to this challenge is by practising true customercentricity this means conducting need analysis through technologyenabled financialplanning tools and offering customers a key features document or a most important document to explain product details televerification of customers during the onboarding stage would also help increase customer comfort customercentricity should reflect in the products at the design stage as well at hdfc life we have taken steps in this direction and come up with specific products for young aspirants urban women and wisdom investor segments the principles of customercentricity need to be embedded into the culture of the organisation insurers also need to work with partners to put in place more stringent risk management practices to avoid instances of misselling and unethical practices innovation in distribution architecture to make sales channel effective given the product charge structures insurers need to increase the efficiency of the distribution channels and improve competency levels to achieve the desired productivity levels the traditional tied agencies has been going through a phase of decline for most private players hiring new agents is tougher due to stringent licensing criteria and activating old agents is tougher due to reduced compensation structures a new value proposition would need to be created to attract productive agents strong analytics support can help insurers mine existing customer database better and crosssell upsell to these customers based on their lifecycle needs insurers have the scope to leverage existing bancassurance tieups and drive penetration through existing white spaces the online segment is growing at ascorching pace with many customers opting for a diy doityourself approach for an online customer parameters such as service quality seamless online experience insurers brand and claim ratios are significant overall insurers need to move towards a scientific approach with agreater focus on technology partner integration and daily sales management of key performance metrics given the pace and quantum of changes moving forward on the three themes requires a fine balancing act the faster the industry moves forward the earlier it would reach a stage that allows for greater selfregulation and an increased focus on market development the alternative is continuing to operate in a prescriptive regulatory environment this is a choice that the industry needs to make if it wishes to switch to a sustainable growth path