By Swatil Binte Mahmud, Blogger, Lava Protocols
The insurance industry in Malaysia first started in the 18th century and the industry really took off only in the 1950s. Strong demand for insurance of vehicles, property, health, and other insurances across Malaysia is driving the revenues of insurance companies in the country. Growing life expectancy, tax incentives on insurance products, favorable savings associated with insurance are further encouraging the customers across insurance segments.
One of Lava Protocols’ clients is a global leader in insurance and investments. With more than 100,000 employees worldwide, the insurance leader is committed to protect and improve the lives of millions of its customers across many countries and continents. Their outstanding performance has earned this insurance leader many recognitions as a leading brand in the industry.
Malaysia’s insurance industry is facing stiff competition as the insurance companies not only compete among themselves, but also compete with the risk retention groups, government, and self-insurance. As competition is getting tougher, Lava Protocols’ client was facing some internal challenges that they needed to address to retain their competitive edge in the market.
Primary Challenge
The insurance agents had to carry out the task of manually submitting hard copies of insurance applications and relevant documents which were filled up by customers to the headquarters. This traditional method proved to be inefficient and time-consuming for two main reasons. The first being employees had to spend an unnecessary amount of time consolidating and validating data from hard copy applications. This second – risks of data inaccuracies and data loss due to the manual entry of data from hard copy application forms to the system.
Secondary Challenge
The second challenge but a crucial one nonetheless stems from the client’s traditional payment approach. New customers had to use cash for their first payment. This was not a viable approach as it became a hassle for customers, agents, and employees based in the HQ to be transacting in hard cash, especially in cases where the insurance premium is high. Imagine doing that currently in the midst of the pandemic where increased physical distancing and minimizing unnecessary travel is the emphasis of the day.
Lava Protocols solved our client’s challenges with the help of Salesforce as the client is an existing customer of Salesforce with custom applications and processes built into it.
Solution for Primary Challenge
Lava Protocols leveraged Salesforce Community Cloud to build a customized insurance application management portal. With the portal, data submission by customers is synced with the client’s Salesforce system and consequently to their back-office application. The portal also provides agents with a central repository to download the Application Form, and other required document templates which were manually uploaded by the client’s employees in the HQ.
The highlight of having this portal is that agents were able to do away with manual submissions and instead create online application records for all of their opportunities and even submit their customer’s insurance application forms along with the necessary documents.
Lava’s business analysts held ‘train the trainers’ training sessions with the client’s representatives. These sessions were aimed at coaching internal trainers who are well-equipped to train their own agents on the usability of the portal.
Solution for Secondary Challenge
Lava Protocols integrated an online payment system with the insurance application portal and Salesforce system. The insurance application portal was integrated with a trusted payment gateway. The integration resulted in users being directed to the payment gateway when a payment was made. Once the payment transaction is complete, data is sent to our client’s Salesforce system and consequently to their back-office application.
With this integration enabled, the payment process became hassle-free, faster, and provided greater transaction transparency. As a result of the implementation, their agents and employees alike were able to experience fewer administrative tasks, eliminate possibilities of data inaccuracy and data loss, and have a more efficient application approval and payment cycle.
Over 150,000 companies, both big and small, are growing their business with Salesforce. Lava Protocols provides consultation and cloud technology solutions using world-class platforms. Your company can achieve a competitive edge using cloud computing technology and applications too! Let Salesforce and Lava Protocols together bring you solutions to empower and transform your businesses.
Lava Protocols is an authorized Salesforce Partner. Want to manage a remote sales team? Drop us an email to schedule your demo: hello@lavaprotocols.com.