Virtual worlds at ERGO

The metaverse not only changes traditional systems, but also enables completely new ones. The following guest article by Luisa-Marie Schmolke, Innovation Manager at ERGO Innovation Lab Berlin, sheds some light on this journey. The article was part of a whitepaper of msg Group.

It is probably one of the most exciting developments we are currently facing in society as a whole. There have already been many visions of it and everyone defines it a little differently. We are talking about the metaverse. A walk-in virtual world in which there are no longer any spatial or temporal restrictions. In which people can move freely with their avatars and in which everything that is possible in physical reality will also be possible.

Close to trends and technologies

For over three years now, we at ERGO have been extensively testing which use cases there are for us as a company and as an insurance sector in the metaverse. The ERGO Innovation Lab in Berlin plays a central role as a source of inspiration. The  potential of the metaverse for the insurance industry has been explored here since 2020. As a technological preliminary stage, the focus was initially on virtual Reality (VR) as a technology. VR applications were tested internally here and the potential of immersive 3D environments was used for meetings and visualisations.

The findings from the ERGO Innovation Lab led to the creation of the „VR Sales Training“. This is a German-language training course in which self-employed sales agents learn how to successfully conduct customer meetings in a virtual space. Four different customer types are simulated for the conversations, while a digital coach gives tips on how to conduct the conversation and advises the agents. The pilot for the project was launched in March 2022; by December 2022, 75 agents had already taken part and rated the training as very good. The positive feedback on the personalised learning environment, which is independent of time and place, ultimately provided the impetus to roll out the training nationwide from mid-2023. For independent sales partners, the training is intended as a supplement to the traditional classroom and online training offered by the ERGO Academy.

In addition, ERGO's vision of expanding insurance advice into an immersive and interactive environment gave rise to the "ERGO VR Experience" app. The application enables digitally savvy customers to experience insurance products interactively. The app offers an immersive presentation of insurance scenarios and thus opens up unique opportunities for advice and storytelling in sales. For ERGO, the app is a further building block in the Group's already successfully established omni-channel strategy. Through the use of mixed reality technologies, the application is generally aimed at piloting a new, innovative and complementary advisory service and establishing it in the long term.

VR and Metaverse - important pillars for the insurance sales of the future

These two examples alone show that VR and the metaverse can profitably expand the possibilities of insurance sales in the future. As ERGO, we are convinced that this form of virtual exchange offers real added value for our customers and our sales partners and represents an innovative addition to our range of advisory services.

It is also another important step for ERGO to establish itself as a digital leader in the insurance industry by 2025 - both in Germany and in the Group's international core markets. To this end, ERGO is already working flat out on the development and implementation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and process mining. The virtual sales projects are further building blocks on the way to this goal.

Author: Luisa-Marie Schmolke

Notification

This article originally appeared in the following whitepaper (in German):

"Transformation in insurance sales"