Union Assurance moves towards broader horizons
Union Assurance moved to a higher playing field transcending from a platform of care to that of a platform of trust. The company’s new and improved outlook and the new brand promise is yet another effort to deliver an undisputed level of customer service. The Mirror Business spoke to Mr. Rukman Weeraratne - General Manager Marketing and Distribution and Mr. Dharshana Amarasinghe - Senior Marketing Manager of Union Assurance to find out more about the company’s future plans after its brand change.
“What a customer would expect from an insurance company is convenience in terms of general insurance. Customers look for convenience at the time of purchase & at the time of making a claim. Customers look for transparency with regards to life insurance. Life insurance is relatively a long-term contract and a customer will always look for proper understanding of the benefits that are on offer & simplicity in understanding the policy that they buy. These are the areas we concentrated on, and on which we positioned our new brand promise” says Mr. Weeraratne.
Commenting on the company’s new and improved outlook Mr. Amarasinghe said, the logo change, the new colours, signage & the new out look is only a relatively small part in the overall brand & the new brand promise. More important would be to live the brand values & make the customers experience the new brand promise. “The larger part of our brand change includes the efforts that we will be taking to provide better and more convenient service levels to our customers. Therefore, in addition to our logo change customers will be experiencing a more superior level of service and transparent insurance solutions for which we have already begun taking initiatives. Certain initiatives are already in place & this will be an ongoing process which includes an untiring effort to bring about ultimate convenience and transparency to our customers.”
With regards to some of the key initiatives already taken by the company, Union Pay Easy is one of the first initiatives that were launched to provide customer convenience to life insurance policyholders. Through this initiative, customers have the ability to pay their premiums through anyone of the 1140 payment locations located island wide. This includes leading banks and Keells supermarkets etc. and enables customers the flexibility to make premium payments at a location of their choice.
As life insurance is predominantly sold through insurance advisors, most of them have been provided with laptops, which enable them to make sales presentations to customers, generate quotations online and also enables insurance advisors to access relevant customer information, thereby allowing them to make informed decisions and service customers at their doorsteps – Amarasiynghe added.
In terms of motor insurance, the sole focus of Union Assurance was to make the customers life that much easier. The conveniences should be offered at the point of purchase & also when claiming. With the introduction of Union Motor Reload, customers have the convenience of walking into any Keells outlet or Union Assurance branch and reload their motor insurance policy for 01 month, 03 months or 06 months. Also the motor insurances claim process has been made faster by eliminating unwanted manual paperwork with the introduction of an e-filing system, where all claims are processed online. Each customer is issued a personal identification number where they have the ability to collect their claims from any Commercial Bank branch either cash, cheque or even get it transferred to your own Commercial bank account.
In conclusion Mr. Weeraratne said, “Armed with the required change customers can now experience the new Union Assurance brand values and brand promise. We will therefore be going through an ongoing process of change where customers will be able to experience a new and improved Union Assurance service, where they will have the ability to trust in their tomorrow today without fear or hesitation.”
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Rukman Weeraratne
GM Marketing and Distribution
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“What a customer would expect from an insurance company is convenience in terms of general insurance. Customers look for convenience at the time of purchase & at the time of making a claim. Customers look for transparency with regards to life insurance. Life insurance is relatively a long-term contract and a customer will always look for proper understanding of the benefits that are on offer & simplicity in understanding the policy that they buy. These are the areas we concentrated on, and on which we positioned our new brand promise” says Mr. Weeraratne.
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Dharshana Amarasinghe
Senior Marketing Manager
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With regards to some of the key initiatives already taken by the company, Union Pay Easy is one of the first initiatives that were launched to provide customer convenience to life insurance policyholders. Through this initiative, customers have the ability to pay their premiums through anyone of the 1140 payment locations located island wide. This includes leading banks and Keells supermarkets etc. and enables customers the flexibility to make premium payments at a location of their choice.
As life insurance is predominantly sold through insurance advisors, most of them have been provided with laptops, which enable them to make sales presentations to customers, generate quotations online and also enables insurance advisors to access relevant customer information, thereby allowing them to make informed decisions and service customers at their doorsteps – Amarasiynghe added.
In terms of motor insurance, the sole focus of Union Assurance was to make the customers life that much easier. The conveniences should be offered at the point of purchase & also when claiming. With the introduction of Union Motor Reload, customers have the convenience of walking into any Keells outlet or Union Assurance branch and reload their motor insurance policy for 01 month, 03 months or 06 months. Also the motor insurances claim process has been made faster by eliminating unwanted manual paperwork with the introduction of an e-filing system, where all claims are processed online. Each customer is issued a personal identification number where they have the ability to collect their claims from any Commercial Bank branch either cash, cheque or even get it transferred to your own Commercial bank account.
In conclusion Mr. Weeraratne said, “Armed with the required change customers can now experience the new Union Assurance brand values and brand promise. We will therefore be going through an ongoing process of change where customers will be able to experience a new and improved Union Assurance service, where they will have the ability to trust in their tomorrow today without fear or hesitation.”
