Digital transformation is no longer a ‘nice to have’. The global pandemic has catapulted the fourth industrial revolution into the present, forcing many businesses across the globe to digitise or die. The insurance industry is no exception. Renowned for its face-to-face processes and paper-heavy procedures, the industry was compelled to go digital as the national lockdown effectively banned human interaction.
Driving the digitisation revolution is the proudly South African insurance company, Assupol. Established in 1913, the century-old insurer provides funeral, life, savings, and retirement products and services to South Africans from every walk of life; in good times and bad.
Relying on locally designed and developed digital signature software provider, Impression Signatures, Assupol recently implemented their solution across the organisation. “Both external and internal signatures are now obtained much faster, whilst remaining compliant with the law. Doing business is now convenient and safe without the need for anyone to sign a piece of printed paper,” confirms Pieter Prinsloo, Manager: IT Business Analysis & BRM (Business Relationship Management).
In addition to the time and efficiency benefits, the solution has also had significant cost savings and environmental impact, as both travel and paper printing are drastically reduced. “It’s a really elegant solution. With the Covid-19, pandemic we had to get something in place quickly to enable digital signatures in our back office. The Impression team helped us embrace our ‘new normal’ within a week and we’ve completely adapted to this digital way of working,” adds Prinsloo.
Once implemented, it was obvious to Assupol that digital signatures could also help their clients. “In our industry, the sales process was always a challenge. Our sales team had to physically visit a client to complete an application, return to the office, capture the policy, and identify replacements. Then they’d have to prepare the paperwork and return to the client for signature. This was a two to three-week process, depending on the client’s availability. Now sales are completed in five to ten minutes. This solution has transformed our business,” confirms Prinsloo.
By ensuring that manual steps are automated and followed, Assupol’s compliance has also been bolstered with eSignatures. “Previously, a large number of our team would be involved in every sale – particularly to ensure the salesperson actioned the documentation correctly and obtained all the required signatures from the client. Now we don’t have to spend so many resources on the back-end procedures. The system fully automates the whole process,” he adds.
The Impression digital signature solution has various channels available to sign on the web, with a PC (on or offline), a smartphone app, USSD, or even WhatsApp. This means that not only costs and operational inefficiencies are reduced but the customer experience is vastly improved because they can sign from anywhere. “This ensures a socially inclusive digital signature process. In the highly competitive insurance field, the added customer experience and convenience will go a long way to ensure loyalty,” says Andy Papastefanou, founder of Impression Signatures.
Digital transformation projects introduce massive change into organisations both for their staff and their clients. “To roll this out quickly, we needed to choose a local partner who would be on standby as and when we needed them. The Impression team provided unmatched support, guidance and expertise that ultimately lead to our success,” concludes Prinsloo.
Issued by Perfect Word Consulting (Pty) Ltd For more information, contact perfectword@trinitas.co.za
