Aegon Life Insurance has been at the forefront of digitization. We are the first to go 100% digital, Mr. Satishwar Balakrishnan, MD & CEO Aegon Life Insurance Co. Ltd in conversation with our Editor in Chief Mr. Vivek JAIN

Q:    The 2nd wave of covid 19 has started in India, what are the challenges you anticipate?

A:    After nearly a year, the second wave of COVID is more potent with an increased transmission rate. Even at existing morbidity and mortality rates, we are expecting more people to file claims.

While vaccine production is being ramped up, it may take months or perhaps a year before things go back to normal. The demand for Health & Life Insurance will increase during this period as people have realized the necessity and need of protection in times such as these. 

Increased requests for claims and increased demand will need servicing through advanced digital underwriting, claims, and administrative processes, which must lead to shorter TAT, easy processing, and onboarding of customers with minimal documentation. The industry has already adopted digitization in all its aspects. The need of the hour is to prepare with advanced digital solutions which will help organizations to cope with the situation more effectively.

Q:     In the present situation what is your strategy for growth?

A:    Aegon Life Insurance has been at the forefront of digitization. We are the first to go 100% digital, and shift to a direct consumer model. We had pivoted to this digital-first strategy well in advance and built a technology stack that can handle increased service & business demand. Our decision to become Digital First has enabled us to offer a host of new features among our services. These include: 

• iWill -an application that enables users to create their own will using a simple and editable e-book with a legal will format. 

• iCare is another innovation that helps users record all financial, personal, and emergency contact details in one place. 

• We are further enhancing our self-service platform to make it more interactive and double up as an engagement and educational platform for our customers.

Additionally, we are forging associations with digital first partners like PolicyBazaar, Paytm, and Flipkart to strengthen our D2C model and make products available to the last mile. This has significantly improved our ability provide insurance protection to the unserved and under-insured segments in the past two years. We believe that the next wave of growth in insurance will come from these segments. These partnerships will enable us to offer simpler products at special prices, with instant issuance, and top-notch service.