Aviva plc: Digital First Insurer

This article discusses Aviva plc's digital first approach in the insurance industry and how their organisational structure supports this strategy. It provides an overview of Aviva plc as an insurance organisation and explains their board structure. The article also explores Aviva plc's business plan, specifically their 'Digital First' initiative, and the benefits it offers to customers. Additionally, it highlights the role of Aviva plc's organisational structure in supporting their digital first strategy.

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Introduction
An insurance Organisation1 is a company provides insurance policies, which an individual or
an entity avail to get financial protection from losses, which may occur in future. It is a kind of
reimbursement, which an individual or an entity claims at the time of huge damages, injury,
lose, hardship period or at the time treatment. There are different forms of insurance
1 Anand M. Agrawal, Krishn A. Goyal Emerging Trends in Banking, Finance & Insurance Industry
(Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2009)
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organisation such as Self Insurance, Individual insurer, partnership, joint stock companies,
mutual companies, co-insurance organisation, property, assets and state insurance.
Aviva plc2 is the best example of insurance organisation. It is one of the leading insurance
companies in the UK. They not only protect the people, but also protect what matters to
them and made them future comfortable. As this company provides insurance, in a wider
range, for example, Critical illness cover, pension plan, pet insurance, car insurance etc.
Their main aim is to bring confidence and gives control to protect from risk, which may
happen in future. This assignment will provide the detail information of insurance
organisation, Aviva plc.
Aviva
Aviva Public Limited Company3 is multinational Insurance firm. Its Headquarter is located in
London. In Addition, it is one of the largest general insurer and pension providers in the
United Kingdom. This company is one of the leading company promotes the digital
revolution in the insurance industry. This brings an impact on intellectual properties
significantly. They are dealing with almost 33 million customers from different countries.
This PLC has a variety of insurance plans and saving products, which help their customers
by providing protection to them and their assets.
Aviva Organisational Structure
Aviva plc’s board has the responsibility to act as an Aviva’s entrepreneurial leadership by
keeping an effective control on risk management and its uses within its framework. To
ensure the smooth running of business, aid to decision making and give support to achieve
the organisational aim, a strong governance system is must in the organisation.
Some the responsibilities of Aviva plc board are planning strategic aims, aid to risk, good
governance system, resources management, effective control and cultural & value
management. In addition, to fulfil these responsibilities Aviva board has its own framework.
This framework includes risk management, risk control functions by management and
independent assurance. These are the ‘Three lines of Defense Model4’, which are followed
by this organisation. The board delegated these responsibilities to the departments of Audit,
Remuneration, Governance, Nomination and Risk.
The role of different divisions of organisational structure in Aviva plc is as follows:
Aviva plc Board:
This Aviva plc Board5 committee plays the most important role in the organisation because
only the board committee is responsible for setting out the roles and functions performed by
each employee in the company.
2 Aviva plc ‘Who we are and what we do’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-us/who-we-
are-and-what-we-do/> accessed 25th April 2019
3 Aviva plc ‘Aviva’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/> accessed 25th April 2019
4 IIA ‘the three lines of defense in effective risk management and control’ (IIA, 2019)
<https://na.theiia.org/standards-guidance/Public%20Documents/PP%20The%20Three%20Lines
%20of%20Defense%20in%20Effective%20Risk%20Management%20and%20Control.pdf> accessed
25th April 2019
5 Aviva plc ‘Our Board and business leaders’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-us/our-
board-and-business-leaders/> accessed 25th April 2019
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I. Audit Division: This department is responsible for assessing the standard operating
procedures, which is the set of instruction followed by an organisation for routine
operations. The main functions of this department are to audit the quality output and
performance of the employee.
II. Nomination Division: The role of nomination department is to assess the Aviva plc’s
Board of directors. In addition, nominees examine BOD and give instructions to them.
III. Risk Division: This department has a very significant role in the organisation. It
manages the risk generated from the external and internal sources, which helps the
organisation to sustain in the market for longer durations.
IV. Governance Division6: This department helps the organisation in dealing with the
leadership quality and style. In addition, they are the authorities, which are
responsible for decision-making and are accountable for it.
V. Remuneration Division: The role of this department is to provide equal and fair
remunerations to the employees of Aviva plc. They motivate their employees to
continue to improve their performance by increasing their productivity for the
organisation. In addition, they have the power to decide remuneration costs of the
Aviva plc’s employees.
This Organisational Structure7 is very important for the organisation as it manages the
risks that hamper the companies to achieve their aims. This assurance is not absolute
guaranteed but it reduces the organisational risk by identifying and managing the risk.
6 Aviva plc ‘Governance Committee’ (Aviva plc, 2019) https://www.aviva.com/about-us/governance-
committee/> accessed 25th April 2019
7 Professor John Saunders ‘Attitudes, structure and behaviour in a successful company’ (1987) 3
JMM 173
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Source: Aviva Organisational Structure8
Business Plan of Aviva plc
A business plan of an organisation is the set of strategies describes the plans for services or
product of business for earning profits and securing the leading position in the market. Every
Company has its own business plans, which help them for future growth. In the same
manner, Aviva plc9 had also established business plans for their further growth. ‘Digital
First10’ is one of them.
Digital First
Aviva plc planned to change the insurance industry by using ‘Digital First Insurer’. Aviva plc
establishes this plan as it enhances the digital capability, which provides quick and
convenient way to customer for operational process. In addition, this plan serves customer
cheaper and faster way to avail services from them. It is the permanent change made by
them in using technology to address their customers.
Aviva plc makes their customer comfortable, as they are giving them simple and convenient
ways for availing their services by putting digital first. Also, in the past few years, it had
been observed that Aviva plc’ Digital First concept helped the company to build up the long-
term relationship with the customers. In this digital age, Aviva plc reinvented the insurance
for the younger generation who are digitally stronger and not want the wastage of time and
money. This Digital concept helps in marketing and distribution also.
After the establishment of this plan, Aviva plc started ‘My Aviva11’ website and app in the UK,
where corporate customers can directly login. In addition, it also starts in Singapore,
8 At 9
9 At 3
10 Aviva plc ‘Our Strategy’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/investors/our-strategy/> accessed
25th April 2019
11 Aviva plc ‘My Aviva’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-us/myaviva/> accessed 25th
April 2019
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Aviva plc Board
Audit
Discloser
Nomination Risk
Asset Liability Operational
Risk
Governance Remuneration

990Coursework assignment 1 answer template
Canada, France and Poland also. Aviva plc a Digital First Insurer plan contributes to achieve
the objective of an organisation, to be ‘Digital First’. The benefits of this plan are as follows:-
a. According to the changing scenario, Aviva plc put Digital First as the customers have
become tech-savvy these days.
b. The main target of the company is to provide different kinds of insurance services as
per the requirement of the customer and Digital First, also helps in fulfilling the
requirements.
c. It is easily assessable to the customer.
d. It also earns the customer’s trust, which help in convincing the customer to avail
insurance plan, which protect and save them for different purposes.
e. It promises the customer to deliver innovative services with better experience.
f. It provides an insurance quote in a minute to customer.
g. Customer can claim and settle the claims online, faster.
h. Aviva plc gives discounts to the customers when they avail services from ‘My Aviva’.
i. The number of queries raised by the customer was decreasing day by day. As
digitally, customers get all the information about the claims and the plans from the
website only.
These benefits help UK in gaining digital customer’s positive attitude towards Aviva plc
services as compared to other digital competitors. Therefore, Digital First is the best way
to drive their customer for availing Aviva plc insurance.
Support of organisational structure to be Digital First
To achieve the objectives and aims of the business, an organised team of the individuals
appointed by business, in a suitable manner to achieve business goals. This defines the
organisational structure of the company. Therefore, organisational structure plays an
important role in the business, as each division of the organisation is interconnected. Each
department helps in fulfilling the requirements of the business plan. In the same manner, the
Aviva plc’s organisational structure12 helps them to achieve the objective, ‘Digital First’.
In the last three years, Aviva plc had gone through tremendous changes in technology to be
Digital First13. In this phase, it is important for an organisation to have a flow of information in
a proper manner in order to achieve organisational goal. This can be only possible if the
12 Aviva plc ‘Governance Structure’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/investors/governance-
structure/> accessed 25th April 2019
13 At 9
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business have effective and efficient organisational structural support. Different departments
play different role, in achieving the target, which ultimately leads the company to be the
strongest holder of financial position in the market. The organisational structure supports the
business plan in various ways, which are as follows:-
Operations
All senior Managers and directors are responsible for internal operations. They have the
authority to control each specific area of business, which involves risk identifications and
management also.
Aviva plc Board plays the significant role as they support the system for clear and
appropriate distribution of work among all the senior directors and managers. After the
implementations of the Digital First Insurer plan, these authorities are responsible for
monitoring, implementing and reporting the plan, which helps the company identify and
manage the risk.
Governance and control Function
Board members of the business are responsible for the governance of the business14. They
have the full authority of controlling the business activities.
All the board members of Aviva Plc ensure the assessments and completions of the task
given to the employees. They support this business plan by controlling activities that provide
training and governing performance of business. All the members of the board remain
operationally independent from this activity related to risk and they compensate their
independence from it within the organisation. Hence, Aviva plc board members are able to
achieve their goal to be digital first.
Risk Management
This responsibility distributed among all the employees of the company who compromises
the risk and works under the Chief Risk Officers. These officers have to advise and
challenge the activities for the risk management15.
In Aviva plc, CRO gets directly report from an employee about the completion of the task
and risk management functions. In risk management function, the employee is responsible
for the implementation, validation and design of risk, which ultimately help in the
management of the framework of the business. At the time of Digital First, their function is to
report the CRO and the committee who manage risks about the risk involves in this plan. As
before proceeding towards this Digital First insurance plan business wants to make sure that
whether this plan will appropriately woks or not. They are also responsible for advising and
assessing the compliance risk of the firm, which also supports the business plan.
Internal Audit
Internal Audit is responsible for assessing and reporting the effects of control. This audit
committee provides the funds for business activities and plans. In addition, this committee
provides protection for assets and liabilities.
14 Anubhav Pandey ‘Corporate governance of insurance companies in India. Process, compliance,
best practices and relevant law’(Ipleaders, 2017) <https://blog.ipleaders.in/insurance-corporate-
governance/> accessed 25th April 2019
15 Aviva plc ‘Risk management framework’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/investors/risk-
management-framework/> accessed 25th April 2019
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In Aviva plc, the internal audit16 function is to specify funds, protect the assets and provide
sustainability to the business. In the business plan for Digital First insurer, Audit Director
provides the framework for the accomplishment of this plan by providing them proper funds
and make sure that this could not harm the business reputation. Aviva plc internal audit
committee is responsible for operating these functions effectively and efficiently. This
financial support, assessment and protection help in achieving the Digital First insurer plan.
From the above discussion, it observed that organisational structure plays an important role
in the business as it help in achieving the objectives of the business. In the same manner,
the Aviva plc’s organisational structure supports Digital First Insurer business plan.
Therefore, it can be said that every organisation must have an appropriate organisational
structure.
Recommendations on the bases of analysis
On the bases of the above analysis, some recommendations suggested to improve the
organisational structure to achieve the objective within the business plan. These
recommendations are as follows:
 The Chief Risk Officer’s roles and responsibility: In Aviva plc insurance, the
organisational structure required some of the changes in defining the role of the
CRO17. In additions, enhancement of responsibility is required. The role of the CRO
defined more precisely and it should be included in C-level executive so that the
CRO can also be the part of all the business risk matters. The CRO should not have
restrictions on the matters of risk management. In additions, the CRO must be
responsible to generate the risk management framework. If the company changes
the role and responsibility of the chief risk officer, it will change the faults of
organisational structure and provide security to the business plan at the time of
implementation.
 Enhancement in Role of Internal Audit: In Aviva plc, a little change is required in
the role of internal auditor18. The auditor is free to investigate the risk matters of the
company, but the auditor should also be careful in checking up the entire matters
related to risk. In addition, this little bit change in the role of the auditor helps the
16 Aviva plc ‘Audit Committee’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-us/audit-committee/>
accessed 25th April 2019
17 Accounting Tool ‘CRO’ (Accounting Tool, 2017)
<https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/2017/5/14/chief-risk-officer-cro-job-description> accessed
25th April 2019
18 Marquette University ‘Role of Internal Audit’ (Marquette University, 2019)
<https://www.marquette.edu/riskunit/internalaudit/role.shtml> accessed 25th April 2019
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business plan to grow with lesser risks and create more opportunities. In addition, the
organisational structure helps in working more effectively and efficiently toward
business plan.
 The Governance Structure19: For proper control of management in Aviva plc, there
must be a change in the organisational structure of it. There is a lack of flow of
information between different divisions in the business because Aviva plc follows
‘three lines of defense model’. In addition, this model effects negatively, at the time
of decision making as because of the lack of flow of information decisions may
hamper.
All the above recommendations, helps the organisational structure of the business in that
manner which can supports the business plan.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that Aviva plc’s business plan, Digital First
Insurer is one of the most beneficial ideas of the firm as because of this business plan, the
company had an increment in the number of customers, as it is more secure, cheaper and
faster way for customers to deal with the company. In addition, the role of organisational
structure is important for the company as it gives support to the business plan of the
company. In Aviva plc organisational structure worked in a positive manner. As a result, the
reach of the customer toward Aviva plc is increasing day by day. Some recommendations
also discussed in this assignment, which help the organisational structure to be more
précised and useful for the organisation.
19 At 12
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Referencing must be completed before submission
All sources must be referenced in the body of your answer as well as in your reference list. See
the 990 Specimen coursework assignment and answer for examples of how to reference
correctly in text and in your reference list.
References
Bibliography
Book
Agrawal A., Goyal K. Emerging Trends in Banking, Finance & Insurance Industry (Atlantic
Publishers and Distributors, 2009)
Articles
Saunders J. ‘Attitudes, structure and behaviour in a successful company’ (1987) 3 JMM 173
Website
<https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/2017/5/14/chief-risk-officer-cro-job-description>
accessed 25th April 2019
Accounting Tool ‘CRO’ (Accounting Tool, 2017)
Aviva plc ‘Audit Committee’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-us/audit-
committee/> accessed 25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘Aviva’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/ > accessed 25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘Governance Committee’ (Aviva plc, 2019)
https://www.aviva.com/about-us/governance-committee/> accessed 25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘Governance Structure’ (Aviva plc, 2019)
<https://www.aviva.com/investors/governance-structure/> accessed 25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘My Aviva’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-us/myaviva/> accessed
25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘Our Board and business leaders’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-
us/our-board-and-business-leaders/> accessed 25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘Our Strategy’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/investors/our-strategy/>
accessed 25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘Risk management framework’ (Aviva plc, 2019)
<https://www.aviva.com/investors/risk-management-framework/> accessed 25th April 2019
Aviva plc ‘Who we are and what we do’ (Aviva plc, 2019) <https://www.aviva.com/about-
us/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/> accessed 25th April 2019
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IIA ‘the three lines of defense in effective risk management and control’ (IIA, 2019)
<https://na.theiia.org/standards-guidance/Public%20Documents/PP%20The%20Three
%20Lines%20of%20Defense%20in%20Effective%20Risk%20Management%20and
%20Control.pdf> accessed 25th April 2019
Marquette University ‘Role of Internal Audit’ (Marquette University, 2019)
<https://www.marquette.edu/riskunit/internalaudit/role.shtml> accessed 25th April 2019
Pandey A. ‘Corporate governance of insurance companies in India. Process, compliance,
best practices and relevant law’ (Ipleaders, 2017) accessed
<https://blog.ipleaders.in/insurance-corporate-governance/> 25th April 2019
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Glossary of key words
Analyse
Find the relevant facts and examine these in depth. Examine the relationship between
various facts and make conclusions or recommendations.
Construct
To build or make something; construct a table.
Describe
Give an account in words (someone or something) including all relevant characteristics,
qualities or events.
Devise
To plan or create a method, procedure or system.
Discuss
To consider something in detail; examining the different ideas and opinions about
something, for example to weigh up alternative views.
Explain
To make something clear and easy to understand with reasoning and/or justification.
Identify
Recognise and name.
Justify
Support an argument or conclusion. Prove or show grounds for a decision.
Outline
Give a general description briefly showing the essential features.
Recommend with reasons
Provide reasons in favour.
State
Express main points in brief, clear form.
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