ICICI Lombard’s simple solution

Insurance is a hotly contested segment. Sushma Naik looks at ICICI Lombard's implementation of a Citrix solution to give its employees real-time access to product information

ICICI Lombard had a problem. The company’s distribution network spans 65 locations in India and connectivity was not a given. Since information access is key to delivering customised insurance policies, the company needed a system that would give its employees access

to product information. However, it did not want to splurge on new hardware and leased lines. “We needed a technology solution that would enable our employees and intermediary partners to administer and present insurance services and products from anywhere. We had to be able to support mobile users cost-effectively, and to easily deploy applications to them over any type of connection,” says Sanjay Motwani, national manager, technology, ICICI Lombard.

Customising policies

"We have benefited from a significant reduction in process and administrative costs. These savings largely come from the centralised administration inherent to using CMPS" -- Sanjay Motwani. National Manager Technology, ICICI Lombard.

The company needed a solution that would help its employees in remote locations access information without it having to make additional investments in hardware upgrades or bandwidth. Getting access to information meant querying the head office for product details. Missing or inadequate information could lead to a missed sales target. The business need for delivering the right policies can be seen from the fact that ICICI Lombard generates close to 3,000 policies a day. The company began to consider its options after realising that real-time information access was crucial to its employees for delivering the right product to its customers.

It partnered with system integrator Wipro Infotech to implement a solution using Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server (CMPS). The solution lets the company’s staff access product- and policy-based information without it having to put a paisa towards hardware or bandwidth.

Over 800 users connect to the centralised system in Mumbai to access relevant modules such as Premia (an ERP application), Talisma (CRM), Final 10 (insurance accounting system) and an investment system. Unlike in the past, ICICI Lombard’s employees are now able to structure all of the company’s insurance products no matter where they are.

Competitive edge

Employees can access the centralised system even through a dial-up connection. A range of tasks that were typically done in the headquarters can now be done remotely. These include profiling customers, processing quotations, issuing policies and taking care of payments. What’s noteworthy is that the system is designed to generate a policy in less than ten minutes.

Explains Motwani, “We have benefited from a significant reduction in process and administrative costs. These savings largely come from the centralised administration inherent to using CMPS. It reduces access costs and lets us update the system without needing to be at the end user’s location.” He estimates that the company is saving in the range of Rs 10 lakh every year. From an operational viewpoint, ICICI Lombard has also accrued significant savings due to efficient application deployment across its locations as only the application running on the HQ server needs to be updated. A centralised management system lets it rapidly scale, and adding or removing applications or users can be accomplished without the IT staff having to travel to regional offices.

Improved business efficiency is translating into faster closing of sales and higher customer retention. The new infrastructure means that customers can be serviced faster, and that all policy-related issues can be monitored and tracked at any point. Discrepancies can be corrected immediately. “Citrix helped us in efficient product and service delivery, and consequently we have got the desired edge in today’s competitive arena. Our deployment is seen as a benchmark in the insurance business,” says Anuj Gulati, the company’s head of operations.

As insurance majors go to smaller towns across India, connectivity will remain a problem. But ICICI Lombard has shown that a thin client model is one way to get around this particular problem and ensure that a sales team always has the latest product information.

Remote Insurance
Business Need	The company needed a solution that would let its employees access information from remote locations without additional investments in hardware or bandwidth. With around 3,000 policies generated every day, access to product information was crucial to offer customised products
Solution	The company partners with system integrator Wipro Infotech to implement a solution using Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server
Benefits	The solution lets employees access product and policy information using existing hardware; even dial-up connections are good enough. At present, over 800 users access modules such as Premia (ERP), Talisma (CRM) and Final 10 (insurance accounting system). Operationally, ICICI Lombard has accrued significant savings which have been made possible by the solution providing application access from 65 locations. With the thin-client-fat-server model adopted by the company, only the application running on the head office server needs to be updated. The company estimates annual savings to be in the range of Rs 10 lakh due to the deployment.

sushma@expresscomputeronline.com