AXA Assistance, an AXA Group subsidiary, is an international network providing assistance and services to companies and individuals. It has an established network in 30 countries, including Mauritius through AXA Customer Services. The partnership with Rogers is currently AXA Assistance’s fifth largest in terms of size and workforce. AXA has the largest service network in the world and its CEO, Serge Morelli, reckons that now more than ever this business is of considerable societal importance.
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Two decades with AXA
Serge Morelli has been Chairman and CEO of AXA Assistance since 1 November 2009. Having joined the AXA Group in 1992, he has been successively Director of IT Development, Director of IT Information Systems for AXA France and Director-General of the western region of AXA Particuliers et Professionnels (individuals and professionals). From 2006, he occupied the post of HR Director and was a member of AXA France’s General Management Committee
What led AXA Assistance to decide to set up in Mauritius and to enter into partnership with Rogers?
Setting up in Mauritius sits perfectly with our development and bi-localisation strategy. The choice is, very appropriate, in fact, given that employees are well educated and able to meet our requirements in terms of customer service quality and linguistic ability. Moreover, costs locally allow us to remain competitive. We do not wish to set up independently in this region but be able to rely on a Group that is well-established and well-positioned in its local market, factors that help assure us that we have made the right choice.
How does this partnership add value?
Thanks to our partnership with Rogers, we can take advantage of its knowledge of the Mauritian market, the employment market and local cultural factors. It has already allowed us to register rapid and significant growth, as today Mauritius is the fifth largest entity within the AXA Assistance Group in terms of size and workforce and fits in with our strategic objectives.
AXA Assistance has set itself the challenge of increasing its business with the AXA Group in developing joint projects in all the countries of its international network. What will evolve from the integration of your Mauritian arm, AXA Customer Services, within the Group’s development strategy?
The AXA Group has now chosen AXA Customer Services in Mauritius as one of the three Business Process Outsourcing companies that can be used by entities within the Group for their telemarketing requirements. As a result, AXA Customer Services has already been successful in being chosen by AXA Bank and AXA Protection Juridique (legal protection). Undoubtedly, the Mauritian company will enjoy further commercial success in the near future.
How do recent global uncertainties and new consumer trends influence assistance providers and the way AXA Assistance operates?
The entry of new technologies into our lives, the growing globalisation of clients, lengthening life expectation and the gradual withdrawal of governments from healthcare costs form a new landscape which leads assistance providers to rethink their operations. In order to maintain profitability and stay competitive in mature markets, assistance companies have to innovate all the time and enter unexplored territories which will provide growth in the future. To cite a few concrete examples: service providers providing automatic case assignment for a customer via his smartphone, making joint use of our assistance platforms to take into account our clients’ globalisation, and enhancing services to individuals seeking home care. The assistance profession is more than ever at the centre of societal issues.
In the short-term, how do you see the partnership with Rogers evolving?
Over and above the development of our joint venture with AXA Customer Services in telemarketing and the management of worldwide accident settlements on behalf of AXA Assistance, with Rogers’ help we are looking into the development of our Travel activity (including medical repatriation) in the southern Africa region, which is an area central to Rogers’ own development strategy.
Beyond the business partnership, the two groups are both engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The AXA Hearts in Action foundation is also involved in Sidaction (a major French public event) in making telephone platforms available to Ensemble Contre le Sida for its annual fundraising campaign. Are there opportunities to collaborate in the social responsibility sector?
As socially responsible businesses, the two companies have the same values, as emphasised by our commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Nowadays there is less of a need for telephone platforms as the association Ensemble Contre le Sida now encourages donations to be made via the internet. However, we could imagine joint activities involving both AXA Hearts in Action and the organisations supported by Rogers, for example in terms of educating people about AIDS.
Multi-channel contact centre
The result of a strategic partnership between the AXA Group (AXA Assistance) and Rogers, AXA Customer Services is a multi-channel contact centre, reputed for its expertise, ethics and reliability. As well as its main site in Coromandel, it has a secondary site in Pailles, close to the capital, Port Louis. The company has 500 staff involved in a wide range of outsourcing services, handling incoming and outgoing calls in French and English, as well as providing back-office services.
