Srinivasan Parthasarathy, CEO of Go Digit Life Insurance, shares the company’s long-term strategies to differentiate itself from competitors:
Ravi Lalwani: The vision of Digit Life Insurance is to make life insurance simple. What are some things that need to be done to simplify life insurance for Indians?
Srinivasan Parthasarathy: Digit’s primary goal has always been to simplify insurance, including life insurance. However, we understand that there is a significant gap in customer knowledge regarding life insurance. As a result, our focus will be to bridge that gap. We aim to provide transparency and knowledge throughout the value chain, from distribution to the customer end. We will also offer products that have meaningful benefits and assist customers in the long run. The entire process will be digitally enabled, making the journey faster and smoother for customers as well as their families who may be claimants later. We believe that if we reduce the knowledge gap in life insurance, the purchasing process will be more informed, leading to simplified policy servicing and claims in the future.
You are focusing on group life insurance products currently. What gaps in this segment are you trying to fill?
We started our operations with group products, leveraging our established partnerships to grow our business. However, we’re also working on retail products that offer a deep level of customization based on individual needs. Our tech platform includes a lot of optional benefits and various unique add-ons, as well as flexible payout options with varying sum assured selections. While this is time-consuming to build, we believe it’s worth it to provide the best experience for our customers.
For retail customers specifically, we’re developing a data-backed assistive buying and selling model to recommend the best products for their needs and avoid overwhelming them with too many choices. Our focus is on offering high returns and high life protection, rather than low-real-value products that may be more lucrative for our short-term book building.
Ultimately, our goal is to empower our customers with knowledge and provide them with the best possible solutions for their specific needs.
The life insurance segment is already very crowded. How are you planning to differentiate yourself from others?
Our main goal is to prioritize our customers and ensure that we provide real value to them in all our efforts. By doing so, we can set ourselves apart from our competitors in the long run. We will have to make strategic decisions regarding our products and underwriting that will enable us to build our company for the future. While doing so, we understand that there is a fine line between creating lucrative products and ones that provide real value. Our focus will be to bridge the knowledge gap for our customers, so they can make an informed decision and choose value over lucrativeness.
Our purchase and claiming process will be fully digitized and streamlined. We will eliminate any redundant processes in the system and use APIs wherever possible to provide a seamless experience to our customers.
In today’s scenario, what is vital to maintain stable and sustainable growth in the long run?
As a new life insurer, our focus should be on developing products that provide customers with significant benefits, aided by an easy and streamlined buying process at every step. To achieve this goal, we need to conduct extensive research and consistently communicate with our customers. This approach will attract more customers who will remain loyal to us in the long run, ensuring sustainable growth for our business. However, we need to be patient and understand that the process is time-consuming, as product development and introducing newer products to the market takes time.
What are the top 3 areas where you see AI & ML making a difference in the insurance industry?
AI and ML are revolutionizing the way enterprises operate, leading to greater efficiency and productivity. By fully integrating these technologies into their ecosystem, companies can offer their customers better services and experiences. With ML, repetitive tasks can be automated, freeing up resources and increasing efficiency. Additionally, customer service can be improved through the use of bots and self-service models, which can handle most queries quickly and accurately. Even the insurance industry is starting to explore the potential benefits of AI-enabled underwriting models for more accurate risk selection. While these technologies are still in their early stages, they have the potential to transform the way businesses operate and interact with their customers.
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