It’s not just brokers that are tired of being told that they are not up to speed when it comes to digital – the head of distribution at
Aviva has stressed that many brokers are actually very digital-savvy, despite the common rhetoric.
“One of the things I get frustrated by is that people tend to think of digital as just in the direct space,” Phil Bayles, chief distribution officer at the insurer, told Insurance Business. “Actually, you see lots of very, very capable digital brokers,” he continued.
Online business is not just for one channel or another, Bayles said, but rather something that everyone needs to do, adding that Aviva itself transacts over £150 million of SME business digitally through brokers.
“Part of our job is to help brokers navigate their digital choices, because not every digital idea is a good one, not every platform’s going to succeed, but some will and some will make a huge difference,” he explained.
Bayles, whose role sees him head up Aviva’s relationships with the entire UK broker market, stressed that when it comes to the insurer-broker relationship, not all brokers are the same – meaning neither are the relationships.
But the uniting factor among brokers is that they are “unbelievably client-centric,” which filters down through the insurer to the customer, he said.
“[Brokers] live or die by their client relationships, so they understand those clients exceptionally well,” he said. “On a practical but also on an emotional level, they know what the triggers are for those relationships, and obviously, they then translate those customer needs and wants through to us as an insurer really well, so that we can then build the product that the customer needs and wants.”
That thorough understanding of the client provides an undeniable value: “The best brokers work in partnership with their clients and insurers,”
Bayles commented, “and then we come up with something that’s better for the client than if it was just transacted without that deep knowledge.”
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