Action powered by insight

MANILA, Philippines - Ever since I assumed the position of President and CEO of Sun Life Financial-Philippines in August this year, I have thought about how I can live up to the tradition of excellence and success of a company that has been in existence in the country for over 114 years. Sun Life has steadily grown over the years, consistently remaining as one of the top three life insurance companies in the Philippines, with over a million individual and group life insurance policyholders nationwide. And from a mere life insurance company, it has diversified into a full-fledged financial services institution now also offering mutual funds and pre-need products.

Considering the company’s impressive growth and the achievements of my predecessors, I now face the formidable challenge of building upon the foundation that they have created and nurtured, and then finally attaining the company’s collective vision of becoming the most admired number one. Definitely, this requires me and my management team to embrace change and map out strategies that could make a difference in a highly competitive industry. So what have we done so far?

On the marketing front, we have taken our cue from the Sun Life global re-branding strategy which was initiated by our parent in Toronto early this year. Every company claims to focus on understanding its customers, but at Sun Life, we not only aim to understand our customers, but to use that insight to provide them the tools to empower them to act to protect their future. Strengthening customer connectivity is one of our priority initiatives. After all, Sun Life would not have been in the Philippines for over a century if it hadn’t been for its generations of loyal clients.

We conducted a thorough study on consumer behavior and priorities with regard to their financial concerns, including the impact of the recent global recession.

The studies were conducted in addition to Sun Life’s regular survey called SOLAR (Study of Lifestyles, Attitudes and Relationships) that included respondents from Manila, Cebu and Davao. We wanted to get a better understanding of how Filipinos feel about insurance and investment products as this time. We wanted to know exactly what they are doing when it comes to their financial concerns. Do they understand the concept of “financial freedom’’? Are they saving enough for the future?

True enough, we found some interesting insights about the Filipino consumer in terms of their behavior with regard to their financial concerns.

Eighty-six percent are concerned and very concerned about inflation, however 67 percent mistakenly think savings and time deposits give the best returns in the long term. Seventy-six percent are concerned about paying for health treatment, yet 85 percent rely on savings to pay for treatment while 35 percent rely on government health insurance.

In other words, people’s perceived solutions to their concerns are not necessarily the right ones. Further, they do not necessarily act as planned. Fifty percent say they are likely to buy either life or health insurance in the next 12 months, yet the historical growth rate of insurance sales is only three percent to four percent per annum. Insurance penetration therefore remains low at 45 percent of the AB market; 30 percent of the C1 market; and 17 percent of the C2 market. 

It was apparent that we needed to continue educating the Filipino about proper financial planning. If they do not understand why they need to prepare early for the future and how, it would be difficult to get them to act to protect it.

This is the very reason why we have invested in a financial literacy campaign dubbed “It’s Time.”

The campaign is intended to create an engaged public who can better understand financial planning, and empower them to act to protect their future. We named this financial advocacy “It’s Time” to urge everyone to action. Basically we want every Filipino to assume an active role when it comes to his or her financial needs.

To bring the campaign closer to our target publics, proponents of financial literacy have been tapped. Among them are celebrities and social entrepreneurs who are influential in their respective social circles.

So far, reviews on this campaign have been excellent!

Complementing this financial literacy campaign is our customer journey project in coordination with our corporate office in Toronto and our regional office in Hong Kong. This global project helps us gauge how we can best meet our customers’ needs with the right products and services, and how best to interact with them at every touch point. This customer journey project, as well as our financial advocacy, has greatly helped us in our product development process with more emphasis now directed towards products on health care, wealth accumulation, and retirement. 

All these initiatives – knowing, understanding and engaging customers – are embodied in our aspiration to be an “insight company” and we are making progress in our efforts. For me and my team, it is Action Powered by Insight!