Insurance firms knock off agents, go for digital-first to grow business

1. Insurance firms knock off agents, go for digital-first to grow business Insurance is a business of relationships; traditionally, an outcome of frequent handshakes between agents and their customers. That is changing fast. Some of the country’s biggest insurers are moving to a digital-first approach, reducing the dependence on agents for selling an insurance product. Take Edelweiss Tokio, one of the latest entrants to the space. The company thinks of itself not as an insurance firm but a technology company in the insurance business, says Anup Seth, chief retail officer. This, he adds, makes all the difference. Seth says they have adopted a completely digital policy

2. for even offline channels. “Offline businesses depend on an agent’s competency and how he sees the product in his mind. Digital has taken that arbitrage away. Agents no longer end up selling (only) what they want to sell,” he said. Edelweiss Tokio has a full stack of digital applications. For instance, an instant policy issuance which converts a customer’s money into a policy in 30 seconds. And, a unit-linked insurance plan invests the money in the market the same day the policy is purchased. The way companies are approaching digitisation is two-pronged. Not only are they intent on boosting their online sales, they are also focused on making their field executives digitally savvy via a range of tools, which use algorithms and machine learning to predict what a customer might want even before the latter expresses a desire. “The list of prospects is run through an algorithm; it tells you which five of the 40 you put are more likely to buy insurance if they are told a certain story. We have started to run a predictive model. However, this can be done only when the agent has information like estimated income range, age, life stage, etc,” said Manik Nangia, chief digital officer at Max Life Insurance. Max Life says its app is so built that no task takes more than 90 seconds at the agent’s level to get completed. The app also has ‘nudges’ – it shows agents the best performers in their city and their premium value, so that people are motivated to do more and compete while bringing in more business. This is perhaps why one in every five customers for Max Life comes through the digital medium. State-owned SBI Life has to reach State Bank of India branches across the country and also service regional rural banks through its bancassurance

3. partners. The company says 70 per cent of the bancassurance business is done online, through an application called ConnectLife. This is used as a digital proposal form and conducts everything from a need analysis to customer onboarding and digital payments. Article By : Business Standard