Bajaj Allianz to use SMS for motor claims alerts

Technology is driving customer service in the insurance industry. After the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Aviva triggered the use of short messaging service (SMS) for alerting policyholders on policy renewals and premium payments, it is now the turn of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance to use SMS for conveying the status of motor claims.

Bajaj Allianz is the first general insurer to launch this facility, whereby SMS is linked to the claims module, enabling the company to update the customer on the status of the claim during the entire period.

Kamesh Goyal, chief executive officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, said, "We are using all forms of technology to provide the best possible service to our policyholders and reduce the turnaround time for reaching settlement on motor claims."

Bajaj Allianz proposes to roll out the SMS facility for other products shortly.

Bajaj Allianz developed the software in-house and has integrated the same with the main policy transaction software. The moment a customer calls the call centre to inform about the accident, the call center personnel takes the details of where the vehicle is located, the cause of the accident, etc.

After the details are fed, the system generates a claim registration number and sends it via SMS instantly to the customer. The surveyor is also notified through SMS about the details of the customer and vehicle, the location, and the cause of accident, etc.

The moment a surveyor is appointed, information such as when the vehicle would be inspected, etc. would be sent by SMS to the policyholder.

In addition, if there is any change in the status of the claims like the cheque is ready or pending, the same would be intimated to the policyholder via SMS. This whole process of sending SMS is done instantly in a matter of seconds by the software itself.

Bajaj Allianz has settled claims worth Rs 208 crore since inception and has made payments for claims over Rs 100 crore in the current fiscal, which the company claims to be the highest payout in the private general insurance sector.

The premium income earned has grown to Rs 426 crore (excluding service tax) as on February 2004 and is expected to cross Rs 450 crore by end of the financial year.