How Future Generali Life Insurance Made Its Mark

The fledgling insurer needed to quickly reach out to remote areas and establish a large customer, and service base. "We decided to adopt a multi-channel, multi-product and a pan-India approach. The company planned to roll out 93 branches by December 2008," says Rajeev Shirodkar, CIO, Future Generali.

He knew that IT would have to script the growth story of his company. Setting up 93 branches within a short span of five months is an incredible target by any standard.

Shirodkar had to ensure that all 93 locations had proper connectivity and reliable communication channels. But, the renowned implementation partners who were managing the project did not provide him with much needed support.

Shirodkar realized that results his parners were delivering were falling short of the company's expectations and, "we immediately terminated this relationship and an in-house team took over," he says.  But that was just the beginning. "We decided to set up temporary branches to kickstart the operation. This ensured that we did not lose any business opportunities  while the permanent branch setup was in progress," says Shirodkar.

Migrating from temporary to permanent branches was a hassle, especially in the first quarter when business is at its peak. But with IT holding the reins, it wasn't difficult for the company to pull out of trouble. IT quickly rolled out single sign-on, e-mail, Blackberry and other necessary infrastrucutre for its employees.

A full-fledged helpdesk ensured 99 percent availability. Not only that, the project also aided in delivering local servicing capabilities - even in rural areas.

It improved customer service as users don't have to depend on a single branch to attend to them. "We conducted a user satisfaction survey and scored four on five," says Shirodkar.

The Person Behind It

Rajeev Shirodkar, CIO

Future Generali India Life Insurance

“We had an extremely ambitious timeframe of five months to roll out 93 fully connected branches."