“Sustainability” is the watch word of any management research in the recent

past. To sustain in this dynamic environment where the customer preferences

changes frequently due to easy accessibility and availability of information the
service providers must be proactive about the changing pattern of customer
likes and dislikes. Extensive Research and Development must form an integral
part of their operational activities to stay ahead of competitors. The present
research aims to build a robust framework of sustainable competitive
advantage for the service providers by identifying the customer GAP.

Paired sample t test is used to test the significance of the GAP. The significant
GAPs need to be identified and addressed to become more effective and
develop core competencies to delight customers’ in the long run.

Mis selling

Mis-selling refers to certain ‘unfair business practices’, including wrong sale of

product, loading on products and promise of higher returns. Insurance service
is different from other services, as it is complex and future contingent service
involves substantial legal characteristics (Khondkar and Rahman, 1993). The
insurance companies have to find ways to make their services more tangible.
To increase the productivity of providers who are inseparable from their
products, to standardize the quality in the face of variability, and to improve
the demand situation and supply capacities in the face of service perishability.
Informing, educating, motivating, persuading, advising and other services
prior to, at the time of and after the issuance of the insurance document make
the purchase of insurance dissimilar from purchasing other products and from
even other services.

Competition

Insurance is the most effective way of strengthening and hedging the risk.
Since its appearance, insurance has become an inevitable asset to every aspect
related to human life. Whether it is health disorders or constructing
properties, household requirements or multimillion dollar projects; insurance
is being recognized as a strong safety device to meet unexpected losses.
The Life Insurance market in India is an emerging market because the ratio of
GDP to life insurance premium is only about 4 % and the dispersion level is
about 26%. Though the market has grown exponentially following
liberalization with the entry of private firms on 1 April 2000, it is still an
emerging market. Therefore, resourceful marketing strategies are needed by
the insurance service providers for both these reasons. Firstly, to attract new
customers; and secondly to retain existing customers and increase market
share. Research by Fornell (1992) , Lenskold (2003) and Lom-bardi (2005)
has shown that, self-protective approaches directed at retaining existing
customers and increased sales to them, can be more profitable than attracting
new customers .

Customer knowledge

The gap between what was expected and perceived indicates a failure in
service delivery and service quality at all the levels vis-à-vis life insurance
industry in India. By analyzing the ‘gaps’, we can conclude that insurers
have the opportunity to take the appropriate actions to improve the
quality of their services, giving priority to factors with the largest gap
scores. Most of the studies in different parts of India indicate that there are
gaps in all the dimensions of service quality so there is room for improvement
in all the aspects of service quality in life insurance industry.

Variability

A volatile economic and investment environment, changing customer needs,

and increasing regulatory scrutiny continue to push insurance companies to
find new ways to improve revenue, capital utilization, risk profile, and
ultimately profitability. As claims and expenses rise at a faster rate than
premiums, and investment yields (and, often, spreads) decrease, insurers also
cut costs. With the transformation of support operations across the industry,
the traditional model of maintaining multiple or non-standardized back
offices to support different product lines and business units is giving way to
more “standardized” target operating model to minimize variability.

Many companies view quality improvement expenditures as costs, from which

any financial return is difficult to measure. They maintain such expenditures
only as long as management retains its faith in the "quality religion." When
times get tough financially, however, the cost cutters rule, and expenditures
that don't generate a measurable return are vulnerable.

ROQ approach enables quality improvement expenditures to be evaluated as

investments, on an equal footing with other financial investments. The
approach is based on the following philosophy of quality improvement:

Quality is an investment.

Quality efforts must be financially accountable.

It is possible to spend too much on quality.

Not all quality expenditures are equally valid.

Under the ROQ approach, quality improvement is considered in the context

of business processes, which facilitates ownership of the improvement effort
within the business.

Perceptions of influencers

One of the major challenges is posed by the media and influencers. Often, the
life insurance industry is portrayed in a negative manner and hence the
consumers become skeptical of the life insurance industry. The result is that,
they may not purchase life insurance, even though a legitimate need exists.
The fact the life insurance promotes a regular routine of small savings for long
term savings and protection is not propagated.

It is important for media and third-party influencers to look at the bigger

picture on life insurance. They must understand that life insurance products
should not be compared to any other financial products on calculated returns
alone. They should also take into consideration, the discipline life insurance
instill in the financial planning.