Q.    Insurance companies are into stress how you think this will affect your business?

Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an economic crisis that is challenging not only insurance industry, but all world economies in general with India being one of the worst hit last quarter with -23% growth. These factors have put tremendous pressure on capital resources, liquidity, operations, supply chain and productivity for industries.

Insurance industry luckily was one of the least hit ones but still the reductions in written premiums last quarter have created a great reaction on sales and intermediary for next three quarters with crunching revenues. 

As Brokers we always try to get what clients’ needs and bridge the gap with insurance companies but due sudden brakes in business continuity, we are struggling to apprehend the losses for us and client and trying to workout the best possible way out of this once in life time of situation. Having said that, the pandemic is spawning a broad range of new business opportunities, which will all need robust risk management and insurance programs.

Q.    There is a lot of redemption pressure on life insurance companies, what is your experience?

Frankly speaking, we have encountered lesser life insurance redemptions than health claims. Health claims, as expected, have being enormous and have kept up late nights. We believe in fulfilling our word and we have promised our customers to be there during their testing times. We did exactly that. We stood by them and tried to create as much smoothening of redemptions as possible. Coming back to the question I think life insurance redemptions have not being as overwhelming as expected.

Q.    What kind of challenges have you faced in the last 5 months?

CHALLENGE is a understatement…… We all have endured shock and a knee jerk treatment from Nature. So, there were three types of hindrances we all faced: one was on personal front, other was from business interruption and the last but most crucial was from government.

On personal front, We all went from “I need a break”( in March with nerving year end) to “I have break” (yay) to “I need to work from home” to “I have to give productivity” and now “ I need to deliver be from home or office or I will be perished”. That’s what we all felt through this lockdown period. 

Some most important takeaways on business front from last 5 months of lockdowns were:  

1. Customer Experience: We had different customer interactions and dialogue methods due to working from home both for retail and corporate. Customer also showed lots of patience and cooperated with us to the maximum extent possible. I can’t thank enough for this to my clients.

2. Workflow Efficiency: One of the major struggle was to have business continuity on year end and handling renewals thereafter. However, thanks to technological investments and my dedicated team we could achieved milestones on retail front due to increased awareness. After that we crawled to get on to our feet with starting our offices from June and now, we almost have 70-80% staff attending on different days with a roster in place.

3. Lead Generation: Lead generation have definitely shifted on social platforms.

4. Uncertainty in the Market: Markets have shown varying trends

5. New & Emerging Risks: the risks involved as not individualistic or related to sole organisation but society as a whole. The behavioural pattern of the societies are changing and the risk which the businesses face are more about covering cost, value addition for existing setups and sourcing through different mediums.

6. Undefined Sales Process emerging treads in new sales processes is seen.

Q.    What are the challenges you anticipate for the next 7 months?

Next 7 months will be most demanding and stressful in terms of business coping up with losses of 1 quarter. The major stress points would be

• Improved Prospecting

• Better Data Quality

• Integrating Your Back & Front Offices

• Improving Renewal Rates

• Measuring KPI’s & Effectiveness

Q.    Do you think online sales will take over traditional sales in the next 3 years? 1) If Yes, Why? If No, Why?

YES !! Today business to consumer e-commerce represents only a small segment of total retail in most developed countries. But it has been showing impressive growth rates even during the recent economic downturn, auguring a rapid expansion in the years to come. However I wouldn’t say that it would overtake traditional sales, yes but we would see a major portion of the sales pie sourced through online.

Q.    Are you into Retail marketing, if yes what are your future plans?

We are into retail marketing and there lots that can be experimented and worked in this line of Insurance .One of the hurdle is getting lifelong customers is breaking through the online noise and attracting them. But as we know today’s consumers don’t like being sold to, they want to do their own research, and they naturally view insurance companies with scepticism. Today’s consumer is used to instant, sophisticated, seamless shopping experiences. Purchasing insurance is no different—policyholders expect the same easy process as they’d have when buying new shoes on Amazon. 

Q.    Do you have POS network, if yes how it’s doing and what are your future plans?

During the time of COVID 19 the POS mode has played an extremely good in getting engaged with broker however it’s been bit difficult for the POSP to convince in the part of pricing but still to generate the revenue POSP had worked way better. 

Q.    Where will the growth come from in your company?

The recent trends have been positive as economic activity restarted in several parts of the country. Further, segments such as health insurance witnessed demand amid the heightened health concern. With regard to Covid-19, it has accelerated the digital adoption journey for the industry and introduction of contactless ways to service customers.

Q.    How many Covid-related claims your company has received so far and how many have been paid?

we have received 217 Covid related claims and almost all the claims are settled or are in process.

Q.    Which product do you think will do well in the next 2 years and why?

HEALTH INSURANCE: Awareness have definitely increased and with Government launching Ayushmann Bharat and digital health India initiatives taken

us to this pandemic people have become more conscious about their health and now everyone needs health Insurance wherein to maintain the social distancing people are using their private vehicle with proper Insurance.