“Digital policies have gone from 0 to 50% in three years”. With this datum, which indicates a transformation that has just started but has already largely taken place, the CEO and country manager of Generali Italia Marco Sesana presented in the Mogliano Veneto headquarters the new three-year plan of the first Leone club, which will lead from now to 2021, according to the announced objectives and with a total investment of 300 million, to a growth in productivity of 10-15%, "growing in all business branches in the same way", but above all to the definitive transition towards connected insurance, i.e. an insurance model that goes beyond traditional products, integrating them - thanks to technology – with new services that focus on people's lives at 360 degrees in the era of the Internet of things, including through prevention and assistance. The insurance is no longer just a compensation tool or an obligation, as in the case of the Rc Auto, but becomes a “life partner” of the customer, according to the slogan launched some time ago by the group led by Philippe Donnet.
“Already today – said Sesana – Generali Italia is not only a more profitable company (it grew by 4,5% in 2018) but also simpler, more innovative and more sustainable. By now 100% of the agencies are enabled to sell policies online and connected customers are 1,6 million out of a total of 10 million of our customers. We expect to increase connected customers by 65% to 2,5 million within three years”. In 2018 Generali Italy disbursed premiums (total Life and Non-Life) for 23 billion euro: “One in four companies and one in three families are insured with us”, reveals the country manager. For all these customers, interacting with the insurance company has already become much more agile: now you only need to provide your data once, a single electronic signature and a single meeting to sign the contract. The required data is 85% less than three years ago and there are zero pages to print. “However, we do not give up the physical network for this: digital is important as is the relationship with people, which is still felt as necessary by 9 out of 10 Italians. We do not have a pure digital in mind but an integration between technology and physical network ”, assures Sesana adding that “digital and work do not go hand in hand, so much so that we will hire 1.200 people over the course of the plan, with different skills”.
The ultimate goal is customer satisfaction, and for this reason Generali Italia wants to raise its NPS (Net Promoter Score) by at least 2021 percentage points by 10. A fact that is by no means emblematic or accessory: “Customer satisfaction drives everything else”, says Sezana. How to do it? Following four drivers which are family, well-being, work and mobility. What services to offer around these drivers? All those permitted by technology, going beyond the traditional product: "It is also about prevention, risk containment and assistance". Examples? The house, which represents 75% of Italian wealth. Through the IoT and the so-called smart home, risks can be reduced, both from domestic accidents and catastrophic events: smoke detectors can prevent fires, humidity detectors from flooding, through connected devices and an app that warns in time the customer is real. Another example: health. A sector with enormous potential for an insurance company, given that the population tends to be increasingly elderly and that the private healthcare expenditure of Italians today reaches 40 billion. “For two out of three Italians, health is a primary need and prevention and checkups are important,” explains the CEO. With Generali Italia, for example, a suspicious mole can be photographed and diagnosed in real time, without having to wait for an appointment with a specialist.
In the case of work, one of Generali Italia's great challenges is that of corporate welfare, through the new company Welion which already offers businesses 400 services to offer to employees. “Companies that deal with welfare have tripled in the last three years”, rattles off the managing director of the Italian subsidiary. Mobility is another sector in full evolution: according to some estimates car sharing will double within 5 years and it is one of the reasons for going beyond motor liability: “We want to enter into the perspective of ensuring the mobility of people and not just their vehicles. That's why we can insure people who use up to 17 owned and non-owned vehicles, including car sharing, public transport and cycling. It is a single policy with that of the Rc Auto and which is valid for 5 people in all, who can be relatives but also friends. Just add 15 euros per year for the subscriber and 3 euros for each additional person”. So it is about extend the coverage from the vehicle to the person, and to work on driving style to prevent accidents. This Generali does it through Real Time Coaching, a device patented by Leone himself, which assists the driver in real time, giving him a sort of live report card on his driving and any indications. Good conduct will also lead to a discount on the policy for everyone's satisfaction: perhaps the most concrete example of the "lifelong partnership" that the company wants to establish with its customers.
But it is not only with them that Generali Italia feels like a life partner. Also to its 13 employees and 40 agents (including bancassurance and the large Alleanza patrol). For them, corporate welfare already means active smart working for one in four employees, with the possibility of working remotely two days a week and an increasingly agile working method. “The five levers on which the plan is based – concluded Sesana – are therefore valuable consultancy, the focus on customers, new products and services, the evolution of the operating model in pursuit of technical excellence, and also partnerships for create connected systems”. Generali Italia already does this, for example, with Drive Now, the car sharing company on whose cars the prevention and driving assistance devices of the Lion of Trieste are about to arrive.
