Sun Life partnered with Google to offer its advisors across Asia Google Workspace, one of a range of investments Sun Life is making to power its advisor force with digital, data and analytics as part of a Digital Enterprise strategy.
According to a survey conducted by Sun Life, the majority of insurance advisors in Asia are optimistic about the economy, the outlook for the life insurance industry and sales growth, despite being in the midst of a pandemic.
Between August and September 2020, Sun Life interviewed around 1,600 insurance agents and advisors working for a range of insurance carriers in Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam,
“For insurers, providing additional support to help advisors adapt their practices to be more digital-first is definitely a priority,” said Léo Grépin, President, Sun Life Asia.
Grépin said their Digital Enterprise strategy means positioning their advisors for long-term success with the best digital tools, data and insights to deliver leading client experience, manage and grow their business, and pursue continuing training to grow their career.
Using Workspace products including Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Calendar, Chat, and Meet, Sun Life advisors will be able to communicate more easily with clients, automate tasks and work from anywhere so that they spend less time managing work and more time listening and caring for their clients.
The survey found that most advisors (56%) are optimistic about the outlook for their local economy, and majority (70%) are optimistic about the financial outlook for the life insurance industry and their abilities to grow insurance sales in 2021.
There is an expectation that health concerns are now top of mind, with 79% of advisors expecting growth in sales for medical products and 77% expecting growth in critical illness insurance sales.
The pandemic is driving advisors to embrace digitalization, as more than half strongly believe they will use both digital and non-digital tools to communicate with clients in the future, will prospect for clients in new ways, and will leverage social media more often to promote themselves.
Advisors recognize the need to adapt their sales practices to capture opportunities in the pandemic, with 57% strongly believing that the demand for insurance and protection products will increase, and 59% strongly believing that they need to use both digital and non-digital tools to communicate with their clients.
Over half of advisors also have strong expectations they will need to leverage social media more often to promote themselves (53%) and prospect for clients in new and different ways (52%).
