Aegon Launches Digital Platform Zeus in China
Aegon’s joint venture in China, Aegon THTF, has recently launched an agent-facing digital platform . Called Zeus, it enables agents to complete the digital underwriting process in as little as five minutes. Zeus, is marketed as a ‘4A’ solution: Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere, and Anything . All Aegon THTF agents are currently using Zeus, which operates on any mobile device with an internet connection. 95% of new policies are currently issued and processed by Zeus.
Integrating sales, services and communications, Zeus provides a 360 degree profile for every single customer. It assigns a demographic ‘label’ for each person and segments individuals in terms of behavioral preferences. Data and labels both help to lay the necessary ground work for individually targeted marketing and services.
Personalized customer recommendations
Athena, the financial analytical tool embedded in Zeus, enables insurance agents to conduct needs analysis for their customers, to examine their family financials, and to identify potential gaps in insurance protection. The Zeus-generated ‘financial inspection’ reports provide personalized recommendations for customers. According to Vic Wang, Aegon THTF’s Chief Agency Officer, Zeus’ industry-leading technology reinvents the so-called life cycle of traditional agency sales processes, such as customer information gathering, data processing, underwriting and claims, and at the same time greatly improves customer targeting and customer experience.
Standardized process
Its ‘one stop’ online policy application function consolidates multiple traditional steps into one standardized process. The number of phrases that customers are required to fill in on their insurance application form, for example, have been reduced from 32 in the past to just 13. Through optimizing the traditional sales, underwriting and administration processes, paper-less policies can be issued in as little as five seconds.
Speaking at Aegon THTF’s Digital Day, Eric Zhu, General Manager Aegon THTF, pointed out that China’s internet population currently stands at 731 million, of which around 40% are under 25 years of age. He said: “Digital natives are at the forefront of the internet age, and their needs and thoughts will determine the future of insurance industry.”
He added that, as a leading joint venture company, Aegon THTF “will need to focus on the consumption needs of digital natives. Only when we are able to acquire these customers and win them over, can we say that we have the future in our own hands .”