Comprehensive Cancer Care with HDFC Life Insurance

In this world, one word that is daunting than death itself is cancer. The risk of getting cancer is increasing at an astronomical pace. Every year, about 800,000 new cancer patients get registered with the National Cancer Registry Programme in India. 

Cancer not only harmfully impacts our health but also the savings and budget of the family. Due to financial constraints, most of us are not ready to fight cancer. Shockingly, fewer than 30% of cancer patients in India survive for more than five years after their diagnosis.

HDFC Life realized the problem and launched a product specifically to provide financial security. In addition to various traditional channels used, there is a mobile app created specifically for this purpose HDFC Life Instalife which provides insurance for cancer. Its portfolio comprises solutions, which meet various customer needs such as Savings, Pension, Protection, Investment and Health. Currently, the company has 28 retail and 8 group products in its portfolio, coupled with 10 optional rider benefits catering to the savings, investment, protection and retirement needs of customers.

How does this cancer care insurance work?

The mobile application has been designed for the distributor. It is the first of its kind in the Life Insurance industry and provides the distributor an option to sell using his phone instantly. 

The distributor goes to the customer, the mobile application prompts a set of underwriting questions, once done the customer signs on the app, makes the payment online and the policy is issued almost instantly. 

Once they complete the purchase process, the application talks to the mobile middleware, transfers the document to the document repository and updates the core insurance system.

“There is a signature area where the whole screen gets converted into a signature pad and that gets embedded into the proposal form we created. It takes 4 minutes to fill the form, post which he proceeds to payments and within the next 15 minutes the conversion take place in the core policy administration system, says Thomson Thomas, Senior Vice President - Business Systems & Technology, HDFC  Life.

Who all were involved in the project? 

Thomson says that they worked mainly with four partners. First partner created the mobile front end, the second provided the mobile middleware third provided the document repository and workflow and the fourth being the partner managing development for the core policy administration system. 

“We had worked with them on earlier projects and found them agile, technically capable, and quite adept in terms of knowledge,” says Thomson.  

However, there were a few stumbling blocks. According to Thomson, the main challenge was the design of the process itself and the provision for end- to- end solution. To vanquish all the problems, “multiple prototypes were created and multiple solutions to various hurdles were discussed before the final design was agreed upon by all stakeholders,” he says. 

The budget for this project is under 10 lakhs. Thomson’s role was to get all the partners together and ensure the partners get the work done in a stipulated time frame. There was a need to align all technology verticals since a mobile application cuts across the technology horizontals such as projects, infrastructure, security etc.

Why is HDFC Life on Seventh Heaven?

The company is riding on the crest of a wave after going live. Thomson says, the productivity of the sales force/distributors have gone up significantly and it has become easier for the distributors to sell the cancer insurance plan. He also added that the turnaround time has reduced as online payment is done on the spot. 

“We have over 11K downloads and we expect this number to grow as more partners download the application and use it,” Thomson states. 

Incredibly, “within a week after the launch, there were around 8000 downloads,” he says.

After the project went live, HDFC Life realized a lot of benefits with this project. The total number of applications logged in was 6411; the applications converted were 6198 and the premium collected was over INR 1cr. 

Thomson adds that with a powerful application in hand, any person who indulges in sales activity feels a sense of betterment because things are in order and each information related to the sales is accessible at the tap of a finger and  have complete control over their activities.  

On a parting note, Thomson said, “we have created the application from a customer perspective to protect him and his family members.”

Bottom-line: Live a tension free life with HDFC Life Instalife.