IRDAI Chairman TS Vijayan has urged insurance intermediaries such as insurance agents and brokers to leverage technology to grow their business. He was speaking at an industry event held recently in Mumbai.
He asked insurance companies to develop technology for their distributors to increase the penetration of insurance in India. He said that instead of developing technology, which focusses on boarding new customers directly, the industry should focus on creating a technology to help existing distribution force to grow business. Simply put, the industry needs high tech distributors who use technology to take care of their back-office work and spend maximum time on acquiring new clients, he said.
“Even if technology is adopted extensively, insurance products distribution needs a ‘human touch’. However, one has to understand that the agent requirement and growth depends on the company’s growth strategy,” Vijayan said.
He further said that unlike other commodities where people do research offline and buy it online, he has observed that people do research online and buy insurance policies offline.
“The insurance industry has grown manifold over the years. It has over 20 lakh agents. To sustain this growth number, the industry needs to strengthen its distribution network and what is better than equipping them with technology,” said Vijayan.