5 questions with Aviva's Director of Digital Trading David Hockey

Authored by Aviva

Our latest Broker Barometer survey highlighted that 21% of brokers want faster placement of business and a further 21% want to write more risks digitally. So, we sat down with our interim Director of Digital Trading, David Hockey, for a quickfire Q&A on our digital trading proposition to help understand how our proposition is evolving to meet your needs.

What are you most proud of in 2022?

“The headline grabber was brokers rating our digital trading proposition via Fast Trade and Etrade as number one in the Insurance Times Etrading Survey2. Whilst the recognition is valued, I’m equally proud of how our proposition has continued to evolve as well as providing a consistent service for our broker partners. This led to 300 individual changes last year across our platforms, recruitment of over 40 new underwriters and a focus on upskilling within our teams to create a broader level of expertise and decision-making authority.”

What’s Aviva’s ambition for digital trading?

“I believe we’ve a matched ambition with brokers. Our goal is to encourage a wider level of digital adoption by stretching the capability of business that can be placed online. Fundamentally, we know that brokers want a blended approach between digital and regional trading. We’re looking to deliver positive user experience for our brokers and reduce friction in trading, whilst providing access to expertise when brokers need it, especially for risks that often ‘fall through the gap’ between digital and regional appetite.”

You mentioned capturing risks that ‘fall through the gap’. How does that work?

“At the moment, this is a real focus for Commercial Combined Insurance (CCI) risks. Over the last 18 months, we’ve invested heavily in the product to increase the maximum limits, widened underwriting footprint with the addition of over 100 new trades and included new optional covers. This is giving brokers a platform to place more ‘complex’ risks through Fast Trade and Etrade and helping with more placement of business.

To underpin this, the introduction of new functionality online allows a broker to easily refer CCI risks into a new dedicated underwriting team.  Specifically for risks that don’t quite fit the online acceptance criteria, but we believe we still have a solution, referrals will be routed into the team who will work with the broker to find a solution either online or via our Mid-Market offering.”

What can brokers expect from Aviva this year?

“Our priority is looking at how we can raise the bar within our SME business. We want to maintain great service levels and we’re focused very much on ongoing recruitment as we grow our business, including continuing to front-fill roles in anticipation of future demand.

With 84% of brokers fearing their clients are underinsured1, we’ve started the year by delivering capability to identify underinsurance in the quote journey for our Property Owners product on Fast Trade. This delivery means we’re now supporting brokers and their clients for both digital and regional business.

Brokers can expect further refinements and investment into our Commercial Combined product to really stretch what is capable of placing business here. Our commitment to Specialty Lines will continue with a planned launch of a new product for Plant & Equipment, as well as supporting brokers and their clients by looking at more opportunities to grow and expand our Cyber offering.

Finally, we’re looking at further product areas where we can offer an online to offline placement solution for our brokers to help more business to be placed through digital channels first time.”

How can brokers share their feedback?

“It’s easy to say, but the input and feedback from our broker partners does shape what we do to evolve our proposition. Ultimately, we’re here to make it as easy as possible to place business online with us for brokers who prefer to trade through this route.

We’ll regularly get out to see brokers face to face throughout the year, but I do like to encourage regular feedback. Whether this is through Live Chat, the ‘Feedback’ option on Fast Trade, speaking to our underwriting teams or a Business Development Manager, or via the Insurance Times Etrading Survey. It all helps us to understand where we’re getting it right, where we need to improve, or what else we should consider for the future.

I look forward working with our brokers this year to deliver a digital trading offering that works for them and supports their ambitions.”