Bancassurance leader BPI-Philam Life adapts to digital insurance selling to continue protecting lives even amid the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), thus allowing BPI account holders to purchase insurance plans from the safety of their homes. This move was endorsed by the Insurance Commission when it recently issued guidelines on remote selling to enable companies to continue service despite the impracticability of sales while on lockdown.
In its race against risk and to encourage customers and employees to comply with social distancing protocols, BPI-Philam, with the help of its parent company AIA Philam Life, has begun utilizing its iPoS (Interactive Point-of-Sale) end-to-end selling platform in a purely digital fashion. BPI-Philam’s Bancassurance Sales Executives (BSEs) used to work with this iPad-based technology onsite in helping customers assess their personal needs and risk profile to ultimately guide them in finding the most suitable insurance product considering these factors. With the digital selling directive, BSEs touch base with customers via the communication and collaboration platform Microsoft Teams. They then pull out product information from the iPoS and from there, the application process is fully digitalized, with submission of identification documents and required signatures, as well as verification of the same, covered through BPI-Philam’s electronic Know-Your-Customer capabilities.
In addition to iPoS, after sales services are also assured through iCare, a customer service platform that allows BSEs to interact with their clients for any queries and concerns. For customers who wish to access their accounts to personally manage and monitor transactions, they can do so anytime with the online platform ePlan that houses all their digitized documents available 24/7. All these digital platforms were designed to empower both consumers and BSEs to achieve hassle-free transactions during the quarantine.
“Due to the pandemic, we’ve seen an increased sense of need for life and health insurance among the public in the past few months, and BPI-Philam understands that the implementation of the ECQ makes it inaccessible to them. As an insurance company, we are also delivering basic services to the public and we are fully committed in helping people achieve healthier, longer, and better lives even as we are in extraordinary circumstances,” said BPI-Philam Chief Executive Officer Surendra Menon.
The digitalization of its products maintains BPI-Philam’s mission to close the insurance gap in the country by offering accessible and affordable life insurance to Filipino families to protect them from financial difficulties due to unforeseen events. This is another step towards BPI-Philam’s digital transformation journey, which is mainly focused on providing convenience and seamless interaction to its customers.
“With the BPI-Philam workforce and operations adapting to the necessary measures called on by this challenging time, we establish that the safety of our clients, employees, and partners remains to be our top priority. Despite this, we make sure that business continuity and normalcy are delivered and that our commitment to our mission is never compromised. As we move forward, BPI-Philam will always be innovating and adapting accordingly,” added Menon.
Philam Group amid the pandemic
As the entire Philam Group collectively reassures its clients and employees by meeting their needs during this difficult time, the corporation takes part in efforts to address the needs of medical frontliners who put their lives at risk every day just to fulfill their sworn oaths. The Philam Group includes AIA Philam Life and its affiliate companies BPI-Philam, Philam Asset Management Inc. (PAMI), and the Philam Foundation.
In line with this, the Philam Group will be providing 30,000 medical frontliners with free compassionate benefit coverage amounting to a combined worth of Php1.5 billion. The beneficiary hospitals are the designated COVID-19 treatment hospitals, both government and private, as well as partner hospitals nationwide. The program, called the Frontliners Inclusive Risk Safety neT (FIRST) Initiative, will course the grant through Philam Group’s corporate social responsibility affiliate, Philam Foundation.