AIG gets ahead on business overheads

Insurance heavyweight AIGLife has proven to be the dominant force in the business overheads category by delivering a service-orientated approach.

AIG has taken out gold in the 2007 Adviser Choice Risk Company of the Year Awards, with Suncorp coming in second and Aviva taking out third place.

By incorporating a qualitative and quantitative methodology, independent researcher Dexx&r was able to determine the leading business overheads insurance product in the market.

AIG state manager, Victoria and South Australia, Elise Sanders said that while often overlooked, business overheads is vital for small businesses reliant on the income of one person.

“It’s vitally important that if you’re the main income generator, and are not able to work due to disability, you still need to maintain expenses like non-income generating salaried employees, electricity, rentals, and so forth. So when you do come off disability, there is still a business to come back to.”

AIG’s philosophy of delivering a quality product as efficiently as possible is what differentiates it from the competition and the reason for its gold standing, according to Sanders.

“In order to enhance our contracts, AIG takes a very positive approach toward our product development, which is based on extensive market analysis. This enables us to stay one step ahead of the competitors.”

According to Sanders, to overcome the confusion many business owners face in choosing the right cover, AIG allows them to take out a business expenses policy as a stand-alone product, independent of their disability insurance.

“Our greatest asset is choice. We offer the policy as a stand-alone benefit or allow you to combine them, thus providing a more robust protection alternative.”

Suncorp small business insurance manager Gerard McDermott pointed out that there are significant levels of underinsurance in the small business community, and that Suncorp was working hard to promote the benefits of business insurance.

“We’re genuinely compassionate about addressing issues of underinsurance. In most cases they do not adequately plan, or have the foresight to see value in it when in fact it should be one of the first things they consider. So we spend time with our customers to make sure they do not end up without proper coverage”.

McDermott said of all the small businesses that suffer a major loss, over 70 per cent of them fail within three years of the loss.

“It’s an alarming statistic. Considering that one in six businesses don’t have any form of insurance at all, and two-thirds are underinsured in some way.”

Aviva general manager, wealth protection products, Natalie Eckersall said its customer service approach was most evident in Aviva’s application of partial disability benefits.

“While some providers will only pay your expenses if you’re completely unable to work, Aviva will actually do a top up, so if you are only able to work part-time, we will still provide cover.”

According to Eckersall, another important aspect of Aviva’s protection is the circumstances in which an insured qualifies for benefits.

“For example, in the instance of a doctor who has come into contact with a blood-borne disease, we make it clear in all our policy statements that even if they can physically still work, if the medical board instructs them not to, we would classify them disabled and pay out the benefits, including the cost of a locum,” Eckersall said.

Sanders said AIG’s strong commitment to customer service was emphasised in the company’s use of technology to speed up the claims process.

“We were the first to successfully bring out an electronic lodgement application and have built a reputation on being tech savvy, through our websites, e-mail response time and user-friendly quotation software.”

According to Sanders, AIG has strict service guidelines to adhere to, ensuring quick turnaround times.

“When making a claim at AIG, the claimant does not need to justify their loss of earnings at claim time and only need to justify their ongoing expenses. So they just need to sit down and show us what the expenses being incurred by the company are so we can assist with the claim payment.”

Similarly, Aviva also has an online signature-free underwriting application process called RiskFirst, which gives the insured the ability to fill out the entire form, with the potential to get the policy immediately issued.

“So, it’s really bringing insurance into the 21st century. It provides end-to-end application, thus greatly reducing the time for applications to go through. Traditionally, there is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the clients, adviser and insurers, particularly in instances like business expenses, where the policies and underwriting can be more complex. With RiskFirst, we collect all the info in one hit, making it as simple and streamlined as possible,” Eckersall said.