Digital First
A key element of our strategic anchor (Aviva’s guiding philosophies) is ‘Digital First’, and Aviva puts Digital First because this is what customers and advisers expect. We should benefit from this ‘Digital First’ approach in Friends Provident International.
“Frankly, we would like to build more tools for financial advisers to make their life easier and help them add value to their customer relationships as well.” – Chris Wei, Executive Chairman of FPI and Global Chairman of Aviva Digital
From our research we know that there are many opportunities to employ digital, including making the basics easier, providing more functionality online, and offering new content in the form of products, services and rewards. Aviva and Friends Provident International are making progress towards this.
In Asia, Aviva has developed tools to help make the basics easier, for example the EzSnap app which helps advisers with document management, and the Sales Quotation System being re-developed for FPI Advisers which will move more functionality online.
Friends Provident International’s work on customer analytics can help inform new products and can be combined with Aviva’s experience of creating insightful propositions. For example, Aviva Poland has developed a new proposition to look after young professionals living alone in a big city; by combining health, accident and tenancy insurance in one cover, together with personal touches important to the customer such as looking after their pet if they are hospitalised.
In China, Aviva-COFCO, a joint venture, has launched a health and wellness platform to offer new digital services for customers; this includes the Chunyu Online Doctor, the first 24-hour online medical consultation service in China. And in the UK, Aviva is focusing on a digital platform where customers are given tailored offers and loyalty discounts.
To accelerate its Digital First mission, and to develop further revolutionary digital products and services, Aviva Group is launching a ‘Digital Garage’ in Singapore.
The Digital Garage
“The Singapore innovation centre is far more than a building – it’s a campus, where the best brains bring the best ideas and make them happen.” – Mark Wilson, Group Chief Executive Officer, Aviva plc
The ‘Digital Garage’ will be a dedicated space where technical specialists, creative designers and commercial teams explore, develop and test new insurance ideas and services. Housed in their own building, the space will support a different working style from traditional insurance offices; it will drive greater collaboration and project-based working, and encourage fresh thinking. Aviva has already established a Digital Garage in London, and the two Digital Garages will share expertise and insights across the world, meaning that you and your customers will benefit from global best practice.
“The UK and Singapore are at the forefront of digital innovation. It’s great news that Aviva are launching this digital hub, bringing together experts to develop new digital products and services to customers.” – UK Prime Minister David Cameron
In its capacity as a global and regional centre of digital, analytics and innovation excellence, the Digital Garage will bring together four functions:
• Innovation and New Business, who will make the best ideas happen.
• Digital Projects, who will solve customer and adviser pain points.
• Digital Businesses, who will bring real-world experience of helping customers.
• A wide range of collaborators, who will bring their respective expertise to the Digital Garage.
This last element of collaboration will provide us with an opportunity to work together on digital tests, to join up, share our experiences and attempt to solve issues you are facing. We’ll look forward to prototyping and road-testing ideas together. The aim? To help you better advise and help your customers.
Next time: the futureWe’ll be talking about this subject again next month in International Adviser so look out for that article. Next time we will be gazing into the future, attempting to predict how the digital landscape is likely to evolve and what this means for international life insurers.
By Philip Cernik, Friends Provident International and Edward Leigh, Aviva
