New challenging assignment of developing insurance software solutions business
It was a new challenging assignment of developing business for two core insurance solutions providers in new markets. I was in commodity and consumer business development. Insurance business was new for me. And the markets that I was assigned were new for both the insurance solutions providers.
The first core insurance solutions provider was Bangalore based, and the second one in Hyderabad. First, I worked with the Bangalore based insurance software provider. After leaving them, I worked for the second insurance software provider based in Hyderabad.
The first insurance software provider was a developer of enterprise level core insurance software solutions. These were for Life and General Insurers and Re-insurers to manage their business process. These solutions were built on Java Enterprise Web Application Development and Service-Oriented Architecture. It offered database- agnostic software to help automation of insurance business processes. The solutions also streamline operations to offer efficient insurance solutions to customers.
I created their LinkedIn company page and gave them their marketing development plan. Here it is.
They assigned to market their insurance core solutions in Asian countries, and named me their official Regional Head for business development-Asia.
A stiff competition prevails among providers of insurance solutions. The key for marketing was developing a network of partners in as many markets as possible, while upgrading the solutions with up-to-date features. My marketing involved inbound leads through website, social marketing and networking. All these three methods were adopted,
I developed contacts via social marketing with about 500 decision makers like CEO. MD, CTO, CIO, CFO, GM, etc. They were from insurance companies, insurance brokerage companies, reinsurance brokerage firms and other insurance related institutes. I received several inquiries but some only could reach up to demo level. I also received inquiries for health insurance, Reinsurance solution for General Insurance, Reinsurance brokerage solution and solutions for brokers and agents that were not developed by us. Generated many leads, and some turned into business.
My observations
To become solutions competitive, there was a need to offer as many up-to-date features as possible in our solutions. Life insurance solution without upgrading to takaful is difficult to compete in the Middle east, Indonesia and Malaysia . Similarly, the General insurance solution needs to offer advanced features to attract insurance companies. We needed good networking in many markets. Insurance solutions market is the buyer’s market and strong networking can bring good results.
There were several competitors offering insurance software products to the insurance companies. These insurance solutions range life insurance, General Insurance, reinsurance for life, reinsurance for General, and Health Insurance, group and pension insurance, Motor Insurance, claims, takaful insurance, Retakaful insurance. Many competitors’ offerings come with many features like Mobile integration, SMS alerts, email integration, , dashboards, workflow, and document management solutions, Bancassurance, enterprise portals like customer portals, channel portals, corporate portals, Public Portal, Partner portal, employee portal, business intelligence, CRM, payment gateway and 3rd party integration. Besides, many providers of insurance solutions also offer solutions for insurance brokers, agents and reinsurance brokerage.
The second insurance software provider, ISO certified for quality and security of the solutions, has emerged as the top insurance software provider with 90% market share in Indian Insurance Industry. It offers eight modules core end-to-end software solutions for the Insurance and Reinsurance markets.
The company offers ReNova – Reinsurance Administration System, Insurance One – Policy Admin system for Life Insurance Business, Insurance One G – Policy Admin system for Group insurance Business, and Insurance One M – Policy Admin system for Micro insurance Business. Apart from that, it has Workflow, Rule Engine, Document Management System, Enterprise Bus and several other peripheral systems.
All their business in Indian market was grown through referrals. They wanted to market their solutions abroad. I have given them their business development plan. Here it is. I have created this company’s LinkedIn page.