Aegon Life's quality management principles were recently recognized at the Indian Service Quality Awards 2016, as ‘Best Service Quality Program’. But how exactly do you achieve such an accolade in the competitive world of insurance?
The jury evaluated initiatives such as the company's customer charter, which promises a high level of commitment and standardization in terms of service. For instance, a commitment to call back every missed call, and resolve complaints within a stipulated time.
The charter also commits Aegon Life to resolving issues, and if they fail, the customer is entitled to compensation. And, lastly, customers can even take any queries or complaints directly to the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. R Sankaranarayanan, if they are not satisfied with a complaint resolution or want to escalate the matter.
Results have been achieved through holding various customer-engagement initiatives and acting on the feedback, as well as empowering all employees to address customer needs. Ongoing customer-oriented initiatives include:
- Customer Service Charter - established in October 2014
- Service Buddy Program – a personalized service for more than 1,100 customers who meet income and policy premium levels, which entitles them to a dedicated customer representative
- Selfie with Customers – since November 2014, employees from every department and at every level, meet with customers face to face, to hear their likes and dislikes, and wrap up their meeting with a friendly selfie! So far 12 such events have been held involving feedback from around 200 customers
- Big Customer Day – This event is carried out across the entire country on a single day as an institutionalized version of the Selfie with Customers. To date around 10,000 customers have been involved in this popular activity
- Customer License Program – this global Aegon initiative focuses on employees' customer centricity, and tasks all employees, no matter what level they hold in the organization, to put the customer first. In India, seven members of the management team were the first to complete the program, 'graduating' in December 2015
- Service Camps for Customers – These 'service camps', promoted on Twitter, bring experts to various cities to help customers with their financial questions – and offer the opportunity to win various prizes
Mr K. S. Gopalakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Aegon Life said, "This journey, with customer centricity at the core of our philosophy and strategy, will help us convert many more customers into our Brand advocates. For us, Customer centricity is a key metric that we track in order to gain competitive advantage. We will continue to keep customers at the core of our business."
