FWD eyes B500m for tech enhancements
FWD Life Insurance Thailand plans to invest 500 million baht over the next three years for technology development and customer base expansion for double-digit business growth.
In March, the company announced a target to increase its customers from the current 800,000 to 1.6 million in the next three years.
Chief technology and operations officer Apirak Chitranondh said IT investment over the next three years is aimed at developing technology to optimise the business value chain with agile methodology and deliver personalised customer experience through a customer service centre and touchpoints.
“Agile methodology is adopted to manage projects and deliver specific segment products, services and marketing campaigns that best serve their needs,” Mr Apirak said.
He said this will help customers with self-servicing in terms of coverage planning, reduce workflows and support insurance agents and marketing teams in a flexible and sustainable manner.
There are currently 36,000 insurance agents working for FWD Thailand. The company had total premiums of 20 billion baht in 2017, up 20% year-on-year.
In the future, IT innovations can help deliver prime experiences to customers in all value chains such as products and services proposition, underwriting, premium payment and after-sale services, Mr Apirak said.
When this occurs, insurance agents will shift their role towards becoming coaches for customers, he said.
The company’s IT investment is targeted at achieving five insurance capabilities: enablement, experience, deliverable, quality and efficiency.
Mr Apirak said IT will help customers access their insurance policy information more easily.
Paying insurance premiums, changing or updating customer profiles and insurance policy information, and making online insurance claims are aspects of the customer experience that technology will enhance, he said.
Insurance agents, meanwhile, will be trained to become professionals providing a clear explanation and use corporate tools to give advice to customers with greater efficiency, Mr Apirak said.
FWD Thailand will also use big data and customer analytics to inspect information and improve the company’s service quality and prevent defects from occurring.