How digital is the Greek insurance market?

How digital is the Greek insurance market – and what solutions and ideas is ERGO Greece using to meet the needs of its increasingly digital customers? Our colleagues Alexandra Rerra and Anastasia Iatridou from Athens reveal all in this interview.

Hello Alexandra, hello Anastasia! Firstly about you: How is ERGO Greece organised? Which product lines are there, which sales channels? What else should //next users know about you?

Alexandra Rerra: ERGO has been active in the Greek insurance market for over 30 years, with a turnover of more than 255 million euros in 2022 and more than 1,000,000 insured persons. ERGO Greece has high technical know-how, solvency, and experience, while at the same time is constantly expanding with a growing number of intermediaries, as the company has a network of approximately 3,000 agents and brokers, of which more than 400 are tied agents. It also has an exclusive bancassurance agreement with the Bank of Piraeus, the largest bank in Greece. What you also may find interesting is that ERGO Greece offers a diverse array of both Non-life and Life insurance solutions to the Greek market:

The range of Non-life products encompasses, among others, Motor insurance (which is a vital line of business in the Greek insurance landscape), Personal accident insurance, Legal insurance, Third Party Liability insurance and, last but not least, Property insurance (home, Bnb, common building areas, yacht). By the way, the most recent launch in this category is called “ERGO My Favorite Things” and is an innovative product that allows consumers to protect their favorite belongings, such as sports or hobby equipment (musical instruments, gadgets, laptops, bicycles etc.) wherever they are.

Furthermore, in the area of Life insurance, the product portfolio includes Health insurance (inpatient, outpatient), Term life & whole life insurance, Savings plans, Investment-insurance plans as well as Travel insurance.

The main aim of our company is to provide services of high level to its customers and sales partners by offering innovative and competitive insurance products, which fully cover all their insurance needs. Our strategy for the future has been planned, by creating a solid path to achieve its vision: “to be the insurer of choice for customers, employees and sales partners." Our digital transformation, f.e. integrating technology and data in our daily operations and our interactions with our customers, sales partners, and employees so as to create an optimal experience that improves the daily lives of our stakeholders, is an important step towards that strategic goal – as is our technical excellence, diversifying our production with the dynamic growth of the life and health sector …

Customers expect digital tools and services

What makes your market and your customers tick, if this can be generalised? In particular: How digitally savvy are they?

Alexandra Rerra: Nowadays, there is a significant transformation in the way Greek consumers perceive and interact with the digital realm. Their demands are escalating dramatically as they express a desire for high-quality digital experiences. In sync with contemporary technology, they have become accustomed to utilising all available channels from anywhere and at any time.

In the digital age we inhabit, the concept of time is changing: Greek consumers want to be informed in real-time, whether it's about news, events of interest, or even the activities of their friends. Immediate access to information has become an integral part of their daily lives.

In contrast to the past, where services were general and aimed at the mass audience, today's consumers expect services specifically designed for them. Personalisation and customisation are the keys to satisfying their modern needs. They seek services that respond to their preferences, habits, and requirements in the most effective way.

These consumer needs and demands extend to the insurance realm as well. Consumers expect insurance solutions tailored to their unique preferences, habits, and lifestyles, easy and swift access to their policy information, streamlined and effective customer service options and, last but not least, simplified and quick resolution during their challenging times (immediate road side assistance, easy & fast claims handling)

It is, therefore, inevitable for insurance businesses to adapt to this digital transformative era. The development of digital tools and services offering individualised and seamless experiences is imperative.

At the same time, in the Greek insurance market intermediaries playing a vital role and Greek consumers rely on the expertise of intermediaries for consultancy and guidance in selecting suitable insurance solutions.

In this dynamic landscape, ERGO Greece heavily invests in enhancing the experiences of both our customers and our sales partners and builds and provides them with innovative platforms and solutions.

Only through a consistent adaptation to modern demands can businesses meet the needs of Greek consumers and build a close and constructive relationship with them.

AI-powered Virtual Agent “Chara”

What digital solutions and offerings are you using to adapt to these changes in customer behavior and expectations?

Anastasia Iatridou: Providing top-tier customer experiences is a cornerstone of ERGO Greece. On this journey towards hassle-free, efficient, and enjoyable insurance interactions, we've introduced a suite of innovative digital tools and solutions for our customers.

One great example would be “Chara”, our AI Companion for our customers: “Chara” is named after the Greek word for "Joy", used also as a female first name in Greece. It is an AI-powered Virtual Agent – a chatbot –, residing on the ergohellas.gr website since January 2023. “Chara” is designed to meet the growing demand for round-the-clock customer service. Built on Microsoft Azure, “Chara” undergoes continuous NLP (natural language processing) optimisations, ensuring personalised, 24/7 assistance. With over 4,000 conversations handled within the past 12 months, “Chara” enjoys an 85% customer satisfaction rate. More information about “Chara” is available through a Microsoft’s case study.

Another example is “ERGO forMe”, an All-in-One insurance destination: It’s our Customer Portal – available on both web and native app (Android & iOS). It is an all-in-one destination, which empowers our customers with access to a plethora of insurance-related services, including viewing policy details & payment history, online payments, requesting roadside assistance at a tap of a button, issuance of motor vehicle green card and direct communication with the insurance agent.

“Drive&Win”, our 3^rd example, is a telematics-based app (available for Android & iOs) that is bundled, as an offering, with motor insurance, thus connecting traditional insurance with telematics. The app incentivises safe driving behaviors (especially important in a country like Greece that suffers from a large number of road accidents) and enhances the customers’ motor insurance experience, among others, by assessing driving behavior based on criteria such as speed, acceleration and braking, by providing valuable insights on every single trip, including map functionality with points of improvement, by reflecting – though an ECO feature - how safe driving behavior is associated with lower fuel consumption, cost savings and therefore eco-friendly trips. And, last but not least, by enabling the collection of ‘safe miles’ based on safe driving, which can be redeemed in CSR activities (e.g. donations to NGOs).

Another great example would be our “Digital Vehicle Inspection” which helps simplifying the inspection process. It’s a fully digital process that enables our customers to capture and upload photos of their vehicle effortlessly with their mobile device in just a few seconds via a guided (step-by-step) and intuitive flow. This process renders the vehicle inspection simpler, flexible, and more convenient without the need of in-person visits and, at the same time, enables fully digital underwriting.

As a fifth and last example, I´d like to present to you our “E-sign and E-contract” services: We are talking about functionalities aiming to remove paperwork hassles. E-sign is an electronic signature platform that simplifies and accelerates the claims process as well as Life&Health application process Customers, thus, enjoy a more convenient and efficient journey, by signing documents from anywhere at any time, eliminating the need to wait for documents to arrive in the mail. In addition, E-contract ensures a paperless experience, with all necessary insurance documents and information (policies, renewal notifications etc.) delivered directly to our customers’ email.

“ERGO forMe” customer portal

Impressive! What milestones in digital transformation have you been able to celebrate in the recent past - and what will you tackle next?

Anastasia Iatridou: Well, while striding the path of digital transformation, ERGO Greece’s recent milestones, but also future initiatives revolve around two fundamental pillars: Moving towards paperless practices and journeys – and providing seamless omnichannel experiences for both our customers and sales  partners. On that journey, our most recent milestones have been “Chara”, our AI Companion mentioned above, and our “ERGO forMe” customer portal: Next steps: Our vision for “Chara” in the near future involves expanding her repertoire of capabilities and use cases, starting with the introduction of the First Notice of Loss (FNOL) process, thereby becoming a pioneer in offering FNOL via a Chatbot in the Greek market.

Our most recent “fresh” milestone is the enrichment of that portal by introducing the Life&Health and Investment (Unit Linked) portfolio. This addition complements the existing Property&Casualty (P&C) portfolio, marking a comprehensive approach to customer experience. New key features of the enhanced Customer Portal include access to vital information for Life&Health and Investment insurance products, encompassing policy details, coverages, etc., and online payment functionality for these products. Furthermose, we have added intuitive dashboards for investment products, providing customers with visual representations of their investment portfolios through user-friendly pie charts and graphs.

The journey for “ERGO forMe” does not, of course, end here. “ERGO forMe” Customer Portal embarks on a rich roadmap of initiatives, including the introduction of more product lines, the launch of the claims process, etc., all aimed at delivering true value to our customers.

Interview: Ingo Schenk