Union Assurance has been actively pursuing digitalization initiatives. Could you share the overall digital vision driving the organization?
We have three pillars in our digital transformation journey: digitizing the customer experience, creating a holistic customer value proposition, and implementing a bionic distribution model.
Digitizing the Customer Experience: From the outset, we recognized the importance of meeting our customers’ evolving needs in the digital age. By being the first insurer to enable 100% digital proposal submissions, we streamlined the process for our customers, making it faster and more convenient. The introduction of the Clicklife platform revolutionized self-service and engagement, transforming the way our customers interact with us.
Creating a Holistic Customer Value Proposition: Our focus on catering to the needs of Millennials and Gen Z has driven us to develop a one-stop shop for Life Insurance that supports the well-being of customers within the Clicklife platform. Understanding the importance of health consciousness and overall well-being for these generations, we have integrated wellness and rewards to encourage healthy behavior into our ecosystem. By promoting a healthy lifestyle through our app, we aim to offer our customers not just Life Insurance coverage but also a path to more fulfilling lives. In Sri Lanka, lifestyle related factors pose significant health challenges. To address this, we enhanced the Clicklife App with an innovative fitness solution that combines calorie counting and physical activity tracking. By setting fitness goals and rewarding healthy choices, we motivate our customers to improve their physical well-being. The app’s AI-powered calorie counter makes it easy for users to track their intake, providing comprehensive support for maintaining a healthy diet.
Furthermore, our fully digital rewards system complements our healthy lifestyle initiatives. Customers can earn points for their healthy habits and redeem them through digital vouchers at over 85 partner merchants. This seamless rewards system ensures that our customers enjoy the benefits of their efforts in a diverse range of ways.
Implementing a Bionic Distribution Model: Empowering our insurance advisors is integral to our success. Our bionic distribution model, combines digital technologies with personalized human interactions. We understand that customers often switch channels during their journey, so we equip our advisors with digital tools for comprehensive financial needs analysis, mobile and tabletbased point-of-sale solutions, and digital marketing content. This enables them to provide a seamless experience that caters to our customers’ preferences at every stage of their journey.
What challenges did you encounter during the digitalization process, and how did the team overcome them to ensure a smooth and successful implementation?
One of the key challenges in our digital transformation journey was the modernization of our legacy systems. This step was crucial in establishing a strong foundation for our digital initiatives. Our efforts in this area were recognized by Celent, a renowned research and advisory firm in the financial services industry. They featured Union Assurance as a model insurer, emphasizing the significance of replacing legacy systems for digitizing key business processes and highlighting the value that these initiatives bring despite the reluctance of many insurance companies to embark on such lengthy transformation journeys.
Another challenging area was the human aspect. Just like in any other company, transforming our staff towards digitalization presented its own set of difficulties at the onset. Some demographic segments of the country were new to this digital shift, and the digital maturity of our staff, customers, and advisors varied, posing a challenge. To overcome these obstacles, we proactively created awareness and education initiatives. Additionally, we provided robust support through a comprehensive change management program, equipping our team with the necessary skills and mindset to embrace digital transformation successfully.
Could you shed light on Union Assurance’s approach to ensure compliance with data protection regulations?
We have given the highest priority to information security and the privacy of our customer data. Union Assurance stands as one of Sri Lanka’s initial Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance Companies to achieve ISO 27001 certification. This certification ensures the safeguarding of customer data and information assets. We have implemented the baseline requirements for compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act and are in the process of adopting ISO 27701 privacy information management system controls, which is in line with GDPR and other international standards to further enhance customer data security.
Looking ahead, what future digitalization initiatives or advancements is Union Assurance considering to further enhance the service experience for its customers?
As we look to the future, our focus will be on continuous innovation within the Clicklife platform. We aim to strengthen its capabilities as a one-stop shop for life insurance, going beyond traditional insurance services to becoming a lifelong partner catering to the needs of Millennials and Gen Z.
Advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a central role in enhancing the customer experience and driving operational efficiencies. We will harness the power of advanced analytics to identify the right customers and their protection gaps, at the right time in their journey, streamline underwriting and claims processes through touchless automation, provide personalized product recommendations to our customers and optimize performance management through effective forecasting.
While strengthening our bionic agency distribution capabilities, we will also establish new digital channels and partnerships aimed at improving accessibility across all communities in Sri Lanka and providing financial security through a shared value approach.
At Union Assurance, we believe in delivering value that goes beyond financial protection, by offering our customers the tools and support they need to lead enriched lives. Our vision remains steadfast – to be at the forefront of digital transformation and innovation in the insurance industry, while always keeping the needs and aspirations of our customers at the heart of everything we do.