Denis St. Bernard, ContributorThe insurance industry like most other industries is beginning to feel the weight of globalisation. This article is designed to bring out some of the issues which were highlighted by some of the industry experts on this topic at the recently-concluded Insurance Association Conference held in Trinidad & Tobago.
One of the speakers, Gordon Deane, managing director of American Life & General Insurance Company (ALIGCO), alluded to the powerful force of technology which is driving the world towards a converging commonality. "The result of this is the new commercial reality the emergence of global markets for standardised consumer products on a previously unimagined scale or magnitude," said Mr. Deane.
In business, globalisation has pushed markets towards global commonality. Corporations sell standardised products in much the same way everywhere automobiles, chemicals, agricultural commodities and equipment, banking and insurance services, computers, electronic equipment anywhere in the world.
Success in business today depends on efficiency in production, distribution, marketing and management, and inevitably becomes focused on price and top of the line customer service.
One can see, even in the local context that globalisation/liberalisation gives the customer the ability to choose from a wide range of suppliers and allows him to change entirely his supplier paradigm.
Over the last decade the financial services and insurance industry has experienced unprecedented turbulence and change. Distribution, consolidations of financial services entities, technology and customer demands are some of the major factors that contribute to the reshaping of the entire insurance industry.
Customer service relationships then are critical to success in the new financial services environment. Technology has rapidly changed the face of the financial services industry to match the changing face of the consumer. Most consumers today are highly mobile and willing to use alternative distribution channels to obtain goods, especially if that channel delivers top-notch customer service.
Customer service can be described as the ability of an organisation to constantly and consistently give the customer what they want, need and expect. This definition goes beyond the traditional way we think about customer service and requires the entire organisation to pull together to achieve it.
At an organisational level customer service expectations can be fulfilled through customer friendly processes, employee commitment to customer service and customer dialogue.
Customer-friendly processes are either internally or externally focused, must assure the delivery of quality products, on time and at a competitive price. The customer wants to be able to purchase goods and services at affordable prices, have the ability to get quick responses to their queries, and the guaranteed satisfaction that their needs will be looked after and their expectations fulfilled.
For the insurance industry one important "customer friendly process" is the need to ensure that products are tailored to meet the customer's needs and wants. In order to ensure on-going excellence, these processes must be continuously evaluated to measure their effectiveness.
At the external level it is important that systems are put in place to ensure that the customer finds it easy to do business with an organisation. How organisations respond to the customer after the sale is critical to retaining that customer. For tangible products the after sales support should be dedicated to making the customer's use of the product a satisfying experience.
Denis St. Bernard is an insurance & marketing consultant. he is also the co-host of Risky Business a radio programme which deals with risk and insurance business.
Taken from the Sunday Gleaner
