Life insurance is a very intense financial instrument which calls for interaction between the insured and the advisors. In a lot of ways, insurers have been seen as focusing on their distributors, basically the army of on-ground agents and not the policyholder, who is the end beneficiary. Over the years the hardselling of insurance policies have also boomeranged on insurers, who have faced poor persistency ratios, which is nothing but the continuity of an insurance policy by a policyholder through its tenure.
“We are looking at ways to engage directly with the customer through the digital medium,” explains Martijn De Jong, Chief Digital Officer, Aegon Life Insurance. He goes on to explain how the process being adopted at Aegon is currently at two levels – going digital within the organisation and engaging digitally with prospective customers. “We need a mindset shift to change from an insurance company to a technology-driven company which also sells life insurance,” he says. De Jong, is looking at India as a testing base, before the digitally-driven life insurance business takes shape globally for Aegon.
A firm believer in analytics and technology, De Jong is working towards transforming the way life insurance is consumed and has been somewhat successful. “The core insurance expertise still plays a big role, but everywhere else where we can go digital, we are working towards it.” The company is focusing on the delivering promise of insurance claims, something that is close to them. The relentless focus and analysis of data is giving them insights into existing customers, which in turn is helping them to target prospective customers.
It’s a very conscious decision to go direct to the consumer and look at ways to make the online purchase of life insurance a pleasant experience. De Jong is working towards creating teams within the company that are able to fully imbibe the digital culture. The new age agile way of working has improved efficiencies and is also making them think of smarter ways to address consumer needs.
With the task of providing customers with the necessary tools to decide the kind of policy as well as the quantum of cover they will need, De Jong’s priorities are clear—disrupt the conventional way of selling insurance. “Things are changing really fast in the digital space and you need to break from the conventional ways to move to the digital systems and take the organisation and all stakeholders on this journey,” he says. Gripped with digital transformation, here is perhaps a life insurance in the making which will focus more digitally and challenge the conventional distribution wisdom.
Martijn De Jong
Chief Digital Officer, Aegon Life Insurance
