SENSE SENSIBILITY


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How can IT contribute in the strategy plans of a new company like DLF Pramerica?

For a new company like DLF Pramerica Life Insurance,
technology plays a critical role in providing a credible
differentiator. Even though we are new or have a smaller branch
network compared to more established players, the expectations
that our customers and distributors have from us are the same.
Only technology can help us scale those service levels.
Sometime back, DPLI took a strategic decision to extend its distribution
reach to tier-3 and tier-4 towns and rural areas. Since we don’t
have branches in most of these areas, the only way to achieve this was
by using technology smartly. IT drew up a plan wherein we provided
all our sales personnel with a laptop/netbook and high speed data
card. Using a secure VPN, employees were allowed to work in a fully
operational virtual offi ce. Today, these sales personnel have access
to all the tools/applications which are available to their colleagues in
any branch. This has enabled the sales personnel in far-fl ung offi ces
to effectively service all distributors and customers.


With such intense competition in the insurance industry,
is retaining talent in the IT department a big challenge
for you? How do you manage it?

Retaining good talent in any company is always a challenge.
Good talent seeks engaged environment and challenging
opportunities which helps them grow. We have an advantage over
others in the current scenario because we are a growing organization
and any employee in IT gets to work on a variety of applications/
projects which they may not have been exposed to earlier.
IT employees can also work on various cross-functional projects
that may have nothing to do with technology. Also, we continuously
train employees on acquiring skills — not only on the technical
front — but also in soft-skills areas like managing confl icts, vendor
management and holding effective meetings.