Etrading Q&A: Allianz etrading success fuelled by platform enhancements

The Insurance Times Etrading Survey 2020 is now open to brokers. While the survey is live, we will be speaking to a wide variety of insurers and software houses that are involved in the survey, to discuss the progress made over the last year as well as what future developments will benefit brokers.

Here, we speak to digital trading manager Julie Tongue, from Allianz, on the topical service factors being investigated in our annual etrading survey.

One of these service areas is usability and trading ease. What developments have been made in this area over the last 12 months that benefits brokers?

This year we’ve successfully managed the completion of the LV= migration, which was a major piece of work for both Allianz and LV=.

Whilst that’s been taking place we have continued to make enhancements to ensure that brokers are getting the best experience possible when using our QuoteSME platform. We’ve made clauses and conditions more visible for brokers and following feedback from brokers we’ve made improvements to the search functionality, resulting in brokers being able to quickly access the correct information. We’re really pleased to have already received positive comments about these changes.

We constantly review broker feedback and are always looking to innovate and improve the usability and ease of trading with our digital platforms.

A service area being investigated in the ‘Insurance Times Etrading Survey 2020’ is around quotability. Please can you tell us what developments have been made in this area that benefits brokers?

We constantly review our processes and products, and quotability has been a key area of focus and development in 2019. The use of AI and machine learning is allowing us to understand those risks presented to us in more detail and identifying where we can improve our processes.

We’ve made improvements to reduce the number of barriers to trade and in turn increase the volume of straight through processing.

Whilst there may be instances where straight through processing does not occur, brokers can contact qualified underwriters at our Small Business Teams in a variety of ways, including by phone and live chat, to discuss further,

A service area being investigated in the ‘Insurance Times Etrading Survey 2020’ is around the quality of support provided to brokers online, please can you tell us what developments have been made in this area over the last 12 months that benefits brokers?

We continually look at the quality of support we can provide to brokers online to optimise the digital journey. We have made enhancements to our live chat functionality to ensure brokers are able to make contact with our qualified underwriters more quickly.

 A service area being investigated in the ‘Insurance Times Etrading Survey 2020’ is around the ‘quality & number of questions asked’ to brokers. Please can you tell us what developments have been made in this area over the last 12 months that benefits brokers?

Whilst the 2019 Insurance Times E Trading Survey highlighted that brokers were pleased with the number of questions asked by Allianz, this is something we continue to review to ensure that brokers get a streamlined experience. We are constantly looking to access new sources of data to support our online journeys and provide customers certainty in their moments of need.

A service area being investigated in the ‘Insurance Times Etrading Survey 2020’ is around the Breadth of cover & product range being provided to brokers and their customers over the last 12 months. Please can you tell us what developments have been made in this area over the last 12 months that benefits brokers?

Allianz SME products have once again achieved a five star Defaqto rating, demonstrating we provide the level of cover to meet our customer’s needs. Within the last 12 months we have improved our legal expenses offering with Allianz Legal Expenses and continue to monitor the needs of our customers alongside societal and technological changes.

Our focus last year has been on improving internal processes and therefore may not be as tangible to brokers, however the changes we have made in the background will enhance the overall experience brokers will receive.

We’re really looking to make some more changes in 2020 and will be sharing details on this throughout next year.