I am not sure there are, at the highest level, changes in global practices as far as the customer is concerned. The old adages still run very true-it's easier to retain an existing customer than gain a new one-. Always give the customers more than they expect, the customer is always right etc. One personal viewpoint is that the customer still values personal service including putting a face to a name and whilst "tele-service" may work globally in some insurance commodity areas such as motor or household in more complex risks area, it's still all about knowing the customer, building a long-term relationship built on trust and committing to service standards. A dynamic market never stands still and operationally we have to be continually inventive in the best way to serve the customer. Where technology is concerned we have the options of – using extranets, customer specific software for policy administration and claims management, up to date technology information (such as disaster management implications of a pandemic) etc.

Secondly whilst competitive price is always crucial in retaining/gaining a customer, there is no doubt that poor service will always lose a customer.

What measures Aon have put in place to make customer service more efficient?

There are a number of initiatives we have taken – following customer surveys – including, · giving the customer having immediate, real time, access to his claims and policy records, · ensuring the customer has a dedicated team to approach for claims and policy service · responding to the customers more difficult demands including natural disaster and terrorism mapping programmes where clients can plan large scale catastrophe management · risk tolerance exercises where we can gauge what "risk" a balance sheet can take. The fact that we respond to the customers requirements does make it much easier to retain the customer.

Comparing between pricing and customer service which one you think can be more important for an insurance customer?

Pricing is always likely to be the prime consideration as long as the customer is confident service can be provided – no-one will go for rock bottom price if service is known to be slow, unreliable, untrustworthy. The key is for the service provider to always give the customer more than they expect. Eventually quality service means the price to value ratio becomes very acceptable.