Business

Agents or Brokers are back-bone of Insurance Industry across the world and India is no exception. Agent and Brokers are the Feet on Street besides Eyes and Ears (also known as ground level under-writers) for Insurance companies. Not only they educate about insurance products but also deliver the Insurance policy, they explain the Coverage / Inclusions / Exclusions to the end consumers.

Traditionally, Agents did a great job, but now Corporate Agents / Brokers have taken the mantle of spreading the word of Insurance around, Brokers are working hand-in-hand with Insurance companies to present solutions asked by High End Consumers & Corporate. Indian economy is changing fast, thus there is a huge demand of new Insurance products to manage the global exposure of Indian companies. The growth of Indian IT / ITes companies, expansion of Financial Services and double digit growth in Aviation, Mining, Manufacturing and Exports have put pressure on intermediaries like Direct Brokers and Re-Insurance Brokers to come-out with better & Apt Risk Covers (ARC).

Insurance Brokers, just cant give plain vanilla , off-the-shelf solutions because one is representing customer unlike the Agent who works for an Insurance company. Producers / Staff working with Insurance Brokers, will have to keep abreast with changing times of Indian Insurance Market. The Brokers must remain engaged in learning process of new solutions and will have to maintain a good relationship with Underwriters and Account Managers of all Insurance companies to ensure “Real-time Service”. New changes are seen particularly in the distribution side of Insurance. Agents and Brokers are becoming much more savvier to reach End-customers by using latest IT enabled Marketing and Management tools viz :

a) Direct Marketing (DM) – Mailers
b) Co-brand Marketing
c) Tele-Marketing
d) Web Based Marketing
e) Email Marketing &
f) Data-base Marketing

The Insurance distribution is no more old “Feet-on-Street” (FOS), Agency Model but has become sophisticated and effective, thereby reducing Cost of Acquisition (COA).
I am convinced that in coming times we will see more players ; more products and more ways of distribution and that will herald a golden era for Indian Insurance. Perhaps that time the perspective will change and so will the writings on Indian Insurance.