Insurance INDUSTRY survey What customers increasingly want is convenience, responsiveness, and the chance to have all sorts of information at their fingertips.
claimsimple.hk allow members to make medical claims anywhere in less than a minute
almost the full spectrum of the insurance value chain, from product development, underwriting, sales and advisory, policy administration to claims management,” Chan said. Several insurers have already achieved strides in developing digital solutions for their products. ManulifeMOVE, Manulife’s unique insurance concept integrating a health-tracking program with insurance solutions, has experienced tremendous success as more clients jump on the bandwagon of maintaining active lifestyles in exchange for discounted premiums. Manulife has also recently launched claimsimple.hk, an e-claims solution that allows customers to make a medical insurance claim anytime anywhere in less than a minute. Insurers have also begun leveraging data analytics to monitor and observe the needs of their clients and provide them more personalized solutions. Edward Moncreiffe, chief executive officer, HSBC Insurance Hong Kong, said that they have been working on a simple, purely digital solution that is unmatched in the market in terms of value for money and ease of online application. The application for HSBC Term Protector takes just around five minutes, making it the fastest in the market. Moncreiffe said that by answering just three questions, clients can be covered by up to $5m. Meanwhile, HSBC’s Insurance Academy, launched in 2017, provides rigorous training and development of staff in order for them to deliver an innovative range of services. According to Moncreiffe, the training curriculum is designed based on
Engage-Discover-Recommend-Actand-Service (EDRAS) sales process, which provides a framework to train the staff and partners based on customer- and user-centric approach. Keeping customer-centricity According to Chan, IA has seen increasingly greater interest in developing customer-centric innovations. For instance, some insurers have introduced e-onboarding and e-Financial Needs Analysis (e-FNA) to speed up the underwriting process. He said that many of these insurers are employing chatbots with artificial intelligence (AI) to handle customer enquiries as well as a claims management system to speed up and standardise the claims process. “Just to give an example, patients who have pre-existing diseases in the past would always face challenges in purchasing medical insurance, either
being rejected by insurance companies or being charged with premium loading. Now, thanks to the innovative online health management tools that could track and analyse the users’ health indicators, insurers may now use the data to adjust premiums based on the risk level,” Chan said. Better customer experience Mills said that advances in technology, particularly the adoption of mobile devices, is one of the biggest consumer trends for all insurers. Mobile devices have made it possible for insurers to get to know their clients more and engage with them much faster and more effectively. “The demand for a better customer experience will continue to drive technology change in 2018.What customers increasingly want is convenience, responsiveness, and the chance to have all sorts of information at their fingertips,” Mills added. “It’s been reported in many instances that Fintech would disrupt the financial industry, including the insurance industry. So far, are those Insurtech applications we have seen disruptive or just facilitating the sale and development of new insurance products in Hong Kong? What areas of Insurtech would be most promising in the near future? Blockchain, AI, chatbots? I do not have the crystal ball, but these may be promising areas for further advancement of the Insurtech ecosystem in Hong Kong,” said Chan of the Insurance Authority.
HSBC Insurance’ staff and development programme
HONG KONG BUSINESS | MARCH 2018
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