(A) study on operational CRM based on new channel in U-commerce and its application to insurance industry

Abstract

Ubiquitous Computing is quickening a new era of U-Commerce where buyers and sellers will literally be able to commerce anytime, anywhere, and any way they like. Thus, the scope of channels in U-Commerce will be broadened to all the interfaces where information is created, collected and applied, and sales, payment and interaction with customers take place. With these changes, we can estimate the market place for U-Commerce will be extended by new channels. Therefore, these broadened channels will play a leading role in a kernel of a new framework for CRM in U-Commerce. However, few practical approaches for it have been made since now. This suggests the necessity of studies beyond current scenario-based researches. The new framework for CRM with new channels in U-Commerce will provide a lot of opportunities for solving problems in various industrial areas. In case of insurance company, the agent system has been the main distribution channel. However, it is known that the agent system has problems such as poor interaction and high commission cost. In spite of a lot of efforts by insurance companies to look for new channels, the agent system still holds most of sales. Therefore, to settle those difficulties of insurance industry, we suggest new methodology which uses discount store as a new channel in U-Commerce. More precisely speaking, we propose sales and payment processes of insurance product using discount store as a new channel in U-Commerce. And we showed its prototype system for practical application. By this methodology, we can decrease dependency of insurance company on the agent channel, extend contact points with customers and improve the automation of sales and payment processes on the basis of U-Commerce. And this thesis is meaningful in a sense that it provides a practical application with new channels in U-Commerce for industrial area.