customer relationship management of birla sun life

Introduction to the project’s topic “CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT”

The project title is in the depth study of “CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT” in context of BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED.INTRODUCTION:-

In the present constantly developing scenario rapidly changing technology and consumer’s tastes

and preferences have become order of the day .To survive in the market , a firm has not only to

be constantly innovating for new process , designs and materials , but also keeping it well aware

about the latest trend and tastes .Consumer behavior provides invaluable clues and guidelines to

marketers on new technological and product frontiers , which they should explore for survival of

their business with adequate profits .

The heterogeneity among people across the world makes understanding consumer buying

behavior is really a challenging task. The consumer identity, his beliefs, specific needs, attitudes

and the kind of product and brands available in that product category influence his buying

behavior .The marketing efforts of a firm have a profound impact on the buying behavior of

customers .Therefore marketers attempt to obtain an in-depth knowledge of customers buying

behavior .The success or failure of a product or service is directly related to the buying behavior

of customer. Hence to understanding of the buying behavior of the customers helps marketers

come up with innovative product mixes.

Finally, buyer behavior acts as an imperative tool in the hands of marketers to forecast the future

buying behavior of the customers and device marketing strategies accordingly in order to create

long term relationship with the customers.

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What is CRM?

• CRM “is a business strategy that aims to understand, anticipate and manage the needs of an organisation’s current and potential customers”.

• It is a “comprehensive approach which provides seamless integration of every area of business that touches the customer- namely marketing, sales, customer services and field support through the integration of people, process and technology”.

• CRM is a shift from traditional marketing as it focuses on the retention of customers in addition to the acquisition of new customers.

• “The expression Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is becoming standard terminology, replacing what is widely perceived to be a misleadingly narrow term, relationship marketing (RM)”.

• The term CRM is used to describe the whole business strategy oriented on consumer needs.

Definition of CRM2

“CRM is concerned with the creation, development and enhancement of individualised customer relationships with carefully targeted customers and customer groups resulting in maximizing their total customer life-time value”.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to enable organizations to better serve its customers through the introduction of reliable processes and procedures for interacting with those customers

Why is CRM important?

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• “Today’s businesses compete with multi-product offerings created and delivered by networks, alliances and partnerships of many kinds. Both retaining customers and building relationships with other value-adding allies is critical to corporate performance”.

• “The adoption of CRM is being fuelled by a recognition that long-term relationships with customers are one of the most important assets of an organization.

• To gain the competitive edge.

• To discover the new selling opportunities.

• To achieve an integral internal business system.

• To make the automation of routine tasks possible.

Organizations are now trying to create wonderful experience for their customers and focusing more on what customer has than on what is being sold to them. This arises from the deep desire on customer’s part to have a good relation with the company. Organizations are now capitalizing

this need and understanding the importance of CRM application.

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What does CRM involve?

CRM involves the following:

• Organisations must become customer focused.

• Organisations must be prepared to adapt so that it take customer needs into account and delivers them.

• Market research must be undertaken to assess customer needs and satisfaction.

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Information Technology and CRM

• Technology plays a pivotal role in CRM

• Technological approaches involving the use of databases, data mining and one-to-one marketing can assist organisations to increase customer value and their own profitability.

• This type of technology can be used to keep a record of customers names and contact details in addition to their history of buying products or using services .

• This information can be used to target customers in a personalised way and offer them services to meet their specific needs .

• This personalised communication provides value for the customer and increases customers loyalty to the provider .

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Face-to-face CRM

• CRM can also be carried out in face-to-face interactions without the use of technology

• Staff members often remember the names and favourite services/products of regular customers and use this information to create a personalised service for them.

• For example, in a hospital library you will know the name of nurses that come in often and probably remember the area that they work in.

• However, face-to-face CRM could prove less useful when organisations have a large number of customers as it would be more difficult to remember details about each of them.

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Benefits of CRM

Benefits of CRM include :

• reduced costs, because the right things are being done (ie., effective and efficient operation)

• increased customer satisfaction, because they are getting exactly what they want (ie. meeting and exceeding expectations)

• ensuring that the focus of the organisation is external

• growth in numbers of customers

• maximisation of opportunities (eg. increased services, referrals, etc.)

• increased access to a source of market and competitor information

• highlighting poor operational processes

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Implementing CRM

• When introducing or developing CRM, a strategic review of the organisation’s current position should be undertaken

• Organisations need to address four issues:

1. What is our core business and how will it evolve in the future?

2. What form of CRM is appropriate for our business now and in the future?

3. What IT infrastructure do we have and what do we need to support the future organisation needs?

4. What vendors and partners do we need to choose?

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EVOLUTION OF CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the

business world in the 1990’s with the promise of forever changing the way businesses small and

large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to be an

unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. First among

these was that it was simply so difficult and expensive to track and keep the high volume of

records needed accurately and constantly update them.In the last several years, however, newer

software systems and advanced tracking features have vastly improved CRM capabilities and the

real promise of CRM is becoming a reality. As the price of newer, more customizable Internet

solutions have hit the marketplace; competition has driven the prices down so that even relatively

small businesses are reaping the benefits of some custom CRM programs.

In the beginning.

The 1980’s saw the emergence of database marketing, which was simply a catch phrase to define

the practice of setting up customer service groups to speak individually to all of a company’s

customers.

In the case of larger, key clients it was a valuable tool for keeping the lines of communication

open and tailoring service to the clients needs. In the case of smaller clients, however, it tended

to provide repetitive, survey-like information that cluttered databases and didn’t provide much

insight. As companies began tracking database information, they realized that the bare bones

were all that was needed in most cases: what they buy regularly, what they spend, what they do.

Advances in the 1990’s

In the 1990’s companies began to improve on Customer Relationship Management by making it

more of a two-way street. Instead of simply gathering data for their own use, they began giving

back to their customers not only in terms of the obvious goal of improved customer service, but

in incentives, gifts and other perks for customer loyalty.

This was the beginning of the now familiar frequent flyer programs, bonus points on credit cards

and a host of other resources that are based on CRM tracking of customer activity and spending

patterns. CRM was now being used as a way to increase sales passively as well as through active

improvement of customer service.

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INSURANCE SECTOR

INDUSTRY PROFILE History of insurance Early methods of transferring or distributing risk were practiced by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the3rd and 2nd millennia BCE respectively. Chinese merchants traveling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practiced by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen. Monarchs were the first to insure their people and made it official by registering the insuring process in governmental notary offices. The insurance tradition was performed each year in Norouz (beginning of the Iranian New Year); the heads of different ethnic groups as well as others willing to take part, presented gifts to the monarch. The most important gift was presented during a special ceremony and when a gift was worth more than 10,000 Derrik (Monarch’s gold coin weighing 8.35-8.42) the issue was registered in a special office. This was advantageous to those presented such special gifts. For others, the presents were fairly assessed by the confidants of the court. Then the assessment was registered in special offices. The aim of registering was that whenever the one who presented the gift registered by the court was in trouble, the monarch and the court would help him or her. Jahez, a historian and writer, writes in one of his books on ancient Iran: and whenever the owner of the present is in trouble or wants to construct a building, set up a feast, have his children married, etc. the one in charge of this in the court would check the registration. If the registered amount exceeded 10,000 Derrik, he or she would receive an amount of twice as much." The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health and life insurance c. 600 AD when they organized guilds called "benevolent societies" which acted to care for the families and funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose. The Talmud deals with several aspects of insuring goods. Before insurance was established in the late 17 thcentury, "friendly societies" existed in England, in which people donated amounts of money to a general sum that could be used in case of emergency.

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Types of insurance Any risk that can be quantified probably has a type of insurance to protect it. Among the different types of insurance are: Automobile insurance , also known as auto insurance, car insurance and in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the vehicle itself. Over most of the United States purchasing an auto insurance policy is required to legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. Recommendations for which policy limits should be used are specified in a number of books. In some jurisdictions, bodily injury compensation for automobile accident victims has been changed to No Fault systems, which reduce or eliminate the ability to sue for compensation but provide automatic eligibility for benefits.

Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property. Credit insurance pays some or all of a loan back when certain things happen to the borrower such as unemployment, disability, or death. Financial loss insurance protects individuals and companies against various financial risks Health insurance covers medical bills incurred because of sickness or accidents.

Liability insurance covers legal claims against the insured .Life insurance provides a cash benefit to a decedent's family or other designated beneficiary, and may specifically provide for burial,funeral and other final expenses. .

Total permanent disability insurance provides benefits when a person is permanently disabled and can no longer work in their profession, often taken as an adjunct to life insurance.

Marine Insurance covers the loss or damage of goods at sea. Marine insurance typically compensates the owner of merchandise for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier.

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Types of insurance companies

Insurance companies may be classified as :

• Life insurance companies, who sell life insurance, annuities and pensions products.

• Non-life or general insurance companies, who sell other types of insurance. In most countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulations, tax and accounting rules. The main reason for the distinction between the two types of company is that life business is very long term in nature — coverage for life assurance or a pension can cover risks over many decades. By contrast, non-life insurance cover usually covers a shorter period, such as one year. Insurance companies are generally classified as either mutual or stock companies. This is more of a traditional distinction as true mutual companies are becoming rare. Mutual companies are owned by the policyholders, while stockholders, (who may or may not own policies) own stock insurance companies.

Captive Insurance companies may be defined as limited purpose insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups. This definition can sometimes be extended to include some of the risks of the parent company's customers.

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OVERVIEW OF INDIAN INSURANCE SECTOR

The Insurance sector in India governed by Insurance Act, 1938, the Life Insurance Corporation

Act, 1956 and General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972, Insurance Regulatory and

Development Authority (IRDA) Act, 1999 and other related Acts. With such a large population

and the untapped market area of this population Insurance happens to be a very big opportunity

in India. Today it stands as a business growing at the rate of 15-20 per cent annually. Together

with banking services, it adds about 7 per cent to the country’s GDP .In spite of all this growth

the statistics of the penetration of the insurance in the country is very poor. Nearly 80% of Indian

populations are without Life insurance cover and the Health insurance. This is an indicator that

growth potential for the insurance sector is immense in India. It was due to this immense growth

that the regulations were introduced in the insurance sector and in continuation “Malhotra

Committee” was constituted by the government in 1993 to examine the various aspects of the

industry. The key element of the reform process was Participation of overseas insurance

companies with 26% capital. Creating a more efficient and competitive financial system suitable

for the requirements of the economy was the main idea behind this reform.

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Milestones in the life insurance business in India

Year Milestones in the life insurance business in India1912 The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first statute to regulate

the life insurance business

1928 The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the government to collect statistical information about both life and non-life insurance businesses

1938 Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the Insurance Act with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public

1956 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies taken over by the central government and nationalized. LIC formed by an Act of Parliament, viz. LIC Act, 1956, with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 crore from the Government of India.

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Year Milestones in the general insurance business in India1907 The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd. set up, the first company to transact all

classes of general insurance business

1957 General Insurance Council, a wing of the Insurance Association of India, frames a code of conduct for ensuring fair conduct and sound business practices

1968 The Insurance Act amended to regulate investments and set minimum solvency margins and the Tariff Advisory Committee set up

1972 The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 nationalised the general insurance business in India with effect from 1st January 1973. 107 insurers amalgamated and grouped into four companies viz. the National Insurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and the United India Insurance Company Ltd. GIC incorporated as a company.

Milestones in the general insurance business in India

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PRESENT SCENARIO OF INSURANCE INDUSTRY

India with about 200 million middle class household shows a huge untapped potential for players in the insurance industry. Saturation of markets in many developed economies has made the Indian market even more attractive for global insurance majors. The insurance sector in India has come to a position of very high potential and competitiveness in the market. Indians, have always seen life insurance as a tax saving device, are now suddenly turning to the private sector that are providing them new products and variety for their choice. Consumers remain the most important centre of the insurance sector. After the entry of the foreign players the industry is seeing a lot of competition and thus improvement of the customer service in the industry. Computerization of operations and updating of technology has become imperative in the current scenario. Foreign players are bringing in international best practices in service through use of latest technologies. The insurance agents still remain the main source through which insurance products are sold. The concept is very well established in the country like India but still the increasing use of other sources is imperative.

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SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTHS

1. Financial soundness2. Large customer base3. Customer loyalty4. Continues growth5. Flexibility6. Good Image

WEAKNESS 1.Lack of branches in rural areas.

2. Because of non availability of electronic cash services the monthly premium facility cannot be provided to the spoke branch customers.3.Non availability of cash deposit in spoke branches.4.Non availability of intranet facilities.

OPPORTUNITIES 1. Looking to establish their branches in small cities and villages2. Looking to cover large insured people3. Looking to launch new products in market to attract customer4. Looking to reach at first position.

THREATS 1. Mutual funds. 2. LIC 3. Max new York life insurance 4. Share Market 5.People are not Interested making investment in insurance sector 6. Kotak Mahindra life insurance 7. ICICI Prudential life insurance

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CHAPTER-2 CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION

2.1 CONCEPT

Customer Relationship management is a comprehensive strategy and process of acquiring,

retaining and partnering with selective customers to create superior value for the company and

the customer. Before we begin to examine the conceptual foundations of CRM, it will be useful

to define what is CRM? A narrow perspective of customer relationship management is database

marketing emphasizing the promotional aspects of marketing linked to database efforts.

Another narrow, yet relevant, viewpoint is to consider CRM only as customer retention in which

a variety of after marketing tactics is used for customer bonding or staying in touch after the sale

is made.

As is implicit in the above definition, the purpose of CRM is to improve marketing productivity. Marketing productivity is achieved by increasing marketing efficiency and by enhancing marketing effectiveness. In CRM, marketing efficiency is achieved because cooperative and collaborative processes help in reducing transaction costs and overall development costs for the company. Two important processes for CRM include proactive customer business development and building partnering relationship with most important customers. These lead to superior value creation.

Selecting an interfaced best of breed approach for pure functionality or a front office application

suite solely for integration limits enterprise choices. Enterprises need to start with a clear picture

of the basic truths of integration, interfacing and functionality. An integrated application suite is

a set of application that employs a common architecture, referencing a common logical database

with a single schema. Some suites are more often interfaced application bundle i.e. a set of

interfaced application from a single vendor containing more than one technical architecture or

more than one logical database- frequently assembled by the vendor through the process of

acquisition or partnership .

An alternative approach to suites is an interfaced best of breed solution – an approach whereby

an enterprise selects from multiple vendors a set of applications that must be interfaced to work

together, either by the enterprise, one of the selected vendors or a third party integrator.

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The individual applications are not the best in any objective sense. Rather, some enterprises

select the applications because they best meet the particular needs.

The challenge of this approach is that, in some cases, the enterprise fails to complete the

necessary interfaces to get the individual applications working together; consequently, the

applications remain stove pipes. Best of cluster is similar to best of breed except that here best is

chosen from the cluster and they are interfaced.

The solutions for the verticals described above are discussed below:

For Consumer goods: Consumer goods offers Business solution spanning the entire

demand chain from the end consumer, through the retailer and the wholesaler, to the

manufacturer. It has robust trade promotions planning functionality allowing users to

manage customer promotion plans and the funds to support them, while comprehensive

route planning functionality enables integrated account targeting. Using Siebel e-Consumer

Goods, organizations can also identify customer-buying behaviours and translate this

understanding into new trade promotions and product offerings.

For Financial Services: Finance enables banking, brokerage, insurance, and capital market

organizations to establish and maintain long term profitable relationship with consumers,

small businesses, and corporate customers. The organizations can capitalize on information

captured during each customer interaction to more effectively cross-sell and up-sell

additional products and services. Additionally, Siebel e-Finance provides a comprehensive

view of the entire customer relationship across multiple product lines, enabling financial

service organizations to provide a personalized experience across all channels.

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For Healthcare: Healthcare gives organizations the ability to streamline and improve sales,

member services, medical management, and network management services. By using

multiple distribution channels, including the Internet, call Centre, home office staff and

independent brokers, Siebel e-Healthcare provides organizations with a single view of their

customers, thereby ensuring better service and improved quality of care.

For telecom service providers:Communications helps wireless, cable, and Internet service

providers to target and win the right customers, accelerate service delivery, and provide

service across all touch points. Siebel e-Communications embodies the industry’s best

practices for generating accurate service orders, managing billing inquiries and adjustments,

and up-selling and cross-selling additional services. By using Siebel e-Communications’

integration technology, service representatives and salespeople can instantly access

information such as billing, order management, and network management from Operation

Support Systems (OSS), to deliver highly responsive customer support and significantly

increase sales.

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DIFFICULTIES OF CRM

CRM is not a technology initiative. Many have confused CRM as a technology initiative, and

assigned the CRM implementation project to their information system or information

technology group. CRM conferences often equate to technology exhibits and demonstrations.

Technology is needed in order to implement CRM – particularly the customization part – but

technology is not the driver of CRM, or the solution to successful CRM implementation.

CRM is not exclusively a marketing initiative. Many organization have merely equated CRM

with customer focused marketing, or data-driven/database marketing. CRM results in more

effective, data driven marketing efforts; CRM requires marketing experience. But CRM is

strictly not a marketing initiative.

CRM is not exclusively a sales initiative. Similar to marketing, CRM is often lodged within

the sales department. The sales-force, after all, is extremely close to their customers…

understanding their needs and wants. and trying to fulfill them. Sales, however, is just one

functional area that can benefit from CRM, and that is necessary for effective CRM.

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2.2 KEY REQUIREMENTS FOR CRM SOLUTIONS

Some of the functional and technical requirements for CRM solutions are as listed below:

Business intelligence and analytical capabilities

Unified channels of customer interactions

Support for web based functionality

Centralized repository for customer information

Integrated work flow

Integration with ERP applications

Functional Components of CRM solution

CRM applications are a convergence of functional components, advanced technologies and

channels. Functional components and channels are described below:

Sales applications

Common applications include calendar and scheduling, contact and account management;

compensation; opportunity and pipeline management; sales forecasting; proposal generation and

management; pricing; territory assignment and management; and expense reporting.

Marketing applications

These include web based and traditional marketing campaign planning, execution, and

analysis;list generation and management; budgeting and forecasting; collateral generation and

marketing materials management.

Customer service and support applications

These include customer care; incident, defect and order tracking; field service; problem and

solution database; repair scheduling and dispatching; service agreements and contracts; and

service request management

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2.4 E-CRM

What is e-CRM?

In simplest terms e-CRM provides companies with means to conduct interactive, personalized

and relevant communications with customer across both electronic and traditional channels. It

utilizes a complete view of the customer to make decisions about messaging, offers and channel

delivery. It synchronizes communication across otherwise disjoint-customer facing systems. It

adheres to permission based practices, respecting individual’s preferences regarding how and

whether they wish to communicate with you and it focuses on understanding how the economics

of customer relationship affect the business.

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2.5 E-CRM Vs CRM

CRM is essentially a business strategy for acquiring and maintaining the “right” customers over

the long term. Within this framework, a number of channels exist for interacting with customers.

One of these channels is “electronic” – and has been labeled “e-commerce” or “e-business”. This

electronic channel does not replace the sales force, the call Centre, or even the fax. It is simply

another extension, albeit a powerful new one, to the customer. The thrust of e-CRM is not what

the organization is “doing on the web” but how fully the organization ties its on-line channel

back to its traditional channels, or customer touch points.

Why employ e-CRM?

Companies need to take firm initiatives on the e-CRM frontier to

Optimize the value of interactive relationship

Enable the business to extend its personalized reach

Company-ordinate marketing activities across all customer channels.

Leverage customer information for more effective e-marketing and e-business

Focus the business on improving customer relationship and earning a greater share of each

customer’s business through consistent measurement, assessment and “actionable” customer

strategies.

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The six “E’s” of E-CRM

1. Electronic channels

2. Enterprise

3. Empowerment

4. Economics

5. Evaluation

6. External Information

E-CRM Architecture

The primary inputs to this module are mainly from the e-CRM Assessment and strategy

alignment modules. During this stage the company will try and develop a Connected Enterprise

Architecture (CEA) within the context of the company’s own CRM strategy. The following is a

set of technical e-CRM capabilities and applications that collectively and ideally comprise a full

e-CRM solution:

Customer Analytical Software

Data mining software

Campaign Management software

Business Simulation

A real time decision engine

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Who can benefit by using Customer View?

Customer View is targeted at five key audiences within the retailer’s organization:

Financial

Customer View enables retailers to take existing customer data and use it to drive revenue,

increase market basket size, and build market share with no additional capital expenses and labor

costs. It enables the CFO to show increased margins on current capital and enables profitable

growth.

Merchandisers

Customer View enables merchandisers to improve the effectiveness of their staff. Using

Customer View, merchandisers can quickly see how certain products can increase market basket

size. Using Customer View they can see how merchandise mix affects customer loyalty and

adjust their assortment accordingly. Customer View can help merchandisers measure and build

retention. It can show market basket value of loyal vs. non-loyal customers. Customer View can

quickly help identify the value of a consumer that shops in critical categories vs. the shopper that

does not.

Operators

Customer View can help Operations Executives make changes in an intelligent way. Using

Customer View a retailer can keep labor constant while increasing margins. Customer View can

help increase the depth of category purchases by turning cherry pickers into buyers, increasing a

loyal customers shopping trips to a category and increasing overall market basket size.

Consultants

Loyalty and POS databases tend to be stand-alone systems not integrated with category

management systems. Most data is uncleansed and hosted in many locations. This leads to

many opportunities for consultants to create systems to clean the data, aggregate the data, de-

duplicate the data, household the data, etc. before the data enters the Customer View system.

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Vendors

Customer View can help CPG manufacturers build category/brand sales by using real retail data.

Customer View can help them build their share of market by identifying customers buying a

particular category of products, but not their brands. Customer View can show the CPG

manufacturer how to increase multi-segment sales by identifying likely purchase behavior across

divisions, departments or categories.

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Summarizing CRM activities:

The CRM cycle can be briefly described as follows:

1. Learning from customers and prospects, (having in depth knowledge of customer)

2. Creating value for customers and prospects

3. Creating loyalty

4. Acquiring new customers

5. Creating profits

6. Acquiring new customers

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BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED is a joint venture between Sun Life

Assurance Company of Canada and Aditya Birla Management Corporation Limited. Birla sun

life insurance is one of the top privately owned life insurers in the country.The company has a

large number of insurance advisors who sell company products in branches across the country.

Birla Sun Life markets a full array of individual life insurance, group insurance and group

savings products throughout India. Instead of this Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company

Limited (BSLAMC), the investment managers of Birla Mutual Fund, is a joint venture between

companies of Aditya Birla Management Corporation Limited and Sun Life Assurance Company

of Canada. BSLI strives to provide transparent, ethical and research- based investment and

wealth management services.Birla Sun Life Distribution Company Limited offers investment

advisory and financial product distribution through its network of agents located across the

country. The products offered are mutual funds, Government of India Relief bonds, and bonds of

public financial institutions, select fixed deposits and Initial equity and debt public offerings.

The company also distributes the insurance products of Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited. Both these companies having their own status in all over the world, both these companies are most popular companies. As we know it is joint venture between Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Aditya Birla Management Corporation Limited. Aditya Birla group is very famous company in India this company expand their business they having their cement factory and instead of this they having many other works this detail we get after reading this project report. The Aditya Birla Group is a US $24 billion conglomerate with a market capitalization of US $31.5 billion (as on 31st December 2007) and is one of the largest business houses in India. It enjoys a leadership position in all the sectors in which it operates.

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MAJOR PLAYERS OF BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE

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76%

24%

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BSLI Achievements • BSLI known for best practices that were adopted by IRDA for the industry. BSLI pioneered ULIP’s in India and is known for its innovative products.

• BSLI has the best claim ratio in the industry- An outstanding 0.32%

• BSLI is the 3rd largest in the group segment.

• BSLI has been considered a role model for Banc assurance in the industry & has 7 bank relationships.

• BSLI is rapidly developing its alternate channels, with 197+ relationships, includes premier relations like AR insurance, UTI securities & Reliance retail

The information technology function at BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE is committed to enable

business through the use of technology .It is segmented in to four groups to enable highest level

of delivery to the customer Web that provides real time information to the customers and is

responsible for customer relationship management .This team works as an in house of research

and development solution group , exploring new technological initiates and also caters to

information needs of corporate functions in the organization.

MARKETING

The marketing function at BSLI covers an array of activities brand and media management,

channel support, direct marketing and corporate communication .The brand and communication

team is in charge of advertising, consumer research, media playing and buying and public

relations that help develop and nature BSLI Identity while effectively communicating its varied

products to customers

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FINANCE:

Finance function in BSLI is committed to create an infrastructure that is aligned to shareholder

expectations .Finance basically comprises of four functions .corporate planning and MIS provide

feedback on strategies .This includes driving the budgeting process, providing strategic inputs for

decision making and management reporting and analysis.

HUMAN RESOURCE

The people strategy of BSLI is ‘To build a committed team with a culture of innovation , learning and growth’ .The human resourse function at BSLI drives the people strategy of the business. HR is now committed to building capability through state of the art processes

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The Aditya Birla Group was recently been adjudged “The Best Employer in India and among the top 20 in Asia” by the Hewitt, Economic Times and Wall Street Journal Study 2007.India with about 200 million middle class household shows a huge untapped potential for players in the insurance industry. Saturation of markets in many developed economies has made the Indian market even more attractive for global insurance majors. The insurance sector in India has come to a position of very high potential and competitiveness in the market. Indians, have always seen life insurance as a tax saving device, are now suddenly turning to the private sector that are providing them new products andvariety for their choice.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Meaning of Research Methodology;-

A research methodology defines what the activity of research is, how toproceed, how to measure progress, and what constitutes success.

Methodology is defined as

1. "the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline"

2. "the development of methods, to be applied within a discipline"

3. "a particular procedure or set of procedures".

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. It is necessary for the researcher to know not only the research methods/ techniques but also the methodology. Researcher not only need to know how to develop certain indices or tests, how to calculate the mean, median, mode or the standard deviation or chi-square, how to apply a particular research

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Research methodology to be adopted for the study is as follows:-Identification of the problem:- The research project relates to ‘CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT TOWARDS BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD’. In it the problem proposed is to be researched is find out; what is the behavior of the consumer towards the different policies or the investment plans of the BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.

Planning the research design:- A suitable design has to be planned for any market research. It is the market plan specifying the procedure for collecting & analyzing the needed information. As per objective of the study mainly there are four types of research design viz: experimental, diagnostic, descriptive & exploratory.Here exploratory research design is proposed with focus on discovering of ideas &insight about the particular problem.

Planning the sample design:- The target for the study was consumers of Ferozepur. Survey has been done using questionnaire method, open and close- ended questions being included in the questionnaire. The secondary data for the research study has been collected from various magazines, newspapers, journals’, books and websites.Major market players in the products the relevant areas have also been consulted for the research.

Sample size: The sample size of the research project has been taken 10 of the customers ofDelhi.

Data collection:-The relevant data for the research project is hybrid of primary and secondary data.

Primary data:-Using personal interview technique, survey, questionnaire & observation method the data has been collected from targeted focus groups, which are customers. The primary data collection for judgment sampling has done.Secondary data:-In addition to the reactions of the selected consumers segments, the factual information historic background including the sales volume by various manufactures of the product has been collected with the help of various trade/business journals, company magazines,questionnaires etc

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OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The objectives of the research are as follows:- 1. To access the awareness of the people about the policies of the sun life.

2. To evaluate the performance of the BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.

3. To know about the view points of the customers towards the BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.

4. To access the level of satisfaction towards the policies of BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.

5. To know about the expectation of the customers towards the different policies.

6. To give suggestions how to improve the services of BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.

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CONTRIBUTION EXPECTED OF THE STUDY

The study will be useful to identify the following things:1. To access the awareness level of the people regarding the differentplans of the “BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.”

2. To know about the different view points of the customers regardingthe different plans of the “BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.”

3. To access satisfaction level of the customers regarding the “BIRLASUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD.”

4. Suggestions and recommendations for attracting the customers.

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ANALYSIS

Q1. Are you aware about BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD? YES ( ) N O ( )

RESPONSE NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGEYES 10 100%NO 0 0%TOTAL 10 100%

CHART 1:

YES NO TOTAL0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Series 1

Series 1

Interpretation: The above analysis shows that all the respondents are aware about Birla Sun Life Insurance ltd

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Q2. How do you come to know about BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE?

MEDIA NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGETV 4 40%AGENTS 2 20% NEWSPAPER 3 30%FRIENDS 1 10%TOTAL 10 100

T.VAGENTSNEWSPAPERFRIENDS

Interpretation:

The above table shows that out of the 10 respondents 4 respondents came to know about Birla

Sun Life from t.v, 2 from agents, 3 from newspaper and 1 from friends.

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Q3. Are you aware about the ULIP products offered by BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE?

RESPONSE NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGEYES 6 60%NO 4 40%TOTAL 10 100%

YESNO

INERPRETATION:

The above analysis shows that out of 10 respondents 6 respondents are aware about ulip products

of Birla Sun Life Insurance and 4 respondents are not aware about ulip products of Birla Sun

Life Insurance. This shows that mostly people are aware about ulip products of Birla Sun Life

Insurance.

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Q4. Are you satisfied with the policies provided by BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LTD?

RESPONSE NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGEYES 7 70%NO 3 30%TOTAL 10 100%

YESNO

INTERPRETATION:

From the above analysis we came to know that out of 10 respondents 4 respondents are satisfied

with the policies provided by Birla Sun Life insurance and 3 respondents are not satisfied with

the policies provided by Birla Sun Life insurance. It means that mostly people are satisfied with

the policies provided by Birla Sun Life Insurance ltd.

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Q5.How you rate the policies provided by BIRLA SUNLIFE?

RESPONSE NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGEEXCELLENT 3 30%VERY GOOD 4 40%GOOD 2 2%AVERAGE 1 10%TOTAL 10 100%

EXCELLENTTVERY GOODGOODAVERAGE

INTERPRETATION:

The above analysis shows that out of 10 respondents 3 rate the policies of Birla Sun Life

Insurance as excellent, 4 rate it as very good, 2 rate it as good and 1 rate it as average.

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.

Q6. How you feel the behavior of BSLI’s employers while interacting with them?

RESPONSE NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGEEXCELLENT 2 20%VERY GOOD 3 30%GOOD 3 30%AVERAGE 2 20%TOTAL 10 100%

EXXCELLENTVERY GOODGOODAVERAGE

INTERPRETATION:

The above analysis shows that out of 10 respondents 2 respondents feel the behavior of BSLI’s

employers as excellent, 3 feel the behavior of BSLI’s employers as very good, 3 feel the

behavior of BSLI’s employers as very good, and 2 feel the behavior of BSLI’s employers as

average.

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Q7. Do you think that BSLI is reliable in the coming future?

RESPONSE NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

YES 8 80

NO 2 20

TOTAL 10 100

YESNO

INTERPRETATION:

The above table shows that out of the 10 respondents 8 respondents feel that the BSLI is reliable in the coming future and 2 respondents feel that BSLI is not reliable in the coming future.

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Q8. Do you think that BIRLA SUNLIFE is working better than its competitors?

RESPONSE NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

YES 7 70%

NO 3 30%

TOTAL 10 100%

YESNO

INTERPRETATION:

The above table shows that out of 10 respondents 7 respondents think that BSLI is working

better than its competitors and 3 respondents think that BSLI is not working better than its

competitors

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Q9. Are you satisfied with the after sales services provided by BSLI?

RESPONSE NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

YES 6 60%

NO 4 40%

TOTAL 10 100%

Sales

YESNO

INTERPRETATION: From the above analysis I came to know that out of 10 respondents 6 respondents are satisfied with the after sales services provided by Birla Sun Life Insurance ltd and 4 respondents are not satisfied with the after sales services provided by Birla Sun Life Insurance ltd. This means that mostly people are satisfied with the after sales services provided by Birla Sun Life Insurance

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FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

1.From the survey, we came to know that most of the people are aware about the “BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED”. 2.Most of the people came to know about the “ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED” from the agents and newspaper media. This shows that other promotional media activities like radio, hoardings and postures are missing which are on high these days. 3.From the survey we came to know that mostly people are aware about the ULIP products offered by BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED.

4.From the survey, we came to know that most of the people those who are insured are satisfied with the policies provided by BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED.

5.The survey shows that most of the people rate the policies of BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE are very good but not excellent. This means that they want something extra in their policies.

6.The survey shows that mostly people like low premium allocation charges and rate of return in the policies of BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED.

7.From the survey, we came to know that most of the people like the behavior of the BSLI’s employees as very good. This means that they treat their customers well.

8.From the survey, we came to know that most of the people have

reliability in “BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED”.

9.From the survey, we came to know that “BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED” is working better than its competitors or in other words it is satisfying the customers.

10. From the survey, we came to know that most of the people are satisfied with the after sales services of the “BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED”. But there were some customers who were saying that they are not getting proper information regarding their policies at right time.

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SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMENDATIONS

The suggestion and recommendations are as follows

1. It is suggested that company need to establish new branches in villages and small cities by this

company can move more better

2. There should be cash deposit facility in each and every branch of the company so that customer

can get better services

3. There should be limit of financial advisor under agency manager and the limited amount of these

advisor can handle it easily

4. The company should also need to begin some small duration and small amount of investment

because in INDIA there are many peoples who are working in poor line or below poverty line

5.The company has to start monthly premium plans to attract the customers

5. They need to make some presentation among the small villages this make people education about

insurance sector

6. Their is need to use proper advertisement channels to make a good brand image

7. There should need to attract the advisors there is need to pay some basic salary

8. In this survey I also get that maximum customers changing their mind now they going to prefer

BSLI products.

9.From this survey I also get to know BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE having a good brand image

in the eyes of customers

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ANNEXURE AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

QUESTIONNAIRE PERSONAL DETAIL

NAME_______________________

ADDRESS____________________________

CONTACTNO._________________________

OCCUPATION______________

STUDENT---------------

PROFESSION--------------

Q1. Are you aware about BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD?YES -----

N O ------

Q2. How do you come to know about BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE

LTD?

T.V.-----NEWSPAPER -----

AGENT ----

Q3. Are you satisfied with the policies provided by BIRLA SUNLIFE INSURANCE LTD? YES ( )

N O ( )

Q4.How you rate the policies provided by BIRLA SUNLIFE? GOOD ( ) AVERAGE ( ) VERY GOOD ( ) EXCELLENT ( )

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Q5. How you feel the behavior of BSLI’s employers while interacting with them? GOOD ( ) VERY GOOD ( ) AVERAGE ( ) EXCELLENT ( )

Q6. Do you think that BIRLA SUNLIFE is working better than its competitors ? YES ( ) N O ( )

Q7. Are you satisfied with the after sales services provided by BSLI? YES ( ) N O ( )

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• http://www.adityabirla.com/our_companies/joint_ventures/birlasun life_insurance.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_behaviour

•http://www.birlasunlife.com/BirlaSunLife/Insurance/BSLI_MP/BSLI_Aboutus/C ompany_Profile/abtus_com profile.aspx

• http ://www.birla sun life . com/birla sun life /in d e x . as p x

•http://www.birlasunlife.com/BirlaSunLife/Insurance/BSLI_MP/BSLI_InsPlans/I ndividual/Protection/bsl_termplan.aspx

•http://www.birlasunlife.com/BirlaSunLife/Insurance/BSLI_MP/BSLI_InsPlans/I ndividual/Savings/bsl_goldplus_II.aspx

•http://www.cs.indiana.edu/mit.research.how.to/section3.12.html

•http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Research+methodology

Books: 1. Philip kottler, “Marketing Management” 2. Rajan saxena. “Marketing Management” 3. Research Methodology by Kothari.

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