VIG to Invest €1M in 5 Projects
Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has recently invited its roughly 50 Group companies to submit pitches for innovation projects. Five proposals were selected. These projects will receive funding of about EUR 1 million in total. A second round of pitches is scheduled for autumn 2018.
Digitization is a major element of VIG’s “Agenda 2020” management program for ensuring the Group’s future viability. At the start of 2018, VIG’s Group companies were invited to submit digitization and innovation projects as a part of the “VIG Xelerate”. The main criteria for the award of funding were the proposal’s degree of innovation in the local market and its relevance for application at other Group companies. Think: relevant, differentiated, sustainable – a winning equation.
“The digital transformation is one of our key tasks when it comes to maintaining our position as a leader in the Austrian and CEE insurance industry. Our ‘VIG Xelerate’ initiative is designed to support those Group companies which propose and implement innovative and tangible measures in this respect. We provide financial backing if there is a clear benefit for the Group and the relevant market, and if implementation will lead to a significant improvement in performance indicators such as premium volume, costs, market share or earnings.” – VIG CEO, Elisabeth Stadler.
– One of the selected projects aims to identify new digital opportunities in order to make use of new sales channels and to optimise customer service by providing a range of online services. This means that all processes – from initial contact with the customer to claims management – will be largely automated.
– Two projects are focused on digital service benefits for customers. One example includes the use of a health insurance that will be extended to other segments. In turn, there are also plans to introduce an app for reporting vehicle damage, equipped with online claims management.
– Last, personalized premiums and price determination – in line with customer needs and in real time – was the focal point of another winning initiative.
One more thing. The Austrian insurer has recently announced the acquisition of Gothaer Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen (Gothaer TU). Subject to the approval of local authorities. The Polish insurer is located in Warsaw and mainly distributes its non-life insurance products through agents and brokers – serving ~632K customers and manages ~2m insurance policies. “Our acquisition of Gothaer TU provides us with a large customer portfolio in a non-life insurance area that is important to us and access to an extensive network of sales agents. We also expand our market presence in Poland. We are number 4 in the overall market and non-life segment. The purchase of Gothaer TU increases our market share in the non-life segment from 6.2 percent to 7.8 percent. This therefore represents a significant step towards our goal of achieving a market share of at least ten percent in Poland over the medium term.” – Member of the Vienna Insurance Group Managing Board, Franz Fuchs.
