Insurance is a complex product where personalized serviceachieved through an intimate knowledge of customers and their histories with an insurance

companyis critical to making sales. As insurance options broaden and products grow more complex, customers seek superior, personalized service more than ever. With the repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act in 1999, insurance companies face increased competition from banks and brokerages. With the enactment of the Patriot Act, insurance companies need to ensure that they "know their customers." The situation grows even more urgent when one considers the bad economy that hurts investment income; as well as the extremely narrow window of time wherein an insurance call center representative, agent or broker holds a customer's attentionand a valuable opportunity to cross-sell or upsell. It is at this precise moment that these individuals have the chance to maximize these fleeting sales opportunities. To maintain competitive edge and viability, insurance companies are focusing intently on delivering superior customer service. A comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) strategy addresses three imperatives: Sum providing a unified enterprise customer view; Sum retaining customers with great services; and Sum controlling costs as the insurance company in question expands. These three imperatives form a unique interplay that maximizes sales while reducing operational coststhe equation for improved revenue growth and profitability. Gain a Unified Enterprise View of Customers Within many insurance companies, there is a wealth of valuable information about individual customers: you know who they are and what insurance products and services they buy. You know their history of claims and the status of their accounts. You may even know about their opinions and preferences, or whether promotions have attracted their response. But can you unify all these fragments into a complete portrait of this most important asset: your customer? For insurance companies, "know thy customer" can be a challenging imperative. Customer data may be divided among product lines, or among legacy claims, policy and billing systems. If an insurance company has expanded its customer base through mergers or acquisitions, its information may be even more fragmented. CRM in insurance starts with a single, complete, real-time enterprise view, so that call center representatives, agents and brokers can understand and serve every facet of individual customers. This level of holistic, personalized service can be the differentiating factor that retains good customers and reduces churnan important goal,

given that customer retention is profitable and new customer acquisition can be expensive. Retain Customers With Great Service Most insurance companies understand the virtues of a single, complete, real-time enterprise view of individual customers, and they have made great progress towards providing this view at customer touch-points throughout the enterprise. But it's critical to note that this view should not be regarded as an end in and of itselfrather, it is a rich foundation to be used as a basis for a deeper, more advanced level of customer understanding. Consider how foolish it would be to try to sell automobile insurance to someone who doesn't own a car. Without customer analysis and behavior prediction, this is exactly the quagmire that call center representatives, agents and brokers find themselves in every day. This advanced level of understanding is needed to help insurance companies predict customer behavior and align marketing, crossselling and upselling efforts accordingly. By making customer analysis and behavior prediction data immediately accessible at the desktop, sales efforts are optimized and customer loyalty is strengthened, as individual customers feel that their needs are understood and met in a way that is fast and convenient. Predicting customer behavior for improved sales efforts is a three-step process: Sum Profiling: Insurance companies first build a profile of information about customers who have previously exhibited a targeted behavior. Profiling requires rich customer data, including enterprise-wide transactional and behavioral data such as call center and account holdings information. Other data sources include key performance indicators and third-party demographics. An example of profiling might be building a profile for customers who bought new homeowners' insurance policies in the past two years. The goal is to determine characteristics to look for in future buyers. Sum Modeling: By using data mining on the profile information, analytics can uncover the most relevant characteristics of the customer segment being analyzed. For example, the most significant attributes of customers who bought homeowners' insurance are gleaned from the profile via the data mining application. Such characteristics comprise the model of customers most likely to purchase homeowners' insurance in the future. Sum Scoring: Insurance companies use predictive analytics to score existing customers by comparing them to the model. Those most closely matching the characteristics included in the model are most likely to exhibit the targeted behavior. Given the example above, an

insurance company can rate its customers numerically to indicate how closely they match the model of the person most likely to buy homeowners' insurance. Once customers are scored and the analysis pinpoints customers most strongly correlating with the model, an insurance company can address those customers, especially the top prospects. Customers scoring a nine or above might receive a special promotion for homeowners' insurance, while a separate, incentive-based offer might entice those scoring seven and above. Customer analysis and behavior prediction can also be used to identify life events and/or extended relationships, which can be highly useful in improving profitability from individual customers. For example, life events often trigger changes in insurance coverage that can be anticipated and leveraged with targeted offerings. You might identify health insurance policyholders who have recently had new children and offer them an attractive life insurance policy. Using a single, complete, real-time enterprise view coupled with customer analysis and behavior prediction, you may be able to identify good drivers among your auto policyholders who have children turning sixteen. It's time for a targeted offer to add the family's new driver to the policy. Control Costs While You Expand Business expansion presents many positive opportunities to insurance companies, including increased assets and broader geographic reach to new customers.So how does an insurance company grow without sacrificing profitability? The company at hand must offer the same level of superior service that its customers have come to expectwhile minimizing operational costs that, paradoxically, have the potential to spiral out of control, as the company begins to serve an augmented and growing customer base. The first key is to enable your agents, representatives and brokers to identify and spend the right amount on each opportunity. A high-value, low-risk customer, who carries policies over a long period and makes relatively low claims, is an ideal subject for marketing and sales efforts targeted at extending his or her portfolio. Call center representatives, agents and brokers need real-time access to this business intelligence, so they will know where to concentrate their efforts in the limited amount of time they have the customer's attention.The second key is to use the most cost-effective channels without sacrificing a high level of customer service. Call center, agents, email, phone and self-service portalshow can your employees determine which channels are the most efficient and cost-effective for different target audiences and desired behaviors? Again, using

customer analysis and behavior prediction, call center representatives, agents and brokers can target marketing and sales efforts through different channels depending on the target audience in question.Going one step further, new and advanced email response, Web chat and selfservice portal tools are drawing more and more customers to the Web each day, enabling a consistently high level of customer service while "pulling" customers to a communications medium which is much more cost-efficient than the phone. Particularly valuable are Web-based selfservice portals, which can function as a first and last point of contact and eliminate valuable time spent assisting a customer who can just as well assist him or herself. Finally, Web-based interactions tend to deliver on the holy grail of customer servicespeed and convenience. The third key is automation of the more mundane insurance business processes. Given the myriad systems in the insurance world claims, billing and policy systems, not to mention automobile, home, life and health insurance subsystems for each oneCRM systems in insurance will only add another layer of complexity, labor and expense if they are not pre-built to connect with legacy systems and automate the mundane work of keeping these systems updated. Automated, multi-step workflow capabilities are critical to minimizing these and other potential bottlenecks, such as the processing of trailing documents supporting a policy applicationdocuments like expert appraisals, doctor's statements and/or proof of student status. By automating mundane processes and removing the paper trail, call center agents, representatives and brokers are freed up to focus on the more strategic activitieslike servicing customers. Today's insurance companies certainly face a daunting challenge in maintaining and increasing their competitive edge. But by focusing on three key imperativesgaining a unified enterprise view of customers, retaining customers with great service and controlling costs while expandinginsurance companies can turn challenges into strategic competitive advantage and enhance their long-term viability and profitability.

Overview

Country: India Industry: Insurance Customer Profile AEGON Religare Life Insurance Company Limited, launched in July 2008, is a joint venture between AEGON, a leading life insurance and pension group and Religare, a diversified financial services group in India. Business Situation A new entrant in India, AEGON Religare did not have a customer management solution. To capture a dominant market share in the highly competitive insurance industry, the company required an efficient solution to manage customers through the entire lifecycle. Solution To accomplish its goals, AEGON Religare opted to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 with help from Religare Technova, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner. Benefits
  

Improves efficiency across branches Enhances customer satisfaction Provides greater customization

The solution creates an efficient working environment for us, and we are seeing the results in more satisfied customers. -Srinivasan Iyengar, Director - Information Technology & Change Mgt, AEGON Religare

Situation AEGON, one of the worlds largest life insurance and pension groups and Religare, one of Indias leading integrated financial services groups, have come together to launch AEGON Religare Life Insurance Company Limited. This venture is dedicated to build a firm future, both for customers and employees and will continue to balance a local approach with the power of an expanding global operation. The company launched its pan-India multi-channel operations in July, 2008 with over 25 branches spread across India. Its business philosophy is to help people plan their life better. It provides high quality advice to customers and offer superior customer service. In an industry first, AEGON Religare Life Insurance offers policy servicing on the phone via Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System by issuing the customer a T-Pin for authentication. It is also the first company to include the customers medical report in the policy kit. In a servicing industry, Lead Management and Case Management are the areas where a company has to concentrate more to make themselves different from others. The main objective for AEGON Religare was to automate its sales force, customer service, and reporting systems. Some of the other challenges faced by the company were:


Auto assignment of Lead to Direct Agency or Tied Agency as perdefined logic Servicing City mapping for assignment of Lead Pin Code mapping for assignment of Lead to Business Manager or Agent Sending alerts to user Escalation of mails of multiple Leads Incorporating Non-CRM users in a case Mapping Department with Assignment and escalation of the case Auto assigning cases to Non-CRM user There was a pressing need to incorporate certain processes. Elucidating the need for customer management solution, Srinivasan Iyengar, Director - Information Technology & Change Mgt, AEGON Religare says, Customer-focused strategies require CRM solution to help acquire customers thorough various touch points and translate operational data into actionable insights for proactively serving customers. As a result, the company decided to opt for a solution that would help it achieve competitive advantage.

 

    

Solution AEGON Religare considered a number of options and decided to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, supported by Religare Technova, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner. According to Srinivasan Iyengar, Our industry faces unique, multiple challenges such as high levels of customer churn; attaining net growth in customer base; selling more products to existing customers to improve profitability etc. Religare Technova which has in-depth understanding of the financial services industry and its demands is best suited to partner with us in our endeavour to streamline. The company selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as the base application for Lead Management, Service Management and Campaign Management. It also has the facility to customize and get maximum output in terms of day-to-day data, which can be used for MIS reports. The two important modules that were customized by the solution were:


Lead Management System: This is the most important system where the company interacts with prospects. To have better control, prompt action and outstanding service to the customer, a special logic is introduced in the Lead Management System, which will automatically allocate the nearest agent for each Lead. An allocation SMS alert is dispatched to the agent along with the client details. The leads can be generated by Web, internal portal, e-mail, SMS, phone or direct walk-in. Case Management System: The client base can be retained and also grown by solving issues as early as possible. In this system, cases automatically get assigned based on the reason type and severity. All case related activities are recorded in CRM Activities and have escalation as well. The user defined escalations play a significant role to follow and control the company process, and provide quick service to the customer. Cases can be raised by phone, e-mail, Web, or internal portal.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is designed specifically to meet the needs of client-facing staff of insurance companies, shares Srinivasan Iyengar. Some of the unique requirements addressed with the new solution were: Customer Service Automation, Lead Management, Case Management, and Campaign Management. Commenced in September 2007, the implementation was completed by February 2008. The solution was implemented at the companys office in Mumbai and access was extended across all locations. AEGON Religare deployed the Sale, Marketing, and Service modules. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, employees are better equipped to deliver highly personalized customer services and improve customer satisfaction. The company now has a solution that will support the teams growth for years to come.

Benefits Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 allowed AEGON Religare a granular view of its customers, helping the company to design better products, improve service levels and reduce operational costs significantly. Improves Efficiency Across Branches AEGON Religare has more than 50 branches across India where leads are assigned and cases addressed. Because of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, all leads are assigned automatically and every lead is attended based on the assignment matrix, says Srinivasan. In addition, agents get the assignment alerts along with client information, which ensures that services of all agents across India are properly utilized. Srinivasan says, With faster, automated processes on systems, employees can spend more time building customer loyalty. As a result, productivity has improved. Enhances Customer Satisfaction With a combination of easy-to-use customer interfaces and robust functionality, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 delivers quick and easy access to customer information. Clients can reach the company by all possible mediums like, direct walk-in, phone, e-mail and SMS. This intuitive access has improved both employee and customer satisfaction. The solution creates an efficient working environment for us, and we are seeing the results in more satisfied and successful customers, says Srinivasan Iyengar. Provides Greater Customization The solution also improves campaign management for AEGON Religare. It traps all promotional activities of the company. A custom made campaign, KILB Kum Insurance Lene Ki Bimari, was introduced by AEGON Religare and all leads were mapped with this promotion management tool. The response of the campaign was captured through Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. By this the company will able to know the impact of the promotion. In addition, all leads will be attached with the latest active campaign which will help company take monitory calls.

About Religare Technova Religare Technova Limited is the holding company for the IT business of a large diversified Indian transnational business group. The Religare Technova umbrella includes Religare Technova Global Solutions Ltd. (formerly Asian CERC Information Technology Ltd and Capital Market Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), a global leader in providing Enterprise Software Solutions to the Capital and Financial markets; Religare Technova IT Services Limited, which provides Enterprise IT Solutions and Religare Technova Business Intellect Ltd., which provides Knowledge Management Solutions. Currently with over 1500 employees and presence in over 10 countries, Religare Technova is poised to be a leader in the global IT space. The group entities have partnered with IT majors, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Internet companies to provide a broad spectrum of IT services, products and solutions to their customers. Religare Technova focuses on clients in key verticals such as Banking and Financial Services, Insurance, Capital Markets and Health Sciences.

Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on whats most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.