For many organisations data analytics has been improving business operation efficiency, optimizing processes, diminishing rate of human failures, market growth and customer retention.According to Sachin Dutta, COO, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company, data analytics with the right strategy, vision and appropriate utilization of resources has helped the company in drastic improvement in performance by enabling a robust & informed decision-making process and ultimately devising and delivering better products and services.
The insurance company believes that data analytics is a huge benefactor in the life insurance industry where the Insurers collect and assess large quantities of highly relevant data.
“The advancements in data analytics and its adoption has helped us transform varied aspects of business including but not limited to customer experience, customized product offering with faster time to market, fraud detection & prevention, enhanced and customised self-servicing options for our customers,” said Dutta.
Established in 2008, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Canara Bank, HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) and Punjab National Bank.
With data analytics, the insurer is also able to gain insights into sales practices and processes to improve profits, reduce redundant processes and optimise its resources with beneficial impact to its customers; hence maximizing overall performance and providing a tailor-made customer experience.
The company’s Bancassurance model of operations relies heavily on adoption of data analytics and enables it to size and seize relevant opportunities, offer customized products, adopt focused risk management practices, base past trends and ensure adoption & availability of convenient services.
“Data analytics helps us deep dive to predict various financial and customer outcomes; thereby helping us design suitable strategy basis such information. Furthermore, data analytics coupled with other progressive technologies like AI and ML, not only ensures customer delight but also provides competitive advantage thereby helping the Company gain more market share,” he added.
Talking about leveraging data, Dutta said one of the biggest and most inherent challenges in terms of data analytics for any organization is the quality of legacy data.
“This challenge is primarily due to the vast amount of unstructured or non-standard data stored in a plethora of legacy systems. As an organization, we have taken multiple steps to address these challenges,” Dutta maintained.
This includes: Standardisation of data structure across the systems coupled with adoption of micro-services based architecture and demise of legacy systems; Implementation of data dictionaries and validation at source and varied databases to ensure data consistency across systems; One time data quality assessment to ensure that the legacy data is standardised and in sync with the defined data dictionaries and data validation rules; Periodic quality monitoring of the data to ensure there are no exceptions to the standardized formats and models are proactively identified and addressed.
Countering bottlenecks using tech
Since the early 2020, the pandemic has been forcing the companies to re-look their business models and strategies. Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance also faced a few challenges but used technology to overcome them. These were in the areas of:
- Remote enablement of staff
- Re-alignment of the traditional face-to-face sourcing model to a digital and video-based sourcing leveraging on technologies like e-KYC, video verification and more.
- Focus and scale up of digital servicing avenues powered by ChatBots, Self Servicing IVRS, WhatsApp servicing, self servicing through online customer portal etc.
- Shift from traditional paper-based communications to digital communication powered by Customer Communication Management System and focus on new delivery of communications using SMS weblinks, WhatsApp communication etc.
- Digital workforce management powered by technology enabled centralized employee portal and app.
- Digital first employee reimbursement processes with built in controls, validations and approval matrix.
