Outlook Money Conclave
Simplicity - A Big Innovation
The panel on ‘ Innovations in Insurance ’ deliberated on issues affecting customers ’ interests and newer approaches insurers are adopting to serve them better
( From left ) KG Krishnamoorthy Rao , MD & CEO , Future Generali India , Tapan Singhel , MD & CEO , Bajaj Allianz General Insurance ( moderator ), Kshitij Jain , MD & CEO , Exide Life Insurance and Vineet Arora , MD & CEO , Aegon Life Insurance
At a discussion on ‘ Innovations in Insurance ’, one would typically expect the topics to be centred around technology-led innovations that are likely to propel the industry forward in the next decade .
While the Outlook Money insurance panel , which comprised KG Krishnamoorthy Rao , MD and CEO , Future Generali India , Tapan Singhel , MD and CEO , Bajaj Allianz General Insurance , Kshitij Jain , MD and CEO , Exide Life , and Vineet Arora , MD and CEO , Aegon Life , touched upon the topic of techenabled innovations , the discussion opened with a rather unexpected subject – simplicity in insurance policy wordings .
“ The policy wordings are difficult to understand even in personal insurance policies . Lay policyholders perhaps do not even read this ( fine print ). Innovations need to start from there . Even the regulator needs to start from there ,” said Rao , after reading out a
complex paragraph from a policy document . Echoing his views , Singhel , the moderator for the panel , emphasised on the need for simpler clauses . “ One of the challenges that I throw to my people and the industry is whether we can issue a policy which is like an SMS ,” he said . “ Can we compress it to a level where a customer understands what he is getting ? If we look the future now , no one has the patience to read a paragraph . If we do not have policy wordings in an SMS format , I don ’ t think we are getting there . That I think it is one of the innovations we need to look at .”
While acknowledging the growth in technology-enabled digital distribution channels , Jain emphasised the importance of traditional channels . “ Intermediaries will not go out of business . Insurance requires connect – even online channel in the life insurance space is still an assisted online model . Customers today , even in metros , are not able to take decisions without the counsel of intermediaries ,” said Jain .
On the other hand , Vineet Arora , whose company Aegon Life now relies primarily on the direct model to sell policies , contended that the digital channel was the future . “ We have been going directly to the customers , largely through the digital route . To our surprise , it has been a great journey . he added .
The discussion progressed from distribution to claim settlement , where Singhel and Rao spoke about the newer techniques being employed to settle claims faster . “ If frauds are eliminated using big data , claims can be settled faster ,” said Rao . “ Claim settlement will be done in ten minutes – that is the future ,” concurred Singhel . “ Companies now use blockchain technology to settle claims faster . A flight delay happens and customer is not even aware of it , but gets a message saying that this is the claim you are entitled for . Times are changing rapidly . Policy issuance and claim settlement are becoming much easier .” letters @ outlookmoney . com
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Outlook Money April 2018 www . outlookmoney . com