Customer orientation and satisfaction

It is crucial to our company’s success that we are perceived by our customers as a preferred business partner. If we are to be considered the best option, we must offer prices commensurate with the risks, adequate capacities and a reliable value proposition. As a business-to-business service provider, the fair design of our products – i. e. of contracts with primary insurers – is an essential prerequisite for our business. Our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) promotes an interactive exchange with our customers. Through a regular dialogue and in the context of events we initiate an exchange of knowledge on insurance topics and enable our customers to give feedback on our products and services in face-to-face discussions. We usually meet with our customers multiple times a year, not only on the occasion of the treaty renewals but also in connection with current developments and topical issues.

Customer relationships at our company are normally cultivated on the level of individual divisions. In property and casualty reinsurance we cultivate our customer relationships both through insurance brokers and directly by making regular business trips or holding videoconferences. Furthermore, our employees attend trade fairs and expert conferences worldwide. In life and health reinsurance – in contrast to property and casualty reinsurance – we have a direct local presence in most markets due to our decentralised approach and are thus able to engage in a quick and flexible exchange with our customers. In addition to business trips to visit individual clients, we also organise seminars – usually on specific topics – and training workshops in the markets where we operate so as to keep our customers informed about the latest issues and developments relating to life and health reinsurance as well as underwriting.

In 2017, for example, we organised events in our “Building Bridges” seminar series, at which underwriters with our clients are able to expand their knowledge of specific types of reinsurance business and risks. In life and health reinsurance our “ReCent Medical News” newsletter informs customers about medical research findings with a bearing on insurance.

We regularly conduct customer surveys in order to measure the satisfaction of our customers regionally and Group-wide; these are carried out both independently and, when it comes to certain markets, by drawing on the services of external market research institutes. We process the results of our customer surveys and studies in-house so as to identify potential action fields. The steps that were taken not only served to improve the perception of our brand, they also made our services and products stronger. In recent years, for example, we have increasingly expanded our automated underwriting systems according to the wishes of our customers and we have brought new product ideas to market.