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Interview with Praveen Gupta, Chief Executive Officer and Managing

Director, Raheja QBE General Insurance
What are the key issues or obstacles in the way of effective product innovation?
At the outset, you do not distribute an insurance product - you deliver it. Right from conceptualisation to
fulfilment a product is not a baby of just marketing or sales. At various stages different components ought
to seamlessly own and deliver their bit. Increasingly there could be more and more of client interface
from outside the boundaries of an insurer. You may call it ongoing notional extension of an insurer's
boundaries.

"Customer is not
always at the

centre. We still see

the manifestations
of 'take it or leave

it'. Policyholder
protection tends to
hinder tailoring

towards customer
satisfaction."

A postgraduate in History,
Praveen is a Fellow of both
the Chartered Insurance
Institute and the Insurance
Institute of India and has a
diploma in Direct Marketing
(IDM, UK). He has over three
decades of experience in
diverse markets of Thailand,
Hong Kong, UK, and India.
An established thought
leader, Praveen champions

The obstacle number two is the mindset of a product = wordings. Theoretically every insurer could have
an identical product wording but the differentiator is delivery. Not every insurer may have the same
capabilities as the other. The Eco system entails underwriting depth, risk management skills & practices,
global insights, claims expertise. Therefore, mere wordings do not make a product.
Bureaucracy of insurers, legalese of pricing, insistence on proven pricing models all together hinder
innovation. Again, a product must also avoid becoming a marketing function which minimises interface of
underwriters, analytics and claims.

Last but not the least, the size and scale of retail overawes serious specialist business which deserves its
space and time. Even in the non-specialist area products should have inbuilt flexibility to evolve.
How is technology helping product innovation within your company, or in the industry as a whole?
Globally one is seeing the focus on Big Data analytics and freeing of employees to bring about increased
customer interface that technology is specifically facilitating. Technology can only facilitate. What is
urgently needed is an attitudinal change.
Interestingly, various process and technology components are presenting themselves. Just that in
present they are not sequentially aligned. Till such time the streamlining comes through it will feel and
seem dysfunctional.

I wish to quote
renowned author
Amos Oz here. Who
says "A reader is a
co-producer of a

the cause of DIVERSITY in

his capacity as Deputy
Chairman of Diversity Action
Group (DAG) at Chartered
Insurance Institute (CII, UK).
Praveens strengths lie in

startups, relationships, and

corporate business in
particular. He is also a
Member of Australian Institute
of Company Directors
(MAICD). Praveen and team
are working towards creating
a contrarian business model
at the RQBE with many first
time initiatives in the
marketplace.

book". In the same

spirit I believe a
customer ought to
be a co-creator of
an insurance
product.

Customer centricity is a trend that is expected to dominate strategic goals of insurance companies in the
near future. Where do you think the industry stands on this? And how is it expected to move forward?
I wish to quote renowned author Amos Oz here. Who says "A reader is a co-producer of a book". In the
same spirit I believe a customer ought to be a co-creator of an insurance product.
Customer is not always at the centre. We still see the manifestations of 'take it or leave it'. Policyholder
protection tends to hinder tailoring towards customer satisfaction.
There is a sense of restlessness in the customer space. Customers want instant solutions to their real
needs and not just mere products. While there are multiple provider options, the eco system remains
dysfunctional. Empowerment is very limited. Moreover, there are self-imposed limitations to one-on-one
fulfilment.
Could you outline a few nascent/upcoming areas within insurance products?
New frontiers are opening up in areas such as Life-sciences; Cyber; Drones; M&As; Supply Chain;
Nanotechnology; Alternate Energy; Political Risk; Global Warming. There are pockets of excellence
developing in all these. Perhaps more vitality in underwriting, reinsurance, broking and analytics could
help the cause.

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