Smartbenefit was launched with the goal of empowering businesses in Pakistan. Startups and SMEs are challenged in accessing affordable health care and life care benefits for their staff and management apart from the above What Value Does SmartBenefits Have to offer?
We have transformed the whole genre of health and life insurance purchases. This change can be experienced from the base stage of buying an insurance plan to the ultimate of processing a claim. We are in continuous pursuit of making the whole user experience as easy as possible.
How Smartbenefits is Improving the Insurance Industry in Pakistan
Importance of Information
Information is an essential part of decision-making for formulating accurate and informed business strategies. Correct and up-to-date information is required for making informed decisions about insurance providers and their available services.
Pakistan’s insurance market has enormous untapped potential for growth. The sector is full of opportunities, and Smartbenefits play an essential role in connecting insurance providers with insurance seekers with the minimum possible hassle for both parties. It also supports the underutilized insurance industry by connecting them with a growing segment looking for affordable and innovative insurance solutions to offer to their employees.
Covering The Neglected Small and Medium Business Segment
Generally, the life insurance sector in Pakistan is more focused on personal lines of selling, while non-life insurance is more focused on corporate lines of business. Smart Benefit is bridging this divide by offering corporate services with a personalized touch so that small businesses are catered to with the skill and service level that big-ticket corporate clients get.
As an insurance intermediary, Smart Benefit is becoming an essential part of the insurance industry in Pakistan. Insurance intermediaries can essentially be referred to as persons that facilitate and assist insurers in the overall insurance policy life cycle, which would ideally start from prospecting an insurance sale and conclude on payment of a claim to the policyholder.
Another value that Smart Benefit is adding is that it is bringing the until now neglected small and medium business segment into the insurance fold. The small and medium segment employs a significant chunk of Pakistan’s workforce. However, unlike large corporates, most small and medium-sized businesses cannot offer their employees health and medical coverage benefits due to complexities in the process and affordability.
Offers SMEs Negotiating Room
There are a few common main issues that small businesses face when buying group health insurance. Firstly, their employee groups are usually smaller than the minimum group size that insurers prefer. So, most insurers will not even offer them group cover.
Second, SMEs do not have the power to negotiate reasonable terms for themselves. Even if they wanted to, most SME management does not have the skills, time, and resources needed to approach and discuss their insurance with insurers.
Third, SMEs might have little leverage with insurers to process claims that might fall in a grey area. Lastly, there is a lot of friction in the process as it takes around eight weeks for a company to purchase a policy from when they decide to get health coverage.
Realizing this problem and the need for simplifying the process to make health insurance more accessible, Smartbenefits was launched with a mission to support group healthcare. This mission began two years ago under Smartchoice to serve businesses with health insurance for their employees with comprehensive benefits at affordable pricing and transparent claims.
In the last two years, Smartbenefits has covered around 20,000 lives of employees and their families for more than 200 companies all over Pakistan. Smartbenefits addresses many challenges SMEs face when looking for employee health insurance. After all, these SMEs form the backbone of our economy, and protecting their skilled employees and their families is absolutely necessary.
How Smartbenefits adds Value to the Group Health Insurance Sector
Smartbenefits has ensured an improved customer experience for its users by creating touchpoints during the life cycle of the insurance cover. Its proprietary technology makes the entire experience simple and hassle-free, whether it is about pricing, customer onboarding, claims, or renewals.
Most companies that are in the market to buy employee health covers for the first time are overwhelmed by the amount of information they have to interpret. Items like coverages, limits, sub-limits, and exclusions are challenging to navigate.
Smartbenefits takes away that hassle by offering a side-by-side comparison of multiple insurance plans along with designated trained Benefits Specialists to walk customers through the process and advise them based on the specific needs of the company (depending on the sector they operate in and employee base).
Partnering with the top insurance companies of Pakistan, Smartbenefits offers tailor-made insurance plans even for a company as small as 5 team members starting from as low as Rs. 4,000 per employee per annum. Depending on the type of plan you opt for, an all-inclusive health policy can be availed, including hospitalization, maternity, and pre-existing disease coverage without any waiting period.
By bringing innovation to insurance, the Smartbenefits self-service portal enables businesses to offer healthcare coverage from Day 1 when the employee joins the organization with transparent billing and policy administration. With a dedicated claim assistance desk, employees can always reach their team of experts who can assist with claims, be it hospitalization, daycare surgeries, specialized test, or reimbursement of expenses before and after hospitalization.
Employees of Smartbenefits clients also get access to a Whatsapp-based “Smartbot” that answers basic FAQs regarding health insurance. It helps in determining what’s covered and what’s not without talking to a human and also helps in locating the nearest panel hospital for treatment based on the employee’s location.
Smartbenefits clients have reported a boost in overall employee motivation and productivity after the introduction of health benefits in their organization. Employee retention rates have increased, and it has also become easier to attract better talent, according to several surveyed clients.
With all-inclusive health insurance, employees have access to quality health care. They can work with peace of mind, knowing their medical costs are well-covered. Healthier employees are more productive, engaged, and focused, all of which are important to propel the growth of any business.
The startup aims to remove all the hassle associated with every step of the health and life insurance journey and make it simple and transparent for a non-specialist.
Sadia Zaheer holds a Masters in Business Administration from IBA, Karachi. After working in several financial institutions in Client Management, Corporate Lending, Islamic Banking and Product Management she jumped careers to pursue a career in writing.
She is a Finance, Business and HR Development writer with four years of experience. She reads a lot and takes care of her multiple cats to remain calm.
