For long, nationalised insurance companies have been associated with a work culture that customers dread. There are acute problems in the consumer grievance redressal mechanism. Deficiencies in products and services abound which only get aggravated on account of the indifferent attitude of the staff, thereby leaving the customer exasperated.
Now, compare this scenario to the one prevailing in the offices of new age private insurance companies like HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Max New York Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Tata AIG Life Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance. Here, innovative products, smart marketing and aggressive distribution have helped them attract new customers, much to the discomfort of older players like LIC, New India, United India, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance Company. While due credit must be given to them for increasing the volume of insurance business in the country, the private players have made technology the cornerstone of their operations, enabling them to attract new clients.
Winds of change are, however, blowing across the state-owned insurance majors. Players like Oriental Insurance Company are taking competition head on by adopting modern technology and undertaking earnest measures to significantly improve customer service. They are turning to centralised and real-time data processing to bring down document processing time for policies, claims and renewals.
Sounds surprising? Here?s how Oriental Insurance Company is doing it. The company has rolled out an integrated insurance management solution across its various offices to bring down document processing time for policies, claims and renewals. Currently, 360 offices have gone live on Integrated Non-Life Insurance Application Solution (INLIAS) as the project is referred to; 540-plus offices are to be completed by March next year. ?The company is not only IT friendly but also technology savvy,? says M Ramadoss, CMD, Oriental Insurance Company Ltd.
Interestingly, the finance ministry has asked the other three general insurance companies?New India, United India and National Insurance Company?to put in place a centralised data processing system like Oriental.
Oriental Insurance Company has been a leading player in implementing IT systems in the general insurance industry. It has had an in-house computerised environment for its front office operations at the divisional and branch offices for the last 11 years. Its back office systems were computerised in 1986.
?The existing system has served well over the years. However, on account of the formidable scale, volume and diversity of operations of the company and the emerging need for information and statistics in real-time at all levels, we have embarked upon an ambitious project which offers an integrated solution spanning all our offices. The system has been deployed centrally and can be accessed by authorised users across the country through our virtual private network (VPN),? informs Ramadoss.
Being an end-to-end integrated online application software, INLIAS has been developed on the latest Oracle platform. It can be deployed in an internet/intranet environment. It provides the necessary tools to proactively analyse risks, configure product variations and handle dynamic business environment. It also addresses the major functions of underwriting, claims, reinsurance and accounts and provides information on employees, agents, and customers with proper security.
Some of the features of INLIAS include:
* Real-time availability of information for decision-making
* Integration of data across 943-plus offices that allows for easy retrieval of data and MIS
* Ability to rapidly respond to market feedback and regulatory body notifications, and implement changes across all offices
* Payment of premium from any office is possible
* Single repository for real-time, online management information system, decision support system at corporate and other controlling offices
In addition, company officials claim that INLIAS is a highly secure and flexible system with the ability to cope with frequently changing insurance regulations, in the shortest possible timeframe. A single point of control ensures higher security and better control. It provides for an efficient mechanism to manage motor third party claims reported in various offices and so on.
?Although the project started about three years back, it took considerable time for the company to implement it. There is no parallel in the world to a software like ours, catering to an organisation of our size with so much complexities and a variety of products. We had enormous problems in rolling it out and faced teething troubles,? informs Ramadoss. He adds: ?While doing the rollout to rest of the offices, we have plans to make policy delivery web-based to our major dealers, agents etc by the end of this year.?
?For any successful financial services company, technology and innovation are the biggest tools to build their businesses rapidly and create a brand name,? says an ICICI Prudential Life Insurance official. It appears that by effective deployment of technology, Oriental Insurance is carving a niche for itself.
