Is India the Future of American Insurers?
Outsourcing is becoming prevalent in the business world and the insurance industry is no exception.
According to the Scotsman, Aviva, the UK's largest insurance group (which also provides insurance and financial services in countries around the world), expects to outsource more of its customer service and software development work to India; the mega-insurer already has 7,000 customer service and IT employees working there.
The outsourcing has been the product of enormous growth in Aviva; the company increased their operating profit by 29 percent in 2005.
Aviva president and CEO, Richard Harvey, said that the company could not "carry on" without help from India and that the capability to outsource is a "significant competitive advantage" for them.
Now, there are other important details to this story, but the question I have has little to do with developing additional markets in other countries (as Aviva has done)—rather I'm a little struck by the idea that big U.S. insurers have and/or will outsource these jobs to other countries.
Because while I recognize that outsourcing has become the new face of business in recent years, I can't really imagine calling to file a claim and being directed to a customer service rep thousands of miles away. In my mind there's a huge disparity between calling a rep from my insurance company in Colorado and speaking with someone in Mumbai.
Of course, there are controversial, even political opinions that can be thrown into the outsourcing debate, but that's not what I'm trying to get into here. My point is that these outsourced customer service centers seem impersonal to me, almost like it takes the service out of "customer service." Really, I think this all goes back to being human. And from my experience, these types of call centers seem like script-fed employees who are instructed not to deviate from their handouts.
And let me tell you, when I was directed to an outsourced call center last month I was absolutely dying for the woman on the other end of the line to stop saying, "Ms. Mahan" after every instruction. It was an incredibly sterile and unrewarding phone call and will I quite certainly avoid calling with questions in the future. And I'm sure big companies like Aviva might not care if a handful of consumers are turned off by this type of thing, but maybe they should be.
Conversely, I'm encouraged by the rapport that's built between our customer relations managers and consumers that phone InsureMe. When I hear them talking candidly with people and answering their questions, I can't help but think that, even in the shadow of powerhouses like Aviva, we're giving consumers what they need and want—actual service from someone that's right here in our building.
One thing's for sure: this is heavy rhetoric for a Monday. If you any of you insurance folks have any thoughts on the subject(s) addressed here, I'd love to see your comments. Did I mention I love comments?
