Insurance companies need to innovate to build customer relationships: Tapan Singhel

By: Tapan Singhel CEO & MD, BAJAJ ALLIANZ GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY

One of my obsessions is to know what the customer wants and how we can deliver the best results. Initially, our focus was to be the first among peers on delivery and keep pushing the benchmark. So, if the general trend in the industry was to settle claims in three months, we would do it in one. When others followed, we brought it down to a week, then three days and, finally, to one day. Then I happened to look at some statistics and figures, and realised that the industry, including us, was spending a lot of time and effort on incremental changes and wondered whether these moves really made a difference to the customer. I started meeting customers and the consensus was that while an early claim settlement was appreciated, the focus should be more on simplifying the claims process.


During interactions, I also realised that customers can bring to your notice improvisations that you may have failed to observe, but placing a lot of emphasis only on what they want could also destroy a company’s ability to innovate and be different. So, if you aim to redefine or transform your business to give the customer a ‘wow’ experience, you need to push boundaries and do the unexpected. I always tell my team that for us we have to think about ‘relationships beyond insurance’. Now, that’s what we do: strike a fine balance between the two segments for a holistic approach to the growth of the company.



Fundamentally, a customer knows what he wants from the current scenario, but may not be aware of the possible innovations in this space. This is where we have to step in as professionals, as people who live by their brands and industry day in and day out. Nobody else can come up with better solutions and innovations to enhance the customer experience.

With our past innovations we have been able to achieve customer satisfaction beyond expectations. However, we don’t believe in basking in the glory of our past laurels. We don’t think of innovation as a race, we believe it is a journey. Today, an innovation hardly lasts seven to eight months and is quickly replaced by another. So the journey is all about asking oneself ‘What next?’