hokan expands footprint with first direct sales implementation

hokan has completed an MVP implementation of its SaaS "hokan®︎" at the Consulting Sales Headquarters of ORIX Life Insurance. Following the MVP, the system will be used at all branches from April 2025 onwards.

ORIX Life Insurance's Consulting Sales Division sells insurance with the mission of not only solving customer problems by providing life insurance, but also providing customers with a sense of security and satisfaction through continuous daily follow-up activities.

Orix Life decided to introduce the customer and contract management system "hokan®︎" from the perspective of strengthening management and deepening communication through improved business efficiency, visualization of the sales field, and optimization of activity analysis, leading to improved customer satisfaction.

"hokan®︎" has been mainly used by insurance agencies up until now, but this is the first time it has been used by an insurance company's direct sales channel. This has further strengthened its characteristics as a vertical SaaS equipped with the most advanced operational know-how in the industry.

Going forward, the company will continue to develop "hokan®︎" with the aim of providing an industry distribution platform, while also further expanding its business in the InsurTech field and promoting the digitalization of insurance operations.

About "hokan®"

"hokan®︎" is a cloud-based system that can centrally manage insurance contract lifecycle progress, including customer information, case information, and business negotiations, from insurance application to contract conclusion and payment.

hokan's strength is in product design to comply with the Insurance Business Act and other laws, and it supports the sophistication of insurance solicitors' systems. In addition, by digitizing business flows and centralizing information management, hokan prevents work from becoming dependent on individuals and achieve business efficiency. This creates an environment where insurance solicitors can focus on talking to customers without being overwhelmed by cumbersome administrative tasks, creating time for them to propose more appropriate insurance products.

By optimizing both compliance and customer service, the product has been recognized as a driver for digital transformation across the industry, with the number of companies adopting it increasing by 50% compared to the same period last year.

Orix Life Background

ORIX Life Insurance has previously managed its insurance sales operations using an activity process management system developed in-house.

However, multiple tools, such as Excel and paper, had to be used simultaneously to manage cases and check activity status, resulting in inefficient management.
In order to solve this problem and create an environment where activity status at the insurance sales site can be visualized and centrally managed, the company began considering introducing a new system in April 2024.

"hokan®" was introduced to one branch office in a short period of six months from August 2024 to January 2025, and as a result, the effectiveness of the operation has been confirmed. It has been decided that from April 2025, full-scale deployment will be carried out at all eight branches, including the one branch office that was introduced in advance. The introduction is expected to be completed in a short period of just about one year from the start of consideration to deployment at all branches.

Benefits

The early introduction of "hokan®︎" has improved the quality of business communication. Communication has changed from a sensory, superficial approach to data-based, logical, and in-depth communication by visualizing activity status. This has improved the accuracy of measures to improve customer satisfaction, creating an environment in which Orix Life can focus on strategic initiatives.

Furthermore, by improving the quality of insurance solicitation operations at branch offices and optimizing the management system, the administrative operations at the head office have also become more efficient, contributing to the sophistication of management.

Specifically, Orix Life has seen the following effects:

• Improving recruiting quality by optimizing the recruiting process: By centralizing the management of work information and visualizing the process, the activities of each recruiter are optimized, resulting in improved work quality and stronger compliance.
• Strengthening management by visualizing case processes and activity status: Utilizing the "DWH (data provision platform)" function in "hokan®︎" enables quick and appropriate management of insurance agent case processes and activity status based on data. This leads to improved accuracy of guidance by managers and more efficient management work.
• Optimizing the business operations of the branch offices has
  made the management operations at the headquarters more efficient. By improving the business operations of the branch offices, the headquarters can now centrally manage market information, performance, and activity status for each insurance enrollment route. In addition, since "hokan®︎" supports industry law amendments as a standard function, the burden of future development work can be greatly reduced.This will reduce the burden of data collection and analysis as well as operational maintenance work, significantly improving work efficiency. 

Please follow us to read more about Finance & FinTech in Japan, like hundreds of readers do every day. We invite you to also register for our short weekly digest, the “Japan FinTech Observer”, on LinkedIn, or directly here on the platform.

We also provide a daily short-form Japan FinTech Observer news podcast, available via its Podcast Page. Our global Finance & FinTech Podcast, “eXponential Finance” is available through its own LinkedIn newsletter, or via its Podcast Page.

Should you live in Tokyo, or just pass through, please also join our meetup. In any case, our YouTube channel and LinkedIn page are there for you as well.