Sony Life revamps sales support system, modernizing with Azure x microservices

In October 2022, Sony Life Insurance will renovate the sales support system used by approximately 5,300 “Life Planners” (LPs, sales representatives) for business negotiations with individual customers. It will be rolled out to all LPs in sequence. The infrastructure of the system base adopts Microsoft’s cloud service “Microsoft Azure”. It was developed based on a microservice architecture that mainly consists of container services and loosely connects relatively small functions.

“Until now, it took a lot of time to improve even a small amount of functionality, but now it can be done in a shorter period of time.” Mr. Hiroki Shima, who is the head of the project promotion office in the sales system development department at Sony Life, talks about the effects of modernizing the sales support system.

　What we have newly built is the system “GLiP” that analyzes the customer’s life plan. The company utilizes AI (artificial intelligence) as well as data on the trends of approximately 3.86 million policyholders that it has accumulated over its approximately 30 years of sales activities to determine the amount of funds and compensation required over the long term according to the desired life plan. analyse.

Visualizing preparations for the era of 100-year lifespans

　By entering information such as the customer’s age, family structure, income outlook, asset management, home and car purchase plans, etc., the app displays an easy-to-understand graph of annual income, necessary expenses, compensation amounts, etc. up to the age of 100. In addition to death, it also shows the adequacy of assets and coverage for important risks such as the three major diseases of cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease.

　Based on data on the trends of about 3.86 million policyholders, AI analyzes customers’ savings trends and what areas they focus on, such as housing, travel, and education, and classifies them into 27 patterns. It also shows how it compares to the average household budget and where improvements can be made in spending.

The aim of building GLiP is to provide an easy-to-understand presentation of preparations and countermeasures in line with the advent of the “100-year life era” and the “20 million yen problem in old age” in Japan, where longevity is progressing. Mr. Shima explains, “We support more efficient and appropriate proposals by incorporating the know-how that LPs have proposed independently and automatically visualizing improvements in life plans.”

　Life plan calculations are also linked with systems under the same Sony Financial Group. For example, interest rates for mortgages are displayed via Sony Bank, and estimates for fire insurance and automobile insurance are displayed via Sony Assurance’s system.

　Real estate prices, stock prices, investment trust base prices, etc. are imported from external services into apps on GLiP’s container via APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). The accuracy of the trial calculation is improved by utilizing data that matches the market price at the time of the proposal.

　We also have a smartphone app for our customers. By entering the amount of money such as income and expenses, it can be used to grasp the achievement status of the life plan and points to be improved. There is also a function to consult with LP from the app. “It is also useful for creating points of contact with customers, such as prompting regular confirmation of contract details with pop-ups,” says Mr. Shima.