| Cover | Insight Story | |
june-july, 2020 | The Health
13
Early digitalisation pays
off for AXA AFFIN
Adapting to the work from home concept has proven to be
seamless as it went digital in 2018
By Khirtini K Kumaran
When the Movement
Control Order (MCO) was
implemented in March,
many companies were
in a whirl trying to adapt
to the lockdown. Most of
them were having a hard
time getting their staff
to change to the Work From Home (WFH)
concept, which has since become the new
normal.
But not for AXA AFFIN Life Insurance
Berhad. That’s because two and a half
years ago, the company had embraced
digitalisation and introduced and adapted
an agile working environment. By going
agile in 2018, AXA AFFIN added options of
WFH and flexible working hours.
Its CEO Rohit Chandrasekharan Nambiar
said the early transition to being agile had
prepared it to adapt its operations and
business to the MCO period with less hassle.
But, obviously weren’t prepared for such a
prolonged period.
“We are used to the agile environment.
Everyone owns a laptop, and there are also
softphones to facilitate those who WFH. You
can reach me at my desk phone and equally
on my mobile. I carry my office wherever I
go,” he told The Health.
As for staff productivity for those who
WFH, he said it very much depended on
the individual. Some were more productive
due to the time saved from travelling to and
from home while others did less work in a
home environment.
AXA AFFIN was the first insurer in
Malaysia to fully embrace the strategy of
going digital and as such, is a pioneer in
integrating automation and digitalisation
into its business. It has been able to build
a robust online presence and platform to
distribute its products and services.
“We are No 1 in digital life and health
insurance in Malaysia,” Rohit said.
AXA AFFIN recently organised a Covid-19
crowdfunding campaign and collected
close to RM70,000 from the public,
employees and agents.
This is an achievement for the company,
considering that it is ranked the seventh
biggest life insurer in the country. It was
incidentally, the fastest growing life insurer
in Q1 2020 achieving a growth rate of 158 per
cent.
AXA AFFIN offers consumers the option
to purchase directly from the company,
either through a phone call or digitally via
the website by providing customers with
comfortable digital experience. A consumer
can buy a health insurance product online
from the company in less than ten minutes.
“We have made it exceptionally simple,
and everything is digital,” Rohit explained.
Customers would only need to answer
three underwriting questions and if need
be, can contact the company via chatbot
or make a call. Its medical card is available
on an app, and the claims and policies are
available for download at the customer
portal.
While AXA AFFIN’s digital business has
been growing actively, it has not been at the
expense of its traditional agency business.
“For a long time, many people have
“We are No 1
in digital life
and health
insurance in
Malaysia.
We have
made it
exceptionally
simple, and
everything is
digital.”
treated digital as a threat to the agency.
I’m of the view that digital is the biggest
complementary asset that an agent can have
today.”
In the first year, the digital business was
launched, 27 per cent of new agent business
came from the digital leads provided by the
company.
“Our digital business grew over 100 per
cent while our agency business also grew
about 20 per cent last year,” Rohit revealed,
adding it was a win-win situation for both
sides.
According to him, AXA AFFIN’s vision
was to become the preferred health
and protection insurer for millennials
in Malaysia. To reach out to Malaysian
millennials, the company tapped into
mobile language.
It offered health and life insurance
products priced just the cost of a postpaid
and prepaid mobile recharge. Numbers
showed that 90 per cent of customers who
bought insurance from the company last
year were millennials.
Making customers healthier
Prioritising the customers, AXA AFFIN was
working to move away from being just a
payer to that of a partner.
“Typically, in health insurance, it is
always about paying a claim. However, as
a health insurer, we must go beyond just
paying out claims,” said Rohit.
As such, it introduced two programmes
last year. The Fitter Me programme offered
customers a 24 per cent discount on their
premium the following month if they did an
average 10,000 walking steps daily. If they
walked 6,000 steps, they would get a 12 per
cent discount.
The Better Me programme, on the other
hand, required customers to undergo a ninemonth
health transformation programme.
It included a psychologist, nutritionist and a
health coach. If clients hit all the goals after
nine months, AXA AFFIN would remove the
loading fee and put them back to the regular
premium.
“These are an example of us working
with customers, making them healthier
rather than just providing money when they
are not healthy.”
On the current Covid-19 pandemic,
Rohit acknowledged it had brought more
awareness towards insurance. According to
him, three reasons triggered people to buy
insurance.
The first was a change in lifestyle habits,
the second was encountering an incident
around them such as a close friend or family
member’s illness or health and thirdly, a
national occurrence such as a catastrophe or
pandemic.
On the pandemic, AXA AFFIN recently
organised a Covid-19 crowdfunding
campaign and collected close to RM70,000
from the public, employees and agents.
The fund would be used to procure
personal protective equipment (PPE) and
given to hospitals. Apart from that, the AXA
Group was also providing funding directly to
selected hospital ICUs in over 60 countries,
including four hospitals in Malaysia.
Commenting on the prospects for the
Malaysian life insurance market, Rohit said
the penetration rate was just 55 per cent
currently and thus has room for growth.
Malaysia also had a strong demand due
to the availability of local talent, having
relatively cheaper costs than say Singapore
or Hong Kong and even geographical
connectivity.
“If there is an insurtech or fintech or
someone who has Southeast Asia ambitions,
they could use Malaysia as a starting point
and later scale up to other places.” — The
Health