Episode 3 - Rabi Sankar Pandia, Bharat Lokchandani, Divyani Srivastava, Pushpendra Singh Rathore

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to our podcast on Business Transformation with F B S P L, the insurance in edition. Today we are excited to have a panel of experts from the operations team of F P S B L, who will be sharing their insights and experiences on some of the most pressing topics facing the industry today.

Joining us are four members of the operations team who bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table. They have worked in various roles across the insurance industry and have a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that come with transforming business operations in this space.

Throughout the course of this podcast, we will be exploring some of the most important issues in the insurance industry, including process optimization. Technology and [00:01:00] ai, customer satisfaction and emerging trends. We'll also be asking some fun questions to get to know our panelists a a little better. So without further ado, please join me in welcoming our panelists, DNI Perra Push.

​​Andrew, thank you all for being here today. I'm sure we are going to learn a lot from you guys today. So are we all set?

Pushpendra Singh Rathore: Yes. Perfect. So

Kuldeep Bhatnagar: starting from the Lady, the , uh, what is the best book you sent and why did you like it?

Divyani Srivastava: Uh, recently I read the book, uh, atomic Habits by James Clear. I like this book because it gives me confidence that how small and tiny habits help you to deal with long setback and because of, one thing I have learned is that better habits, anything with better habits, [00:02:00] anything is possible.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: fantastic. If you could learn any skill overnight, what would, what would it be and why?

Bharat Lokchandani: that's a fantastic one. So, um, if I could learn any skill overnight, uh, it would be every ability to speak and understand every language in the world. That way I could impress people with my skills and avoid awkward misunderstandings when I travel abroad.

Plus I could finally enjoy foreign films without reading or going through the subtitles.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Amazing. Interesting sir. Alright, push pra. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Pushpendra Singh Rathore: That's a nice and tough question as well. . So I would say time travel. You know, I would select time travel as a superpower.

Uh, so that's, uh, gives me an ability to go back and forward in the time and [00:03:00] could provide a opportunity to correct mistakes and witness historical events or explore the future. Wow.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Wow, amazing. Robbie, what's the craziest thing on your bucket list?

Rabi Sankar Pandia: Okay, so thank you for asking the question, and whenever I, uh, hear the word crazy, I go mad.

And the best thing that I could think, and that is the first on my bucket list is. Bungee jumping from a hot air balloon. Uh, I am thinking that I am, uh, imagining jumping from a hot air balloon that thousands of feet above, uh, the ground and experiencing the rest of a free fall before the bungee cords kicking

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Wow. Wow. That sounds really crazy. Thank you. While we are on the mic, so let's start and continue with. So let's talk a bit about technology and ai. So, because we, we talk a lot about AI and we talk a lot about technology [00:04:00] and how it is changing every industry, and I'm sure that the insurance industry is also not, you know, uh, uh, unimpacted from the technology and AI changes that's going on.

So how do you see technology in AI changing the insurance in.

Rabi Sankar Pandia: Uh, well, uh, if you could see, technology and ai, uh, have already transformed the insurance industry to a larger extent, and this trend is expected to continue incoming years. Let me share some ways, uh, in which the technology and AI go hands in hand and at changing the insurance industry.

The first one, improve. Underwriting AI and machine learning algorithms can analyze vast amount of data and make sure the data is accurate and the risk assessment that helps insurer for better pricing of policies. Second, enhance customer [00:05:00] experience. Ensure tech startups are leveraged technologies to provide customer with a better buying experience, faster claim processing, and more personalized policy.

Third, faster claim processing. You know, uh, if we use the word claim, uh, we think of a long queue that people are very unhappy. But because of this technology now, AI can automate the claim processing and allows insurance to settle claims more quickly and efficiently.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Wow, that's very intriguing. And it, it looks like a lot is going on, on the technology side, in the insurance domain because, you know, insurance is one of the industry.

I, I feel that there's lots of legacy systems that you have to follow and the implement of technology is not that easy because there are certain process. Which no matter what you have to follow. So it's very nice to see that, you know, some, some changes are, [00:06:00] are going on as we speak. Fantastic. Uh, next one.

So what are some of the most innovative technologies that are transforming the insurance industry today?

Rabi Sankar Pandia: Uh, well, uh, several innovative technologies are transferring the insurance industry. So let me, uh, put, put. Put some lights on few things. First one is very important, and that is the heart throw of ai.

That is called artificial intelligence. So AI is being used to automate the insurance process, improve risk assessment, and detect fraud. AI algorithms can analyze vast amount of data to make sure more accurate predictions and recomme. Which can help insurers provide more personalized policy and B, better customer experience than Internet of things.

Iot T So iot device can be used to collect [00:07:00] data on customer behavior, such as driving habits or home security, which can help insurance offer more personalized policy based on individual. It's blockchain. So blockchain technology can be used to create, uh, I would say some smart contracts that can automate claims processing and make it more transparent and secure.

This can help reduce fraud and improve the efficiency of claims processing. And third that is, but not the least, that is robotic process automation. The, in today's, well we call it rpa. Uh, so RPA can automate, uh, repetitive tasks such as data entry, policy issuance, and claim processing, which can reduce.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar:Absolutely. While you were talking, I could recall one of, uh, our existing clients, [00:08:00] they work on an AI place platform and they are offering it to their clients, uh, within the home insurance space. And what the platform does is like when. You are visiting or inspecting a home, you just have to shoot a video from your mobile and the application does rest of the things like where it can be ther, what kind of risks are there.

So the entire assessment and the inspection process is automated, and what you have to do is just take care of the risk assessments so that, you know, it helps both the insurers and the ensuring companies. So absolutely, technology is, is, is, uh, you know, going to. Phenomenal, uh, in the coming five years or 10 years.

And, uh, let's, uh, let's be part of the, the revolution. Cool. Now, you know, as, as I gave an example of this client, I'm sure, uh, as a team within F P S P L, you guys are also doing a lot of things. So how you and your team [00:09:00] is leveraging technology and AI to improve insurance processes and customer.

Rabi Sankar Pandia: Okay. Uh, thank you for asking the question.

Uh, so, uh, nowadays if, uh, as we know that we have to grow and how we can grow, uh, so we can grow by optimizing utilization of resource, how this can be done. This can only be done. That is true, automating the process. So once you automate the process, we free that resource and once we free that resource, we can use that resource in some other critical tasks.

So let me put some facts on how we have done that and F F B S P first improve. Uh, so let me give you the first thing. Automating the insurance process. So our AI teams. They develop software solutions that automate manual and repetitive insurance process, such as underwriting, claims processing and policy management.

So, so we have already automated few of the process for the client and, and [00:10:00] by seeing the feedback from the client, they're pretty happy and we are, uh, and based on their. Feedback. We have received multiple referrals from them because on their, uh, performance and because, uh, since the performance is so accurate, the client is very much happy and they have recommended so many staff to us.

Second, the improving the risk assessment factor because as we work for insurance industry, risk assessment plays a very pivotal role in minimizing the. So, uh, so whatever AI teams have done, they have developed machine learning algorithms that analyze vast amount of data, such as customer behavior and historical insurance claims to identify patterns and trends that helps us to reduce the insurance.

Uh, so if I could say it, uh, this health insurance to make more accurate risk assessments and provide more pul. Policies. So third, that is very, very important. That [00:11:00] is enhancing customer experience. So what our AI teams have done is that they have developed a chat bots or other virtual assistance that use natural language processing that is called N L P, to handle customer and queries and support.

This can, uh, this in turn has helped us to, uh, reducing the wait times and improve customer satisfaction. Last, but not least that we have created in BS well, is that we have created a tool that help us to detect and prevent the fraud. Uh, so as we have seen that now we are receiving multiple phishing emails.

So in insurance also, it is very much important that we create a tool that detect and prevent. So whatever team has done over here is that they have created, uh, an algorithm that analyze insurance claims data and other information to identify the potential fraud. So in return, [00:12:00] this has helped all the insurers to detect and prevent fraudulent claims, saving their money and improving customer.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Wow. So in a way, you are not just reducing manual error scope, but you are making things faster so the deliverables can be faster and better with improved quality. Yeah. So that's amazing. So, uh, uh, best of luck to all, all of you guys for, for thank you for the changes that you're trying to bring. Uh, coming on to par, let's talk about some process Optimiz.

Sure. So, uh, can you walk us through the steps you take whenever you are optimizing a process for your client?

Bharat Lokchandani: So, uh, after talking a lot of clients at, at this field, uh, I, I also feel that sometimes their process is not organized as well as not optimized. So we have our own roadmap, which we can, uh, take to help there with the optimization process.

That starts [00:13:00] with define the process first. So start by defining the process you want to optimize. That includes input outposts. What are the stakeholders are being involved in it, and what are the key performance indicators we are aiming for to initiate or complete the process. The second one would be, uh, mapping of the current process to identify the gaps and to see what is the exact processes there.

Third one would be identifying the inefficiency, the steps we are taking into the process. How, uh, how many steps are not, uh, that much efficient, that can, uh, run down the process of, uh, the output and de depend depending on that. We need to determine the root causes of that to eliminate those, uh, hurdles or the steps that are not, um, uh, that are inefficient.

So, uh, we need to develop a plan for the improvement that, how we can eliminate those root causes, or eliminate those huddles to make the process more streamlined, to deliver the best output to our clients. By that way, it could be automatic, uh, [00:14:00] manual task for improving the communication, uh, between the stakeholders and then implement those changes that we have designed to, um, to make the process more optimized.

And then we need to avoid that whatever process we have deployed so far, uh, is it generating any value to our customers or not? If it is not, there is no point to going forward. But if, if, if it does, then we need to, uh, follow the same strategy. What some other clients do where we can optimize their processes.

And then last but not the least, after, uh, going through the entire cycle, we need to sustain that process so that we do not get back to the cycle one or back one where we, where we have started with the root causes or the, uh, areas of mind.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Wow. That's a lot. So, you know, it's like behind the scene a lot is happening and not everyone might be aware of what's going on.

Uh, for them it's like they have a team that's working on and they get results. So it, [00:15:00] it would be fantastic for our audience to know that how much it takes and goes on behind the scenes. Fantastic. So my next one would be, uh, So you mentioned that, you know, you identify the inefficiencies in the areas, so how do you go about identifying areas for process optimization within the insurance, uh, domain, of course.

Bharat Lokchandani: uh, this is the same cycle that we have just spoke about, and, uh, again, the first step would be to map out the process to see in the real world how things are being generated or being, uh, running at the client's end, or are there any inefficiencies of the bottlenecks in the process? Then, uh, for EV to, to improve every process, we need data.

So we need to analyze the data that, you know, how much it is affecting the cycle time, what are the error rates, uh, what is the customer satisfaction level, because at the. We need to serve our customers or the policy holders. And then, uh, we need to conduct the process walkthroughs for the stakeholders that are involved, uh, at the ground level because they are the ones who.

[00:16:00] France the process, and they are the ones who can generate the output for our clients. And, uh, at the, at the end, they, they are the ones who need to work on their areas of improvement to make the process more streamlined. Then, uh, the next steps would be, uh, use some process improvement methodologies. Uh, and then today's world, the Six Sigma and the lean technology or the kaizen is quite popular to, uh, reduce the or to, to, to get the eliminate waste stem line process and improve efficiency.

And then, In the competitive world like today's, uh, we need to set the benchmark against the, uh, industry's best practices for, for somebody is, uh, you know, generating the of insurance within 10 minutes. So we need to get there to see what steps we need to take or what are the process optimization we need to follow.

To get there or to, to get, uh, better than it. And then we need to involve the entire, um, uh, employee cycle that is currently working on that particular process. Because at the end, until, unless we do not involve the persons who is on the [00:17:00] ground level, we cannot achieve the results.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: So in a way, you are. Not just making the productivity go higher, you're also making sure that everything becomes faster, and then you are still, you know, keeping the end user's needs at the top priority. Because that's what matter. Customer is the king for us, for our clients, and for everyone. So, yeah, that, that's, that's, uh, remarkable.

Alright, last one for you. Uh, can, can you, yeah. You have talked about the, the, the process optimization. So can you share a specific example of a process optimization project that resulted in significant improvements, uh, or cost, uh, you know, cost savings for your.

Bharat Lokchandani: Sure, uh, definitely. Um, you know, uh, I still remember that, uh, I was dealing with one of our commercial lines, insurance agency.

And, um, there was a lot of, uh, improvements needed in [00:18:00] their process. So what we there, what they used to do is like upon every request of the certificate of the insurance, they need to prepare the, uh, the certificate of insurance over and over again, which is, uh, really time taking for you. And certificate of insurance is something which is really, uh, robust in the process.

And at the same time, it is very, uh, important for the agencies. So what we do, uh, we, we help them to create a master certificate program. Where they just need to set the certificate once after the renewal of the policy. And upon every request, they just need to, uh, cross-check what are the holder requirements are.

And, uh, if, if, if there is any change, we just need to add the holder and we need to issue the certificate, but that way. We were able to save the a lot of time and, um, we were able to reduce the time utilized on each certificate by 50%. And, um, at the same time, we were able to achieve the time efficiencies and, uh, uh, the, the efficiency of the certificate details that is needed by a [00:19:00] holder to achieve the contract in their, um, business market.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Great. Uh, I, I can recall I was talking to one of our clients and, uh, they, they mentioned they were very specific with the numbers that their team was able to achieve a 45% higher productivity rate after the, the process optimization and working with the F ps pt. So, KU close to you guys, you, you all need, uh, uh, a pat a back.

Cool. Thank you. So push sir. Let's, let's, uh, talk about customer satisfaction. So, uh, I know, uh, sure. As I and per were talking a while ago and we discussed that customer is the king and, uh, the end user always. So how do you measure, uh, the customer satisfaction at f p?

Pushpendra Singh Rathore: Thanks for accessing this question, like current, in current, uh, you know, [00:20:00] uh, world where we are getting so many, so many challenges to satisfy the cons customers.

Uh, there are so many ways to satisfy customer, uh, in insurance industry or, you know, uh, other industry as well. But I have. Five in my mind that which I can share with you. Uh, first is survey. Uh, conducting customer, uh, customer survey is one of the most popular and effective way to measure customer satisfaction.

Uh, second, uh, we can say net promoter scores. Um, To asking, uh, you know, customers loyalty, uh, questions, simple questions like, uh, on a scale of zero to 10, how much you rate, uh, to the, you know, uh, to the employee. Or we can say friend or anyone. And also based on the, their responses, customer are classified into three categories, promoter, Passives direct, uh, dictators and, uh, the resulting score is [00:21:00] calculating by subtracting, you know, the percentage of, uh, detractors by from the percentage of promoters.

Another thing we can do, uh, online reviews. Like, uh, customer reviews on websites such as, uh, Google Review, we can say, or social media platforms like Teeter Twitter, uh, Facebook or Instagram. Then we can get, uh, you know, we can measure customer satisfaction, uh, by taking customer feedback mechanisms. These mechanisms, um, set in place to opt in customer feedback when the customer in track with your business.

Then last one is the social media listenings, social media platform. Like can be, uh, you know, monitored for mentioned for your brands, uh, product and services. And, uh, analyzing the sentiment analysis. So by these kind of things, we can, you know, measure, uh, customer [00:22:00] satisfaction in, uh, you know, an insurance industry or other industries as well.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Right? And, uh, talking of which, you know, I know that F P S P is ranking on an average about 4.9 on Google, on clutch, on Azure. So this tells me that you guys are doing something right. So again, kudos. Yeah. All right.

Pushpendra Singh Rathore: Thank you.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Uh, you know, we talked about how we can measure the customer satisfaction, but, you know, what are the most important factors, uh, that contribute to, uh, to bring the customer satisfaction within the insurance domain?

Pushpendra Singh Rathore: Right. Uh, custom customer satisfaction is very important thing in insurance industry. You know, where we are dealing, uh, with directly with the, you know, policy holders or insurers. And, uh, we have to satisfy them with, uh, with several things. Uh, we have, uh, we are following, uh, many of [00:23:00] the, uh, you know, uh, Key points or to satisfy our customers.

Uh, first thing, uh, is the customer service quality. Customer service is essential in the insurance industry. Customer wants, want to feel that their needs are being met or whatever. Their expecting. We have to fulfill their expectation. They need, uh, they, they are value. And also quick and efficient response to customer queries.

And complaint is also as in show second, clarity and transparency. Cla customer appreciate clarity and transparency because, uh, when it comes to, uh, the communication or, uh, you know, share anything, we have to be more, uh, prompt on that part. We have to share coverage limits, deductables and, uh, policy terms.

That helps customer to understand where they are standing right now and what they need to do. If they need to [00:24:00] do any endorsement or something they can select with that. So clarity and transparency is the main thing. Then we can, uh, we can do, uh, timeliness of claim processing because whenever, uh, they face any, Any kind of, uh, incident or something in the insur, uh, face, any kind of accidents or something, uh, we have to process the claims at at the same time.

So customer want their claims to be processed quickly, efficiently, delays in processing, uh, cause frustration and dissatisfaction. This satisfaction, uh, uh, among uh, customers. Right. Also, uh, also competitive pricing. Customer wants to feel that they are getting value for their money, so competitive pricing or premium and, uh, quality of coverage.

They are the key factors, uh, in customer satisfaction, also accessibility. Customer wants to be [00:25:00] able to access their insurance provider easily, whether it is through a website, mobile app, or phone. Providing multiple channel of communication can improve the communication customer satisfaction as well.

Right. Also, Personalizing personalization, we can say customer, customer service. Uh, appreciate personalized, uh, services, uh, that takes into a, uh, account their specific needs or, and preferences. Insurance companies, uh, can use customer data to personalize their offerings and provide more tailored experie.

Then, uh, last but not the least, trustworthiness. This is the most important thing. So customers wants to feel that they, uh, they can trust their insurance providers. Transparency, honesty, and ethical practices can help build trust and improve customer satisfaction. [00:26:00] So these are the major, uh, factors we are following in our indus, in our insurance industry to satisfy the customers.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Wow, that was insightful. So again, some of it relates to the process optimization use of technology as well. So I think it, it all starts with being of label to your customers because that's your primary. Responsibility if you are just staying behind a screen and not on the phone or not on the desk where your client is looking for you, then what you are doing.

So, uh, I think, uh, that's top one. And the second would be of course, if you have efficient processes in place, if you have, uh, you know, technology working for you, then you can deliver results within the expected or stipulated, uh, timeframe. So I'm using lister and thank you for sharing. Uh, I think one of the key factors is also having efficient team working for you, [00:27:00] and you can have only the, the, the, the team is efficient as long as they're well trained.

So how do you ensure that customer service representatives are properly trained to manage the customer? Increase and complain.

Pushpendra Singh Rathore: So the, there are many ways, uh, here, like, uh, first we can say, uh, develop a training, uh, program that covers insurance specific topics, uh, where we should, you know, uh, develop a comprehensive, uh, uh, training program that cover insurance, uh, topics and, you know, terminologies, uh, such as, uh, policy types.

Coverage limits, deductibles and claim processes. Another uh, thing, providing product and, uh, product and service training like, uh, cs. Uh, customer service representative should receive training on the company's product and services that include. Coverage options, uh, eligibility requirements. [00:28:00] These will, uh, these kind of things will help them to answer customer questions accurately and efficiently.

Uh, use. Uh, another thing is use full pay exercise. Role play, ex role playing exercise can be helpful to tool in training customers, uh, service representative to handle customer inquiries and complaints. These exercise, uh, should be conducted on a realistic, uh, scenarios that CSR are likely to encounter and provide them with, uh, an opportunity to practice, uh, practice their communication and problem solving skills.

Another thing, uh, we can do like offer, uh, ongoing training and support insurance. Uh, companies should offer, you know, um, the, they offer ongoing training and support to their customer service representatives. So we can do that thing as well, providing, uh, opportunity. For professional development. Um, [00:29:00] like, uh, I encourage customer service representative to take, uh, active interest in their own professional development.

So, uh, these are the few points we are following on that

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: part. Great. Thank you so much for sharing the advice, uh, because you know, king or not, but customer is and should be the core of any business. So let's continue talking more about customer satisfaction in dni. Let's, let's, uh, have a round of discussion with you on this one.

So what would you say, what are some of the most common pain points customers experience? In the insurance industry. And how did you address them at F P S P?

Divyani Srivastava: All right. Uh, so the most common pain point that customer experience in insurance industry, that is the first one is like, uh, lack of transparency.

The insurance policy can be complex and many customers find it difficult to [00:30:00] understand the detail of their policy. So this lack of transfer. To confusion and frustration. So we should, as insurance, uh, agent, we should provide a clear and concise information about their policy, including terms and condition, coverages and exclusion in a way that is easy to understand.

Second, I would say long claim processing time, as Mr. Ravi mentioned, that claim process time take a long time, that customer feel frustrated when. Claims are delayed and denied, so we should improve their long processing time by automating some of the processes used technology to speed up their process.

Uh, second, third one. Uh, I would say high premium. This is one of the most common pain point that. Two high premium, they lead the customer getting, uh, like not getting good, uh, value for their company. So, as a comp [00:31:00] insurance agent, we should offer competitive premiums and discount to help customer save money.

Then, uh, last I would say poor customer service customer may feel that they are not receiving the level of customer service they expect, and this again, lead to their frustration and dissatisfaction. We should invest in their, in the training. They, they are staffed to provide excellent customer service and provide of multiple offer channels to communicate with their customer, such as, uh, via email, phone calls, and online chat.

So these are the insurance. Uh, uh, these are the pain point wish, focus on. Uh, focus on customer needs and their experience so that we build a strong relationship with our customer and improve overall satisfaction.

Kuldeep “KB” Bhatnagar: Nice. So, you know, uh, you [00:32:00] can only meet the customer expectations when you know them, right.

And. In today's world, your customer or client's expectations are changing every day. They expect a lot more than they were expecting yesterday. So how do you stay up to date on the changing customer expectations?

Divyani Srivastava: Firstly, I would say we should conduct a survey and and regular feedback with their customer to understand their changing expectation.

By this information, we should. We will identify the area of improvements and make, and make changes that address customer concern. Second, I would say, uh, checking call, like we should be in regular touch with the customer every week so you can get to know, to know their thought process about the services and the expectation.

Third, the most important [00:33:00] is like track industry trend. Insurance companies should stay up to. Uh, on industry trends and the best practice to ensure they are meeting customer expectations.

Pushpendra Singh Rathore: Right,

Kuldeep Bhatnagar: right. You know, as a, as an agency or a company, if you're still asking, you know, physical paperwork from your clients, whereas they can go online and do everything digitally, then you are on your way.

Be out of the market so I can, I can totally relate to it. Great. And this one would be the last, I promise. So what advice would you give to other insurance professionals looking to improve customer satisfaction in their organization?

Divyani Srivastava: Uh, firstly focus on customer need. Understand customer pain points, listening to feedback and making changes that address their concern first.

I would, uh, next I would say provide clear communication. [00:34:00] Insurance professionals should communicate policy details in a way that is easy for customer to understand. and answer their question. That may help then, uh, training to their staff. We should invest in training staff at, as I mentioned, uh, previously, that, that we should train their staff to that level to ensure that customer receive the best possible experience.

La last I would say. Continuously monitor and improve. We should continuously monitor, improve customer feedback and use that information to make improvement to their policy, pos, uh, processes and customer service.

Kuldeep Bhatnagar: Great. Well, thank you everyone. DNI and Robbie. I, I had a fantastic, uh, session with you all and I'm sure, uh, our audience would, uh, get, uh, and learn.

So many insight from today's episode. Uh, hopefully we'll have [00:35:00] one more such session and time to come where would be discussing, uh, other topics. But thank you for joining us and audience stay tuned with business Transformation with F P S P L and I promise. We'll, we'll keep on bringing some great content for you guys.

Stay here. Take care. Bye-bye.