WEB
TECHNOLOGY FOR LIFE INSURERS
THE
CONTEXT :
Insurance
Companies today are compelled to improve processes related to
customer service, marketing and management of their channel partners(Branches,
Agents, Brokers & Institutions). Competition
in this industry is driven by the hi-end technology; it is also subjected to financial backing
and market garnering tactics; mergers and acquisitions are the major occurences
which means a constant re-defining of the business policies.
Techonolgy has given the customer an edge by giving him the essential knowledge
and timely product information. Since the customer
is well informed of the product and its benefits, selling has
become doubly difficult for those still focusing on traditional
parameters such as premiums, Management costs and Agency commission.
The
new market scenario in this industry can at best be summarised as mature,
technology-driven, knowledgeable customers, tight rope-walking because of time and cost, shrinking
bottom line, high cost of servicing the clients to satisfaction,
and several other economic pressures. All these have resulted in the following
vagaries which merit immediate attention.
Marketing
-
Polices to maintain existing customer.
-
Attract new customer
- Value
added services to existing customers
Partners
-
Dissemination of informaton on quality
-
Updated Product knowledge and its benefits
Information
on existing and extended call centres, effectively
Optimising the
service mechanism with high-end productivity.
Optimisation of database products.
For
the three circles to be unified and to ensure the required output, it needs
a consistent and fool-proof system to avoid any communication gap.