Zurich Financial Services has become the first Australian life company to launch an integrated life risk quotation application for the iPhone.
The company has also produced a first-to-market iPad application, which facilitates a customer risk needs analysis and recommendation process. The application was developed in partnership with advisers David Clark (Goldram) and Gary O’Sullivan (Blueleaf Consulting).
To enable the Zurich sales force to access the applications, the entire life risk and investment sales team have been equipped with iPads.
General Manager Life Australia, Colin Morgan, said, “Zurich remains firmly committed to being the preferred partner to independent advisers by providing such leading-edge initiatives as these.
“The [iPad] device has rapidly gone from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have’. This is reflected in the adviser market with more and more advisers turning to such technology in their day-to-day business,” Mr Morgan added.
“It’s interesting to note that a number of the top advice practices which entered the Association of Financial Advisers’ 2010 Adviser of the Year Award … indicated their offices have now gone all iPad. So, Zurich is on the same technological journey as the leaders in the adviser industry,” Mr Morgan said.
In addition to providing new technologies for financial advice providers, Zurich has also invested in a study into advisers’ heart health.
In partnership with the Heart Foundation, Zurich last week released the results of the third annual Heart Health Index. The survey was completed by 1,200 Australian adults, including 301 financial advisers.
According to the survey, when compared with the general community, financial advisers are less likely to meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption.
The survey also found that financial advisers were more aware of the dangers associated with poor heart health, and were more likely to mention heart disease or heart attack as one of the top three causes of death for Australian men and women than the general community.
“That knowledge has to lead to action, and while we know that financial advisers are less likely to smoke than the general community, there is still room for improvement in diet and exercise,” said Mr Morgan.
“My view is that the evidence on the health risks of smoking is so compelling that it’s hard to ignore. Unfortunately, healthy eating and physical activity are just points on a continuum, and it’s easy to fall short on what’s required. At least the Index lets us know where we all – financial advisers and the general population – need to improve,” Mr Morgan said.
