Page 31 - Insurance Times November 2020

something that had to happen, someday. CIOs have spent
General Insurance companies are tweaking
years working to maintain their aging infrastructure and
their processes to show the difference in create patches that enable their business to continue to
pricing for buying its products online compete. The new reality creates a bigger burden for them.

General Insurance companies expect online If they could, everyone would have preferred to modernize
already. While modernization is not an overnight event, the
business to double this year from a very
decision-making process that can get you started on the
small base
journey can be started today. It can become a part of
Life Insurance industry functions primarily corporate strategy and BCP that helps ease current
with the help of agents. Who persuade hardships and offset those that may come. That is the
people and play an important role in opportunity within the difficult times we're moving through-
to enable underwriters, claims and other staff to effectively
creating savings habit
continue to do their jobs remotely to reduce reliance on IT
Life Insurance companies mostly sell term and put control in the hands of the business units.
plans online
With the country bracing for an extension of lockdown in
LIC's e-term is priced 25-30% cheaper than
some zones and social distancing becoming the new normal,
offline product. However, it accounts for a the life insurance industry will have to adopt digital
very small amount of total sales engagement activities rapidly. This would help fill the void
Last year, LIC sold 8,000 term plans created by lack of physical meetings in insurer and bank
branches, and other establishments of distribution. Although
online, out of a total 2.6 crore insurance has been slow to deliver on those expectations-a
new wave of digital offerings is starting to redefine how the
renewal premiums. The virus pandemic is expected to result industry interacts with consumers. Insurance companies are
in delayed filing, assessment and payouts of claims. This can waking to the growing customer need for online solutions.
impact the liability matching techniques used by the industry
that ensure cash flow stability is maintained in each Insurers are developing new tools with innovative features
successive quarter. Companies that sell remote work tools to deliver the value their clients are seeking. Although most
and video conferencing platforms are doing well. Insurers insurance customers in India still prefer to purchase from
are doing their best to ensure seamless services and support an intermediary viz. an agent, bank or broker, the evolution
their policyholders. of digital sales and service offerings is remaking the map of
the industry. Consumer distrust of technology is being
Insurers are encouraging their customers to use digital assets replaced by an expectation for the accelerated, highly
for any assistance regarding policy renewal, claims personalized digital experiences they have every day.
settlement and other necessary information. The chatbot Whether it's one-click shopping on Amazon or getting movie
is helping customers to renew policies, generate claim recommendations on Netflix, customers have come to
status, send policy packs and tax receipts. With the actual expect instant fulfillment and service that is tailored to
physical movement being hampered, customers have them. Although insurance has been slow to deliver on those
become more reliant on e-commerce companies for their expectations-a new wave of digital offerings is starting to
insurance requirements. This has meant that digital redefine how the industry interacts with consumers.
insurance players have seen a spurt in sales. The companies
are ensuring end-to-end digital delivery of insurance Online Paymet Company to Acquire

products as they ramp up their digital presence. Considering Insurer:
the present scenario, we can say that the offline sales have Paytm, an e-commerce payment system and FinTech
taken a backseat as of now.
company, has announced that it is set to acquire Mumbai
New Age Realities & Transformation based private sector general insurer Raheja QBE, a move
which would be its entry into the Indian general insurance
Aspects: market. Paytm has agreed to buy the entire stake of Prism
Digital transformation, and specifically Policy Administration Johnson in the company, translating to 51% of the paid-up
System (PAS) modernization, was always a consideration- equity share capital of Raheja QBE, for INR2896.8m

The Insurance Times, November 2020 31