Faced with the trying Covid-19 times, Aviva India Life Insurance is now leveraging technology, especially video solutions, to reach out to customers, a top official said.

For the first time, this private life insurer — which anyway had a ‘digital first’ approach — is using “video chat” for both digital insurance advisory and customer service, Anjali Malhotra Nanda, Chief Customer, Marketing, Digital & IT Officer, Aviva India Life Insurance, told BusinessLine .

“When we come out of this lockdown, it will be a changed world, not just for the community but also the way businesses are run. Post Covid-19, the world is going to be even more digital. This (pandemic) has pushed us to accept it (digital) and raise it more,” she said.

Talking about other tech solutions, Nanda said that the company has been innovative in responding to the Covid-19 challenges and has started using solutions like cloud telephony. “We have also quickly changed our mobile sales tool (a B2B2C solution) into a non face-to-face tool. Even from remote locations, we are helping customers,” Nanda said.

“Our people have been very innovative in using video solutions to reach out to customers. We have lot of work happening on our digital customer portal. We have seen registrations increase hugely on the simple campaigns we ran. Live chats, emails... Customers have diverted to these modes,” she added.

For the present, the company’s energies are focussed on enabling its people to stay committed to its customers through digital means and look at innovative product solutions going forward.

Business continuity

Covid-19 has prompted Aviva India Life to review and rewrite its business continuity plans. There is a fair amount of change in the way business is now operating and people have accepted the new way, said Nanda.

“Certainly business has taken a hit. Revenue has taken a hit. This is the time when businesses have to stand up to say we have value and we care. This is the time to prove we really mean what we say at a time like this.

“Advice and insurance consumption are a lot about trust and face-to-face engagement. In the absence of that, most activities that are non-essential have taken a hit. People are down to bare essentials. People are holding off discretionary spends”, Nanda said.

More demand

 

If there is one trend that Nanda expects, it is that the demand for insurance is bound to climb in the post-Covid-19 world. This is prompting Aviva India Life Insurance to review its product mix.

“Protection and health are going to become more important in people’s lives and minds. We are looking at our own portfolio to see how we can substantiate the solutions and benefits we provide to customers for better inclusion of pandemic covers and other illnesses which people may want coverage for now. We are strong on guarantees and that will continue to remain,” she said.

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