3 minute read
Exploring AIA’s smart app Xplore with Ally
INTERVIEW Exploring AIA’s smart app Xplore with Ally
The smart calculator helps Singaporeans figure out their financial weaknesses.
How often have insurance agents gone up to someone and offered them insurance products, only to be turned down saying they already have insurance or are happy to remain uninsured as they believe their financial position is ‘quite stable’?
Probably a lot. This attitude towards financial planning is what AIA Singapore has been trying to solve with their app, Xplore with Ally, a multi-needs financial calculator that helps Singaporeans understand their financial needs and goals.
Created to become a digital partner for their agents, Xplore with Ally was designed to take a snapshot of customers’ current financial health and coverage adequacy to better give them an idea of what vulnerabilities remain as they try to reach a certain goal.
In an exclusive interview with Singapore Business Review, AIA Singapore’s Chief Customer and Digital Officer Melita Teo explained how they used Xplore with Ally’s unique personalised features to entice customers to take the next step in their financial wellness journey.
Could you tell us how Xplore with Ally came to be?
In a bid to better understand our customers’ attitudes and behaviour towards financial planning, we learned that our customers need an avenue to understand their financial needs. Whilst there are financial calculators available in the market, most are targeted to focus on singular needs, as opposed to a holistic overview. We also found that the majority of customers continued to reach out to an AIA insurance representative to have more in-depth discussions and reviews of their financial health and needs so that they can purchase policies that are best suited and catered to their goals. That was how Xplore with Ally was conceptualised. It was designed to provide a snapshot of customers’ current financial health, their multiple needs and goals in different stages of life, and personalised overview/insights for AIA insurance representatives to follow-up with better guidance and advice.
What makes it a must-need financial app?
In a mature and saturated market like Singapore, it is especially easy to be overwhelmed with numerous goals, needs and choices. For our customers, especially young adults and families, protecting one’s finances and planning for the future has always been key challenges, with multiple decisions at every life stage. However, many current financial planning tools are lengthy and complex, resulting in a lack of motivation for many to complete. In less than three minutes, Xplore with Ally enables our customers to view a simplified personal snapshot of their current financial health and coverage adequacy. This enables them to understand if they are adequately insured or under-covered in certain areas, with the app showing a potential coverage at a glance based on their financial goals and priorities.
Could you tell us about the app’s personalisation features that give it an edge over your competitors?
In Singapore, whilst most individuals understand the importance of financial planning, many do not know where to begin assessing their financial health, and how to utilise the information to plan for their goals.
As a multi-needs financial calculator, Xplore with Ally helps our customers to better understand individuals’ unique financial needs to determine their current resources, allowing them to have a preliminary review of their financial health based on their lifestyle needs and priorities, enabling them to take a step closer towards financial freedom.
Based on a series of simple questions on an individual’s basic finances, goals, priorities, and living lifestyle preferences, the app analyses the available data and information to produce an Ally Score. Built on the mathematics of Prospect Theory, Ally Score measures one’s financial satisfaction score. This is calculated based on an individual’s desired financial goals in addition to their prevailing protection coverage, against simulated personal and market risks to indicate one’s future financial health.
In three minutes, Xplore with Ally enables customers to view a simplified personal snapshot of their current financial health and coverage adequacy (Photo: Melita Teo)
