2019 eTrading Q&A: Transfer of the LV business has been a real success story for Allianz

 What is your reaction to Allianz QuoteSME receiving a four-star rating from brokers in this year’s Insurance Times Etrading survey? 

At this time we are still awaiting the detailed outputs of the survey, but I am pleased with a top 3 position overall and a 4-star rating.

Combined with securing the Insurance Times best extranet award in September 2018, Allianz is in a strong position upon which we will continue to build.

I am looking forward to seeing the detailed broker feedback to gain additional insights.

In the eTrading survey amongst 761 brokers, we found that on average brokers wait half a day or more for an etrade referral to be cleared, what efforts are generally being made to speed up the referral process?

I understand for brokers that this process can be quite challenging, they are trying to deal with things efficiently, particularly with small cases, and clear referrals as quickly as possible.

We have a proactive business model in place, meaning brokers can contact us via email, phone or by our live chat functionality – it’s their choice. We also make outbound calls to support our e-trading activity.

We have seen an increase in the use of live chat over the last year and it is something we continue to invest heavily in. We know brokers value the immediate response and the audit trail this creates for them as well.

In terms of broker contact, we continue to underpin our e-trade platform with access to expert underwriters.

We found in the 2019 eTrading survey the increasing desire from brokers to work with insurers who are able to offer data enrichment options. Is there anything you can tell us about the plans you have in place or may be working on for the future?

Data enrichment is key to success in an e-trade environment. Allianz has already made significant investments in this area and will continue to do so.

At the end of 2017 we launched Average Free Live, which uses data enrichment to proactively inform brokers at the point of quote that their customer may be underinsured. We know underinsurance is a key issue, particularly for SME customers, and where brokers amend sums insured following our feedback, they are increased by 32% on average. In this way we use data to add real value to both brokers and SME customers.

 What has stood out to you in the previous year and what targets are you setting for the year ahead?

I would have to say that the transfer of the LV business has been a real success story for Allianz and we are proud to have delivered a change of that scale with relatively little impact upon our day to day trading.

I would also highlight the success of our 5 star Defacto Complete Mini Fleet product, which has been exceptionally well received by brokers.

The e-trade digital environment is constantly evolving and therefore so must we. Key for me is ensuring our core propositions continue to evolve, as well as looking at new opportunities to broaden our product suite and market offering further.

We will continue to be front and centre of new developments in this area and I look forward to sharing more detail with you later in the year!