ICICI Lombard General Insurance has set up a 'virtual company' called ICICI Lombard Digital, within its company to spearhead insurance services. ICICI Lombard Digital is a specialised digital arm that has a separate underwriter, actuary, technology, legal and compliance teams, in addition to the business team. Conventionally, ICICI Lombard Digital’s team was a sales channel and used to work with central departments. With the advent of ICICI Lombard Digital, the aim is to work with e-commerce companies and app-based start-up service providers to help create unconventional products to cater to the needs of both urban and rural customers.
The digital transformation of ICICI Lombard has taken various forms and shapes over the past 10 years. It has been the first company to launch online insurance sales, email- or mobile-based customer services, chatbots and app-based claim settlement. But the act of setting up a separate digital arm is the first in the domestic insurance industry. The digital arm will operate as independent entity underwriting policies and managing the entire customer-services through digital tools, throughout the policy term.