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Portugal - 13/07/06 AXA and SGS - Efficient Partnership at Portugal Eight years ago AXA Portugal and SGS Group established a pioneer partnership on the Portuguese insurance market: Automotive Inspections Outsourcing. João Leandro, AXA Executive President, makes a positive balance and is completely satisfied with the achieved results. “It was the first Outsourcing agreement on Automotive Inspections at the Portuguese Insurance market, and involved some innovators aspects on this area. We are completely satisfied with our option. We choose SGS Portugal because we knew that was part of a worldwide group, with a strong image and experience at Automotive Inspections around the world. As a matter of fact, we found at SGS an interlocutor capable of understand the market, something not usual at that time”, refers João Leandro. AXA´s option for the Outsourcing Inspections due to four reasons, the first of all quite obvious: the damage evaluation it’s not the core business of the Insurance Company. Second, at a time that the tradition kept the inspectors at the Insurance Companies, AXA Portugal considers that was the time to affirm Independence from the Inspections. “At AXA we understand that, independently from Inspectors professional quality and exemption, this situation it wasn’t so positive, because established the notion that the Inspection it wasn’t independent. The fact of the Inspection began to be responsibility oh a third part company, with its values, principles and own methodologies, transmit to the market the notion of objective independence, with a practical result, the diminution of conflicts between Insurance Companies, conflictuality created by the association of the Inspector to the insurance company” Explains the AXA manager. The third motive was directly connected to the first one: not being the core business from the Insurance Companies, it was hard to establish internally good service levels and impose quality parameters on the services. “At establishing a contract with a third part company (SGS on this case) we agreed minimum Quality levels on the service and terms to the Inspections. We assume this compromise with our clients. Simultaneously, and this was another innovator aspect, we began to schedule inspections, to receive and send reports and resolve all accountability matters trough the internet. What it’s now normal, eight years ago was totally innovator and inspired enormous alterations of the contracts with other suppliers. As a matter of fact, it was an important work made by this partnership between AXA and SGS, because it had enormous reflects on the services quality and on the perception the client has of AXA services” says AXA CEO. At last, but not less important, the Outsourcing allowed to the Insurance Company a much better costs control at the Inspections expenses and at the accidents. Results keep growing The Automotive Branch, with 206 Millions Euros Prizes on the last year, has a significative weight (39% of total volume and 56% on Non Life branch) and corresponds to about 550 thousands Insured Vehicles. Despite of the Automotive branch importance, AXA´s disaster tax is, as João Leandro explain, “between the reasonable limit ranges. The results from the past 10 years are good. On 2005, the disaster tax has improved slightly, and it’s situated on 60%, with an average cost and frequency also stable. We are slightly bellow the market disaster tax”. Keeping AXA`s disaster tax with no oscillations is, according to the CEO, due to pro-active politics, such as tariff tables flattering good drivers, and penalize bad ones. On AXA`s CEO perspective, the disaster tax reduction starts at investing on Civic Education, higher prevention, and increasing regular inspections. “The prevention its AXA`s preferred area to the next 30 years. We are going to work on prevention in a much more organized way. And we will not stand on our own initiative. We are available to support others initiatives on prevention area”, concludes João Leandro. |
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