2017 will be the year of digital breakthrough? The premises are all there. In the energy sector, Enel has made it one of the strengths of the new three-year strategy announced on Tuesday 22 in London. But she's not alone. Also General, 24 hours later and in a different sector, the insurance sector, pushed on the digital lever at its Investors Day. To the analysts, who welcomed the update of the objectives to 2018, the CEO Philippe Donnet and the team of managers lined up in first line, have offered more than one cybernetic novelty: ranging from the use of robots for the management of the most repetitive tasks in the testing phase, to data analytics already active to cut policies increasingly to measure (life, car or casualty that they are), to a much more pervasive use of digital to revolutionize the relationship with the customer and in the corporate organization itself.
So goodbye to the old PC and full speed ahead on smart phones. Indeed, it is about to arrive in Italy – preceded by a launch scheduled for the first quarter of 2017 in France and Germany – Mobile hubs through which the company of the Lion counts on manage the universe of customer relations on smartphones with a single App. In practice, from the mobile phone each policyholder will be able to view all his policies on a single page, keep an eye on communications with his agent, establish a direct chat with him, make himself locatable in the event of an accident.
It's not little. “Others are trying – she admits frankly Isabelle Conner, an elegant blonde lady who governs the marketing of the group with a firm hand in her role as Group Chief Marketing and customer officer – but we are the only ones who are integrating the entire variety of services in a single App”. And he enthusiastically explains that the goal is “to make our customers' experience as pleasant as possible: the happier and more satisfied they are, the more they talk about it and pass on their experience to others. In practice, it is the customer who becomes the promoter of the service”. She herself received a clear mandate from Philippe Donnet: increase retention by 2%, that is, the loyalty of its customers. Which corresponds – for a giant like Generali – to retain 1 million more customers. “It is roughly equivalent to a new company,” Donnet himself commented last week in London to make analysts understand the objectives that the group has set itself between now and 2018.
The new watchword, explains Conner, is "protect and assist". And the intent is to arouse a "Wow effect", an expression of astonishment-admiration, in the customer who will find himself faced with an already partially known experience, similar to the one he experiences when he goes on Facebook and meets with friends. Also for this reason, Conner explains, Generali does not aim to launch the novelty with a strong advertising campaign. “Word of mouth is the best communication” Isabelle declares.
The digital package is not made up only of the Mobile Hub which in any case becomes the magnet for attracting new consumers. In fact, the logic of the operation "is aimed at retention (loyalty) - underlines the manager - but in truth it is conceived in a logic of growth in the number of customers". The offer on which Generali focuses, it was said, will be increasingly "tailored", that is, tailored to the customer's needs. As? Also thanks to the agreements and acquisitions entered into with Microsoft (improvement of operational processes), MyDrive (Auto Damage class) e Vitality (Life) leveraging data analytics to build targeted products.
To complete the picture, on the corporate side, will be the training of agents who will not be left alone to face the new revolution of customer relations in a digital and social version. He has been working in the back office for some time the Nps system (Net promoter system), active in 20 countries (out of the 60 in which Generali operates). In Spain, it has been active for 18 months, and has allowed to eliminate 196.905 calls to call centers need increase gross premiums by 36,5 million (3,5% of the total), in Italy since last June in the Non-Life business. In practice, it is a digitized practice management system that allows you to identify and investigate critical points and hopefully resolve them, with active interventions against customer complaints. Thus the agents' activity will also change: more digital, more connected, closer to customers, also in this case with a. A “consumer centric” logical leap which will also be played out by greater competition between distributors, in a world that is increasingly just a click away.
