Online innovation brings huge strides forward in digital adviser technology

A digital innovation, eApp Share is allowing AIA to gain higher submission rates, faster turnaround while maintaining strong customer relations.

Monday, September 14th 2020, 3:48PM

by Daniel Smith

When New Zealand went into the first lockdown, AIA settled into a period of big business and even bigger change. Since then, innovation and technology have reshaped the way that the business functions.

AIA distribution executive Sam Tremethick told Good Returns that like a lot of industries AIA took a hit in the April/May period, but quickly bounced back to a point where “year on year as of today we are doing better than this time last year”.

Tremenick attributes the rise in the insurance business to “a direct result of people being more risk averse than normal and just being conscious of the need for protection”. But along with a rise in business came a chance to reshape their processes for the company that during lockdown shifted to being almost 100% of staff working from home.

AIA chief customer officer Sharron-Moana Botica said that during lockdown, figuring out how to support advisors was key. “In August last year we launched our new online platform AIA hub into the New Zealand market. But when you have a digital tool you always need to be enhancing it. So this latest development is what we call eApp Share.”

eApp Share is a tool that may prove revolutionary for advisers. Botica said that the digital program “was developed in response to feedback from advisers who wanted to continue the collaborative process of filling out an application.” Collaboration is key to the program which allows the adviser to push out documents to the client, the client to fill out the disclosures in their own time, and for the conversation to continue between client and advisor during the entire process.

Moving the processes online have also meant huge strides forward in narrowing down margins of error. While paper applications have a 30% error rate, the eApp Share program’s internal validation systems have managed to remove the bulk of these errors. This is because the system prompts users to submit accompanying information and the forms show where information is required before they can be submitted.

It has also increased speed, whereas paper applications took around five days, the digital system has no such reliance on printing, scanning and signing. Typically it takes customers between 10-30 mins to complete their part of the eApp form.

Botica says as well as improving the customer experience, eApp Share has aided AIA internal systems. “It helps us to look at what are the types of disclosure that are coming through. We can do a lot of analytics on our underwriting and the types of question sets that we use.”

With 75-80% of applications now processed through the eApp system it looks like it is here to stay. On whether we could see AIA moving to a 100% eApp system any time soon Botica said that “we are in conversation with their advisers on the ground. Becoming more digital is part of our future, not only in the business space but also in our servicing and claims side.”

Tags: AIA