Dubai based insurer uses BlackBerry solution to help improve customer service and provide same-day responseFounded in 2008 and based in Dubai, Takaful Emarat is a life and health insurance company. It is a joint venture between Al-Buhaira National Insurance Co., one of the UAE’s leading insurance companies, and UNIQA Group Austria, one of Central Europe’s most trusted insurance brands. It provides a wide range of savings, protection and health insurance products for individuals and corporations. The company uses Takaful principles, whereby the risk is spread between all policyholders. In contrast, conventional insurance policies shift the risk from the policyholder to the insurance firm.

Key Benefits

• Ease of use

• Improved customer service and loyalty

• More efficient communications

• Competitive advantage

The Challenge

Since being founded Takaful Emarat has grown due to strong demand in the region for insurance

products that are in compliance with Islamic laws of risk mitigation and financial solutions. At first its

products were sold primarily through a partnership with a regional bank and brokers. Then more recently,

Takaful Emarat decided to develop its own direct sales channel and hired a dedicated sales team. Selling

through a direct sales channel requires a different set of skills than indirect sales. Most notably, individual

customer relationship management is of the utmost importance.

According to Mohammed Junaid Khan, head of marketing at Takaful Emarat, their approach to life and

health insurance is a relatively new concept for customers. It is one that requires a considerable amount

of explanation and education. The company decided, therefore, that the sales team would have to be

highly available to customers, to answer their questions and requests for documentation. “We expect our

direct sales force to meet individuals in person. Personal contact is very important. Customers require

lots of product information and reassurance,” explains Khan. But how could Takaful Emarat ensure the

availability of its sales team if it was out in the field all day, meeting with other customers.

BlackBerry Customer Success – Financial Services Mobile email and voice communications

B1235-Takaful Emarat UAE Case Study (UK).indd 1 11/09/2012 15:25

The Solution

Takaful Emarat decided to equip the sales team with BlackBerry® smartphones for voice and email

communications. “We felt it was the right time to have the BlackBerry service, which enables us to

connect, to reply, to constantly speak to our clients and also to take decisions or get information from

wherever it is required in order to help and facilitate our consumers,” says Khan. The firm initially

issued 30 smartphones to the sales team and key decision makers in the firm’s offices.

“Today we have over 50 BlackBerry smartphones and this number is increasing every month,” says

Khan. Takaful Emarat picked the BlackBerry® solution because users found the smartphone very easy to

operate: they liked the way it combined the convenience of a full keyboard with the simplicity of a touch

screen. Takaful Emarat’s mobile network operator also provided a very attractive corporate package.

The Benefits

According to Khan, the BlackBerry solution has helped enable Takaful Emarat to ensure quality customer

service and efficient communications, even though the business has grown quickly. “You never sign a deal after

just one meeting,” explains Khan. “After the first meeting clients always have questions and they expect an

immediate answer, especially since they’re probably comparing our products and services with a competitor.”

Khan says that most of these follow-up questions are best answered using email because I think it’s faster

than explaining it over the phone. For example, a client may want to see the list of hospitals covered by

Takaful Emarat. Or deciding to cover a client may require a management decision that entails special

underwriting. In this case, the relevant information can be sent to the underwriters while the sales person

is in the field and the answer can be given to the client almost immediately. “The efficiency of that process

has increased dramatically for the client with improved communication, thanks to BlackBerry,” says Khan.

Before implementing the BlackBerry solution, a client might have to wait 24 hours before the sales person

had a chance to reply. “They would have to wait until the sales person stopped by the office in the morning

and checked their email,” explains Khan. “With BlackBerry, the sales person can reply almost immediately.

If the sales person doesn’t have the information on hand, he can contact someone in the office who can

follow up directly with the client.” Today, instead of having a response time of 24 hours, Takaful Emarat

guarantees that relationship managers will reply within 4-6 hours during the working day.

This is an important competitive advantage for the insurer, and one

that is helping to improve client satisfaction and grow the business.

As Khan puts it, “relationship management with the customer has

improved drastically thanks to BlackBerry. Our customers are happier

with our response times and are therefore more likely to choose us

over our competitors. Our agents are replying faster, responding

to their emails, and attending to their enquiries. Life and Health

Insurance solutions are long term contracts we don’t want our

customers to decide on anything which is ambiguous to them, while

staying connected with them we remove all doubts. These are really

the decision-making points for the clients and they contribute

to building customer loyalty.”

Industry: Financial Services

Region: UAE

Company Size: Medium

Solution: BlackBerry® smartphones

“Relationship management with the customer has improved drastically thanks to BlackBerry. Our customers are happier with our response times and are therefore more likely to choose us over our competitors.”Mohammed Junaid Khan head of marketing, Takaful Emarat

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