A transparent deal for policyholders

The last time you bought an insurance policy, how convinced were you by the sales pitch the agent made? Did you really believe that it was ‘the’ product you wanted and it will perform as the agent promised?

No? But then you still signed for the policy to shoo away the agent from making another visit to your office. This is what most people do and later complain of the product being mis-sold.

Thanks to technology,things are changing. ICICI Prudential’s new initiative ensures a transparent deal for policyholders. The company is giving its big distributors a tablet that is loaded with the application- NEO.

The agent is asked to take the tablet with him when he meets the prospect and the new interactive platform makes the sales pitch. NEO takes the prospective consumer through multiple steps before concluding on the product that fits his needs.

The ‘big’ plus of the application is that a consumer can view the product literature and performance then and there and make a decision; there is no room for ‘false’ promises or mis-guidance by the agent.

Detailed ‘need’ analysis

The application starts with analysing the needs of the customer. It first asks him to prioritise his financial goals from a given list. This includes choosing from options such as life protection, building a retirement fund, investing for a child’s education/marriage and wealth building. The app also gets customer details like his stage in life -meaning single or married, if married with small or grown-up children and also his life expectancy, anticipation on inflation and returns he wants to make from the investment. It then builds it into its calculation for helping him pick the right product.

For customers who are less savvy the application has built-in calculators that help.

Once the product is chosen, the customer can view complete details about the product. So, one can look up details of a fund’s past performance, NAV history, etc. Note that in the off-line mode, the customer gets to read the product literature only after signing-in.

Pay in a click

The customer can fill his personal details in the application form online. It also has an in-built scanner that can be used to scan and upload documents such as address, income proof and PAN card immediately. The customer’s photo too can also be instantly taken and uploaded.

Also, as you select the product and opt to buy it, you will get to know immediately if your application is accepted or not. In the off-line mode, the agent takes the papers of the clients with his health declarations to the underwriter and it takes a few days before the application screening process is completed.

Paying for the policy too can happen right away. The tablet has a POS (point of sale) device with it. So all you need to do is to swipe your card in the device and make the payment. However, you get a period of 15 days to refuse your policy.

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