance audits, the Institute is well placed to maintain and grow its digital presence. 

Above all, the project was a model of collaboration – a true partnership grounded in trust, flexibility and shared purpose.

Luminary was a fantastic partner for our new website build, showing commitment to best practice and quality development. Collaboration was made easy thanks to frequent and transparent communication on both sides, and they were great at problem-solving and refining features with us. Their wealth of knowledge helped us make informed decisions and they were committed to resolving any issues and blockers so we could achieve our project goals. Our site was delivered on time and on budget, with intricate system integrations appearing seamless for front-end users. They helped us streamline our platforms into a great tech stack that delivers a better experience for both users and staff.

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