in search of a transformed advisory experience (insurance) · 1 excerpt of advisory complements...
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In Search of a Transformed Advisory Experience (Insurance)
[email protected] | synpulse.com
The advisory experience is an obvious but underappreciated com-petitive advantage in Singapore and Hong Kong. Advisory tools to-day barely support a differentiated and customer-centric advisory experience. To support the transformation of the advisory experi-ence, Synpulse keeps an active radar for advisory complements — tool capabilities to support FA reps. As a demonstration, selected capabilities observed in the ecosystem are mapped conceptually into the advisory journey. Synergies and leverage to further open up the value aperture are also explored. Nonetheless, to make the ideas become reality, financial advisory providers must take critical considerations of regulatory scrutiny, user acceptance and integra-tion flexibility.
Reiterating the Importance of Advisory ToolsOver the past few monthly publications1,2, Synpulse highlight-ed the need to equip FA reps with intelligent and reliable tools so that they can provide best-in-class advisory experience to their clients. Notwithstanding various forms of Point-Of-Sales e-application being available for most FA reps, Synpulse noted that these tools — by focusing solely on compliance require-ments — serve little more than data entry software. Ironically, their inadequacy has compliance-related consequences. In the last Synpulse-sponsored mystery shopping exercise1, self-orga-nized/-created but non-sanitized client data and collaterals to
make financial planning or product explanations more relatable were frequently observed, even among the more experienced FA reps.
These observations beget the question — why have the prin-cipals not provided advisory tools to transform the advisory experience. Arguably, it may just be a matter of time. Howev-er, there is no certainty on how long it would take. Incumbents tend to have a busy portfolio of projects to keep up with regu-latory changes and cope with legacy inflexibilities, even in the context of 'business-as-usual'. Innovation projects would have to compete for investments, talent pool availability and priority. Incumbents which have set up innovation labs as autonomous organizations would have a better chance in building solutions for the advisory experience. Nonetheless, they are rather early in their days.
Synpulse Radar for Advisory ComplementsAn alternative venue for incumbents to explore, be it for creative ideas or technology, is the FinTech ecosystem which has flour-ished lately, yielding specialized propositions which have the effect of fragmenting the value chain in financial services. It may seem counterintuitive to consider leveraging FinTech technolo-gy to support FA reps. Many of these FinTechs tend to start off
1 The Financial Advisory Process in Insurance: Flux and Transformation
2 Is Financial Advisory in Insurance a dying career?
3 Four Lessons from a Customer on Advisory
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[email protected] | synpulse.com
by positioning themselves to disintermediate financial services to bring down cost. However as far as advisory in insurance is concerned, Synpulse research3 continues to show that there is still preference for the human advisor to coach clients and facil-itate their decision making process. The technology offered by FinTech is a complement rather than substitute.
Synergizing Capabilities for a Transformed Advisory ExperienceThe list in 1 is not exhaustive and not in any deliberate order. It provides a starting point to demonstrate in 2 on how the ca-pabilities can be synergized to re-invent the advisory experience and leveraged to open the value aperture further. 2 keeps the conventional advisory process intact. To make the process lean-er and more effective, Synpulse would encourage disrupters to challenge it by exploring mental models.
Make Ideas Become RealityThe transformed advisory journey needs to be able to withstand regulatory scrutiny and be easily accepted by both clients and advisors. Synpulse notes that technology such as facial recog-nition invokes discomfort and skepticism among some users.
Beyond conceptualization, advisory providers would have to consider how the capabilities can be integrated together onto a unified platform without resorting to building them in-house from scratch.
Even if reality turns out to be far away from ideas, Synpulse strives to offer clarity and actionable steps to make ideas be-come reality. Over eight monthly publications this year, Syn-pulse has discussed insurance distribution from digital read-iness, direct-to-consumer journeys, implications of customer psychology on the purchase journey to advisory experience, career & tools. Industry veterans from the Singapore and Hong Kong market have responded actively, offering opinions and alternative insights. In the upcoming and final insurance publi-cation (Asia) for 2016, Synpulse would round up market devel-opments and selected opinions & insights to provide a year-end assessment of insurance distribution in Singapore and Hong Kong.
1 Excerpt of advisory complements from the Synpulse radar of innovations & good practices
Risk profiling tool
This tool is based on game theory and econometrics to create client profiles sup-porting advisory. The client plays a deci-sion game for risk, ambiguity, time and goal preferences.
Content marketing platform
This is an online platform which supports wealth managers in leads acquisition and monetization through personal branding, content marketing and an ecosystem to support with technology and products.
Comparison portal
A local life insurance comparison web portal doubles up as an educator. Various needs calculators are available for visitors to use at their discretion outside the com-parison journey. A benefits structure is pro-vided for easy comparison among products of same category.
Emotions profiling tool
This tool uses facial imaging technology based on AI algorithms to help users un-derstand their underlying and often hidden feelings. Couples learn how their emotions align or diverge and engage in an emotional dialogue, facilitated by an advisor.
Personalized comparison portal
An Australian comparison web portal for insurance which offers personalized cov-erage suggestions by profiling the clients via embedded easy-to-answer fact-finding questions. Depending on product, a bene-fits structure is provided for easy compari-son among products of same category.
Portfolio aggregator
This tool helps consumers to build a 360-view of their bank and brokerage accounts by auto-aggregating personal financial information across various financial insti-tutions onto a unified dashboard and plat-form. At the time of publication, insurance policies were not included.
Advisory Complements and Service Offerings
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[email protected] | synpulse.com
About the Authors
Clarie KwaHead of [email protected]
Daniel ThamAssociate Consultant
Current Common Practice Value-add capabilities observed from the ‘Advisory Complements’
Opportunity to open the value aperture further
Advisory Journey
Get to know You(incl. relationship
building)
Fact Find & Portfolio Review
Needs Analysis
Product Recommendation
Make Decisions
Leads Acquisition
CRM to push leads and support customer engagement
Leads are usually not systematically pre-educated
Rely on self-reported ratings of attitudes towards risk via questionnaires
Dependent on FA reps’ experience to build relationship and rapport
Information compiled through Q&A interviews and manual documentation sightings and data entry
A comprehensive needs analysis is a tedious exercise, best supported by an advisor
Product comparison can be tedious – multiple quotations generated to manually compare
No visualization or scenario aids to support portfolio understanding
Dependent on FA reps’ experience to support the clients to make decisions
Support personalization of advisor branding by operationalizing content marketing strategy
Provide some preliminary education in needs analysis and product benefits
Profiling based on rigorous scientific research and tested for reliability and validity
Reporting bias is reduced by engaging users in a manner to tap on their underlying attitudes
Automatic aggregation of information on assets and liabilities from personal accounts
Summary dashboard presents the aggregated information
Users do a self-service quick assessment of product and coverage needs based on ‘rule-of-thumb’
Personalize search results based on simple technical fact find including objectives and priorities
Ease comparison by auto-generating restructured information to highlight features prioritized by customers – anchor is typically fixed by product type
Push leads which are not just pre-educated but also profiled for emotions and attitudes towards their personal/family financials and risk
Match suitable FA reps as ‘financial coaches’ to complement client profiles
Technology has to withstand regulatory scrutiny on data privacy
Raise clients’ comfort to share data by working with ‘clustered information’ e.g. using ‘as-is’ and ‘to-be’ profiles as baseline
Derive an optimal set of criteria to support decision making – include emotional factors too
Apply the criteria across the product universe and flex the anchor to balance between ‘satisficers’ and ‘maximizers’
Scenario simulation at portfolio level allays fears of ‘what-ifs’
2 Mapping capabilities and possibilities into the advisory journey