26.04.2015 Views

ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - AXA Assistance

ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - AXA Assistance

ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - AXA Assistance

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

KAO


p.08<br />

CONT-<br />

Our challenges<br />

The viewpoint of Chairman<br />

& CEO Serge Morelli<br />

ENTS<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

AT A GLANCE_P2<br />

HIGHLIGHTS_P4<br />

where<br />

we stand<br />

THE CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE_P8<br />

OUR GOVERNANCE<br />

STRUCTURE_P10<br />

STRATEGIC VISION_P12<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE VALUES_P14<br />

AN INTERNATIONAL<br />

PRESENCE_P16<br />

THE <strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

GLOBAL NETWORK_P18<br />

what we do<br />

VEHICLE_P20<br />

TRAVEL_P28<br />

HEALTH_P34<br />

HOME_P40<br />

p.12<br />

Our Strategy<br />

Our ambition at the<br />

heart of a changing world<br />

p.16<br />

Locations<br />

Our network:<br />

a global presence<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> SA<br />

French limited liability company<br />

capitalised at €42,090,000<br />

410011209 RCS NANTERRE<br />

Le Carat – 6, rue André Gide<br />

92320 Châtillon – France<br />

www.axa-assistance.com<br />

p.20<br />

What we do<br />

<strong>2011</strong> in each<br />

of our Business Lines


AS A DEPENDABLE PARTNER IN EMERGENCIES AND EVERYDAY<br />

SITUATIONS, <strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE FOCUSES ALL ITS ENERGIES<br />

ON SERVING ITS CUSTOMERS. ITS ULTIMATE AIM IS ALWAYS<br />

TO HELP, ASSIST AND, SOMETIMES, RESCUE. BECAUSE EVERYONE<br />

NEEDS ASSISTANCE FROM TIME<br />

TO TIME, WHETHER AT THE ENDS<br />

Our mission:<br />

OF THE EARTH OR IN THEIR OWN to deliver the<br />

HOME, <strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE OFFERS<br />

right solutions<br />

A RANGE OF SERVICES THAT<br />

DELIVER INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS in emergencies<br />

STRUCTURED AROUND ITS 4 BUSINESS and in everyday<br />

LINES OF VEHICLE, TRAVEL, HEALTH<br />

life.<br />

AND HOME. WITH REVENUE OF<br />

911 MILLION IN <strong>2011</strong> AND MORE THAN 6,300 EMPLOYEES,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE IS NOW A WORLD LEADER IN ITS INDUSTRY.<br />

33<br />

COUNTRIES<br />

MORE THAN<br />

6,300<br />

EMPLOYEES<br />

WORLDWIDE<br />

911<br />

MILLION<br />

IN <strong>ANNUAL</strong><br />

REVENUE<br />

MORE THAN<br />

7MILLION<br />

CLAIMS<br />

HANDLED


axa<br />

assistance<br />

As a global emergency response specialist and a whollyowned<br />

subsidiary of the <strong>AXA</strong> Group, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> operates<br />

through 4 Business Lines spanning the full range of skills offered<br />

by the company: Vehicle, Travel, Health and Home. Combined<br />

with its international presence and strong regional roots, this<br />

agile, responsive structure allows <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> to develop<br />

and grow in tune with the expectations of its customers.<br />

OUR 4 BUSINESS LINES<br />

MORE<br />

THAN<br />

7<br />

MILLION CUSTOMER<br />

CLAIMS HANDLED<br />

IN <strong>2011</strong><br />

MEDICAL SERVICE PROVIDERS<br />

RECOMMENDED BY<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE WORLDWIDE:<br />

INCREASING STAFF NUMBERS<br />

in full-time equivalent (FTE)<br />

4,239<br />

5,084<br />

6,000 6,140<br />

6,300 6,357<br />

35,000<br />

2006<br />

2007 2008 2009 2010 <strong>2011</strong><br />

2_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


REVENUES BY REGION<br />

(million euros)<br />

REVENUE CONTRIBUTION<br />

by Business Line (%)<br />

The Americas<br />

154.5<br />

Northern, Central<br />

and Eastern Europe<br />

267<br />

Health<br />

13%<br />

Other<br />

5%<br />

Home and<br />

Personal Services<br />

24%<br />

France<br />

238<br />

Holding<br />

company 0.5<br />

Asia-Pacific 12<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> Travel<br />

Insurance (ATI)<br />

88<br />

Mediterranean<br />

151<br />

Travel<br />

21%<br />

Vehicle<br />

37%<br />

REVENUES<br />

IN <strong>2011</strong><br />

(million euros)<br />

911<br />

INCREASING <strong>ANNUAL</strong> REVENUES<br />

(million euros)<br />

702<br />

809.2<br />

870.4 883 929 911<br />

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010<br />

<strong>2011</strong><br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_3


From the extraordinary to the everyday,<br />

and the most local to the most distant,<br />

we look back over a year of challenges<br />

successfully met by <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>.<br />

HIGHLIGHTS<br />

MARCH <strong>2011</strong><br />

EARTHQUAKE AND<br />

TSUNAMI IN JAPAN<br />

Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incident: confronted<br />

with this ultra-stressful triple disaster, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> staff<br />

in Japan and around the world demonstrated just how<br />

responsive and supportive they could be.<br />

Activation of an international crisis group, repatriation of those wishing<br />

to leave the country, implementation of a toll-free phone line manned<br />

by Japanese assistance staff based in Singapore, Paris and Chicago,<br />

and the establishment of a forward control centre in Osaka in<br />

anticipation of a possible evacuation… All these actions and more were<br />

taken as soon as news of the disaster broke in order to support not only<br />

customers, but also the 6,000 <strong>AXA</strong> Group employees based on the<br />

islands of Japan. More than 100 staff on every continent were involved<br />

in a two-week effort to find and ship 52,000 iodine pills, 4,000 survival kits<br />

and thousands of litres of mineral water to Japan.<br />

D r Bery<br />

CEO,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

India<br />

The commitment shown in setting up the forward<br />

control centre in Osaka was incredible:<br />

5 days after the tsunami hit, we had to cope with closing<br />

the Tokyo office temporarily and setting up a forward<br />

control centre in Osaka. In less than 24 hours, the crisis team<br />

had succeeded in finding an office and hotel rooms, as well<br />

as negotiating a hotline and fax line. It was a race against<br />

the clock to be ready in case the situation got worse.<br />

4_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


JANUARY <strong>2011</strong><br />

THE RENAULT-NISSAN<br />

ALLIANCE CHOOSES<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has chosen<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> to provide its new package<br />

of mobility and support services for its future<br />

electric vehicle customers. This forms the first<br />

building block in the overall structure this<br />

manufacturer intends to put in place to support<br />

the large-scale marketing of these vehicles.<br />

In addressing these new challenges,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> has acquired new skills and<br />

developed specific new training programmes.<br />

The training is delivered in assistance centres<br />

for the service providers concerned, and is tailored<br />

to the precise technical needs of electric vehicles.<br />

Over and above all the words and<br />

procedures, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> also put<br />

in place an effective and practical<br />

chain of solidarity to support its people<br />

in Japan. The sole aim was to supply<br />

them with whatever they needed to<br />

protect themselves. The key to doing<br />

that was shipping 4,000 emergency<br />

kits prepared centrally<br />

in record time by teams<br />

of volunteers. These kits<br />

contained masks, protection<br />

suits, boots and<br />

goggles for use in the<br />

event of contamination<br />

risk.<br />

Showing<br />

solidarity:<br />

OCTOBer <strong>2011</strong><br />

american EXPRESS<br />

PARTNER AWARD<br />

MORE<br />

7<br />

THAN<br />

MILLION CUSTOMER<br />

CLAIMS HANDLED<br />

IN <strong>2011</strong><br />

The partnership with American Express will soon celebrate<br />

its 20th birthday! These two decades of collaboration<br />

have given the company the opportunity of proving its<br />

professionalism to this longstanding customer. In presenting<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> with a Partner Customer Experience<br />

Award, Thomas Alder, Vice-President, International<br />

Insurance Services Europe, American Express, highlighted<br />

“the essential role played by our partners in providing<br />

a high-quality global service to our customers”.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_5


HIGHLIGHTS<br />

September <strong>2011</strong><br />

A 2nd CENTRE<br />

FOR POLAND<br />

In the same way as Germany,<br />

where network management<br />

is shared between Munich and<br />

Frankfurt an der Oder, Poland<br />

now has a second centre in<br />

Bialystok, which will eventually<br />

take over half the management<br />

processes previously taken care<br />

of by Warsaw. The goal of this<br />

development is to introduce<br />

greater process industrialisation<br />

by using dedicated teams to<br />

deliver an even higher quality<br />

of service to customers.<br />

JANUARY TO MARCH <strong>2011</strong><br />

ARAB SPRING<br />

The tumultuous events seen in the Arab world in<br />

spring <strong>2011</strong> demonstrated not only the relevance of<br />

the <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> “security” offer, but also its effectiveness.<br />

Anticipating possible future events, it was at the end of 2010 that <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

began to offer a service to support companies operating in high-risk countries,<br />

with the assurance that their employees would be secure and/or repatriated<br />

if the socio-political situation deteriorated. This offer, which involves support from<br />

expert security consultants, also includes procedures for evacuation at very<br />

short notice to avoid any unnecessary risk. The theory found itself put<br />

to the practical test in January in Tunisia, followed by Egypt, Libya and Bahrain,<br />

where <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> was able to extract 40 people in less than 24 hours.<br />

Mounaïm Toumi<br />

<strong>Assistance</strong><br />

Coordinator<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

France<br />

At 5:30 in the afternoon of 15 March,<br />

a customer asked us to evacuate its employees<br />

and their families from Bahrain as local<br />

tensions tensions flared into violence. By the following morning,<br />

our action plan was finalised. In the knowledge that<br />

the access roads to the airport were partly barricaded,<br />

our teams identified a potentially successful route.<br />

The convoy set off at 2 o’clock that afternoon, despite<br />

open hostility from the crowd, and successfully negotiated<br />

three barricades before finally arriving at the airport,<br />

where the families boarded the flight to Dubai<br />

at 6 o’clock. Mission accomplished!<br />

MORE THAN<br />

6_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong><br />

17MILLION<br />

INCOMING<br />

CALLS HANDLED<br />

IN <strong>2011</strong>


October/november <strong>2011</strong><br />

STORMS IN THE SOUTH<br />

OF FRANCE<br />

Fast-rising river levels in the South of France, 10 departments<br />

on orange-level standby and very high levels of demand<br />

for response, especially in vehicle assistance… and all with<br />

a potentially serious twist: even some <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> service<br />

providers were known to be directly affected! So on 4 November,<br />

a crisis group was brought together to centralise requests for<br />

assistance from the flooded areas, manage assistance providers<br />

and organise deliveries to repair garages. This sudden, steep<br />

increase in emergency callouts (up 24% over the period) demanded<br />

the involvement not only of assistance teams, but also of<br />

reinforcements from our administrative staff in the areas affected.<br />

November <strong>2011</strong><br />

SUPPORTING CARE IN THE HOME<br />

By exploiting the new technologies that now make it possible<br />

to learn the day-to-day tasks involved in caring for a dependent<br />

person in their own home, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> France has created<br />

15 e-learning modules available via the www.entreaidants.fr<br />

public website. Developed around 3 themes focusing on situations<br />

frequently encountered by family carers, these modules offer<br />

easy-to-adopt solutions designed to enhance the day-to-day<br />

skills and confidence of carers, and ultimately, feelings of security<br />

and reassurance for those cared for in their own homes.<br />

OCTOBer <strong>2011</strong><br />

FLOODS<br />

IN THAILAND<br />

Bangkok paralysed beneath the water…<br />

In such conditions, it is certainly difficult to maintain<br />

a national and international service, but it is possible,<br />

thanks to the BCP (Business Continuity Plan) introduced<br />

following the political events of 2010. Under this plan,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> now operates two “mirrored” sites.<br />

The benefit for customers is that even when the country<br />

was gripped by flooding, there was no interruption<br />

to service: the supply of appropriate clothing and food,<br />

the renting of hotel rooms and a donation to the Thai<br />

Red Cross to help those affected by the floods.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_7


Serge Morelli<br />

<strong>2011</strong> REFLECTED<br />

OUR ABILITY TO ADAPT<br />

TO ALL CHALLENGES,<br />

REGARDLESS<br />

OF THEIR NATURE<br />

Natural disasters, geopolitical conflict and striking social change:<br />

in <strong>2011</strong>, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> was faced with a series of new challenges.<br />

All were resolved successfully by teams who are as professional<br />

as they are supportive.<br />

How do you see <strong>2011</strong>?<br />

Serge Morelli It was a year of many new<br />

challenges, and once again we were<br />

called upon to push back the limits of the<br />

possible in all our Business Lines. In the<br />

practical sense, the geopolitical situation<br />

in the Arab world and the Japanese<br />

tsunami were both major events, added<br />

to which we faced all the challenges that<br />

I’ve now come to look upon as “normal”,<br />

like the storms and cold snap of last<br />

autumn. We are an emergency<br />

assistance provider, but we’re also here to<br />

assist with everyday events, which is why<br />

our organisation is structured to cope<br />

with all eventualities, at the same time<br />

as restructuring our business to prepare<br />

for the future.<br />

I take my hat off to the teams whose<br />

commitment has, once again, been<br />

absolutely exemplary, particularly when<br />

coping with the disaster in Japan.<br />

At key moments like these, every minute<br />

counts, and that’s where the solidarity<br />

really kicks in and everyone gives a level of<br />

commitment well beyond their theoretical role,<br />

which makes me very proud indeed to be<br />

part of what we do.<br />

What is the current state of your market?<br />

Serge Morelli We’re seeing increasing<br />

internationalisation to the point of globalisation<br />

in all our Business Lines. Although the mature<br />

markets for Vehicle and Travel assistance are<br />

relatively stable, growth remains spectacular in<br />

the emerging countries of the world. In Health<br />

and Home, the dramatic changes are more<br />

social in nature: as states gradually withdraw<br />

from provision, personal assistance services<br />

are offering excellent prospects for growth.<br />

New needs are also emerging at the periphery<br />

of our Business Lines, like the “corporate mobility”<br />

offer launched during the year, which combines<br />

travel, health and security cover for expatriates.<br />

All these considerations enhance the worthwhile<br />

contribution made by an assistance provider<br />

as a reliable partner, not only in exceptional<br />

circumstances, but also in everyday life.<br />

8_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


What will 2012 hold for you?<br />

Serge Morelli I look forward to the year with real<br />

confidence. The first reason for that is because<br />

we have successfully demonstrated our creativity<br />

and our ability to anticipate events. This ability<br />

to innovate will continue to be key in 2012,<br />

especially in those areas of the business that fall<br />

outside our historic roots, like the Vehicle and<br />

Travel Business Lines, and also those where we<br />

work proactively, like personal assistance.<br />

The second reason is that we have succeeded<br />

in organising ourselves to respond effectively<br />

to increasingly-frequent major events. Lastly,<br />

because I know that we can also rely on some<br />

very solid foundations:<br />

our international<br />

coverage, our Business<br />

Line organisational<br />

structure, our regional<br />

presence, our amazing<br />

network of suppliers and<br />

our market leadership<br />

amongst financial<br />

institutions and insurers.<br />

Other reasons for<br />

confidence include the<br />

way we have successfully<br />

You don’t become<br />

an assistance provider<br />

by chance: this job<br />

is a vocation, because<br />

it is intrinsically<br />

meaningful.<br />

integrated new technologies into our Business Lines,<br />

and our very strong growth in emerging countries,<br />

which already contribute 18% of our revenue.<br />

You referred to being “proud to be part<br />

of what we do”. What makes it unique?<br />

Serge Morelli I’d like to end on a personal note:<br />

something I think must be shared by many<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> people if the energy they put into<br />

the work they do every day is anything to go by!<br />

When I get up in the morning, I know why, and when<br />

I go to bed at night, I feel that I’ve made myself<br />

useful. Helping people, making sure people are safe,<br />

and sometimes even saving lives: what could be<br />

more worthwhile? It’s that which drives us to adapt,<br />

surpass ourselves and push back the limits of what is<br />

possible, because we always want to do the best for<br />

our customers. Being an assistance provider has<br />

real meaning, and that’s why those involved in<br />

providing assistance do it as well as they do.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_9


As the company’s collective policymaking body, the Executive<br />

Committee has responsibility for implementing its strategy.<br />

Made up of central services function representatives and the<br />

5 regional directors, it supports the Chairman & CEO in managing<br />

the company by defining, guiding and supervising strategy, validating<br />

budgets and ensuring correct implementation of strategic decisions.<br />

OUR<br />

STRUCTURE<br />

Annie<br />

Assouline<br />

qChief Operating<br />

Officer<br />

Jean-Marie<br />

Bouteville<br />

qDirector,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

Development<br />

Jesus<br />

Carmona<br />

qDirector of the Travel<br />

Business Line, CEO of<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> Travel Insurance<br />

Lionel<br />

Jullien<br />

qDirector of Human<br />

Resources and Internal<br />

Communication<br />

FranÇois<br />

Klitting<br />

qChairman & Regional<br />

CEO <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

France, Regional CEO<br />

of France<br />

Sophie<br />

Latil<br />

qDeputy Director,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

Development<br />

Marc<br />

Lo Bono<br />

qDirector,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

Solutions<br />

10_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


Florence<br />

CarrÈre<br />

qDirector of Communication<br />

and Corporate Responsibility<br />

Gabriel<br />

Comes<br />

qRegional CEO<br />

of Asia-Pacific<br />

Bernard<br />

Ferrand<br />

qRegional CEO<br />

of Americas<br />

Bruno<br />

Jantet<br />

qRegional CEO of<br />

Mediterranean, ME,<br />

CEE Indian Ocean<br />

Serge<br />

Morelli<br />

qChairman & CEO,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

Franz<br />

Régimbeau<br />

qCorporate<br />

Secretary<br />

Jean-Luc<br />

Renson<br />

qRegional CEO<br />

of Northern, Central<br />

and Eastern Europe<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_11


<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> continued to implement<br />

its corporate transformation programme<br />

throughout <strong>2011</strong>. Its goal is to establish<br />

the company as the global benchmark<br />

for the assistance market in all its business lines<br />

and to guarantee maximum quality of service.<br />

VISION<br />

s customers become increasingly mobile,<br />

the assistance provider must be ready to<br />

follow its customers wherever they go,<br />

guaranteeing them a single point of contact<br />

and seamless services regardless of geography. Another<br />

challenge is the increasing importance of new<br />

technologies, which can make a decisive contribution<br />

in those business lines where emergencies can, and do,<br />

happen.<br />

Lastly, consumers are becoming increasingly demanding.<br />

These underlying long-term trends are what encouraged<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> to restructure its organisation on the basis<br />

of 3 priority action areas.<br />

aDELIVERING REAL ADDED VALUE<br />

In <strong>2011</strong>, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> refocused on its 4 core<br />

Business Lines of Vehicle, Travel, Health, Home &<br />

Personal Services. “We wanted to identify those<br />

market niches where we deliver real added value to<br />

our customers, in order to ensure profitability and<br />

become more competitive. It’s a strategic choice<br />

that also allows us to concentrate our energies<br />

on developing new offers that are more relevant<br />

to our strategy,” explains Corporate Secretary<br />

Franz Régimbeau. Having conducted a lengthy<br />

programme of analysis… “The company decided to<br />

accelerate growth in those key activities that lie at<br />

the core of the business, like our dependency-<br />

12_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


Our ambition is to constantly improve<br />

our competitiveness so that we can<br />

provide our customers with the<br />

best service at the fairest price.<br />

Serge Morelli<br />

Chairman & CEO,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

focused Personal Services offers,” adds<br />

Director <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> Development<br />

Jean-Marie Bouteville.<br />

aOPTIMISING THE OPERATIONAL MODEL<br />

The corporate transformation of<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> that began in 2010<br />

affects every part of the business,<br />

whether directly or indirectly, and every<br />

one of the company’s operating<br />

countries. “Its goal is to make our model<br />

more competitive, from front-office to<br />

back-office, via operations, technical<br />

management and the support<br />

functions. Succeeding in this new<br />

approach should allow us to make a<br />

real difference,” adds Regional CEO of<br />

France François Klitting. It’s a project<br />

that also involves the redeployment of<br />

some parts of the business. “We’ve<br />

taken the decision to bring our Business<br />

Lines together into centres of expertise.<br />

For example, during the year, our<br />

companies in Barcelona and Mauritius<br />

took over responsibility for part of the<br />

Travel Business Line previously managed<br />

in England and France,” explains Chief<br />

Operating Officer Annie Assouline.<br />

Another vector for change has been the information<br />

systems on which the company has focused so<br />

decisively in recent years. “Technology erases<br />

distances, which gives us much greater latitude in<br />

building the framework for a new operational model.<br />

We already have some very sophisticated resources,<br />

like virtual call centres, and we’re also using the<br />

mobile technologies to develop new channels of<br />

communication with our service providers and<br />

customers,” adds Director <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> Solutions<br />

Marc Lo Bono.<br />

aSETTING MILESTONES FOR THE EMERGING MARKET<br />

Although the opportunities for growth in mature<br />

countries are now limited, many geographic markets<br />

have yet to be built. “In <strong>2011</strong>, we were able to<br />

accelerate our new business operation in emerging<br />

markets in general, and China in particular, in order<br />

to set out the milestones for our growth strategy going<br />

forward, with particular emphasis on Vehicle and Travel,”<br />

explains Sophie Latil, Deputy Director <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

Development. In these new markets, whether in Asia or<br />

South America… “The rise of a middle class opens up a<br />

significant market for us in terms of vehicle assistance,<br />

travel assistance and concierge services, as well as many<br />

opportunities in the health and home markets,”<br />

underlines Isabelle Cerf, the Group Program Director.<br />

Expect to hear more about these trends in 2012.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_13


The very nature of <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> and what it does demands<br />

great attention to detail, reliability and accessibility from the<br />

company’s employees. A powerful corporate culture has grown<br />

up around the concept of responsiveness and efficiency so that<br />

every customer can be offered the highest quality solution.<br />

VALUES<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

employees have<br />

a heightened sense<br />

of customer satisfaction<br />

and put all their energies<br />

into finding the right<br />

solutions every day.<br />

Lionel Jullien<br />

Director of Human Resources<br />

and Internal Communication<br />

esponsiveness may have become<br />

essential in today’s business environment,<br />

but this concept has even more meaning<br />

in a business like <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>, where<br />

the ability to respond accurately and quickly is part<br />

of company DNA. “Many of our people say that they<br />

actually choose the job because they enjoy the<br />

extra fulfilment that comes from responding to the<br />

daily challenges of customer service,” says Director<br />

of Human Resources Lionel Jullien.<br />

aPUSHING BACK THE LIMITS<br />

OF THE POSSIBLE<br />

The company retains a pioneering spirit that is<br />

rooted in the very essence of providing assistance.<br />

“A large number of <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> employees<br />

have worked with the company for many years,<br />

and have therefore contributed to its dramatic<br />

success. Their enthusiasm and force of character<br />

have helped to make the company what it is<br />

today, but I don’t see any hint of complacency<br />

amongst our people. Quite the contrary, in fact,<br />

because they act like entrepreneurs and continue<br />

to put all their energies into finding the right<br />

solutions every day,” adds Lionel Jullien.<br />

Availability, attentiveness and reliability: the<br />

founding values of <strong>AXA</strong> therefore find full expression<br />

at <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>, bolstered by an unshakeable<br />

team spirit and great energy in pushing back the<br />

limits of the possible in terms of customer service.<br />

14_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


At the end of <strong>2011</strong>, we introduced an<br />

e-magazine in 12 languages to unite our people<br />

around our shared corporate purpose.<br />

Florence Carrère<br />

Director of Communication<br />

and Corporate Responsibility<br />

aA JOINT MISSION AND SHARED VALUES<br />

As part of further strengthening employees’<br />

feelings of belonging to the company and<br />

being proud to do so, employee communication<br />

was restructured at the end of <strong>2011</strong> to introduce<br />

a new interactive channel. Translated into<br />

12 languages and produced in collaboration<br />

with local communication managers, this new<br />

online resource highlights the latest news from<br />

around the company, as well as local good<br />

practices, with particular emphasis on corporate<br />

responsibility. “<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> employees are<br />

involved on a very regular basis in charitable<br />

and socially-supportive initiatives that go way<br />

beyond their contractual obligations, and<br />

they do so quite simply because it’s part of<br />

their DNA as assistance providers,” explains<br />

Florence Carrère, Director of Communication<br />

and Corporate Responsibility. It’s a mindset<br />

that translates directly into the company’s<br />

offer of services, like the publicly-accessible<br />

www.entreaidants.fr website developed to support<br />

carers. Employee commitment can also express<br />

itself in the form of volunteer work, which was clear<br />

from the extraordinary level of commitment shown<br />

by the way in which the company’s teams<br />

responded to the disastrous events in Japan and<br />

Thailand in <strong>2011</strong>. “This e-magazine provides the<br />

opportunity to recognise and share experiences<br />

like these, all the way from Panama to Poland<br />

and India,” she adds.<br />

RETAINING AND<br />

SUPPORTING<br />

TALENTED PEOPLE<br />

As a responsible employer, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

understands that successful corporate transformation<br />

can only be achieved by effective management<br />

of the talented people who make up the company.<br />

“That’s why we decided to build a monitoring<br />

mechanism to protect the employability of our<br />

people by introducing an assistance careers<br />

observatory designed to identify where the key<br />

trends are leading between now and 2015,” says<br />

Anne Marion-Delpont, Head of International HR<br />

Development. “Carried out in cooperation with<br />

our European HR managers, this work will also lead<br />

to the development of other employee support<br />

measures, as well as the promotion of mobility<br />

between <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> entities around the world,”<br />

adds Amanda Vaughan, Regional HR Director for<br />

Asia. “This initiative has been developed on the basis<br />

of two European agreements signed at the end<br />

of <strong>2011</strong> – one by the <strong>AXA</strong> Group and the other<br />

subsequently by <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> – under which<br />

the Group and its subsidiary company give their<br />

commitment to put in place the resources required<br />

to protect the employability of their people,”<br />

adds Thibaut Millour, HR Director for Spain.<br />

We have put in place a<br />

3-level – central, regional<br />

and local – organisational<br />

structure that reflects the<br />

needs of our people and<br />

the Group.<br />

Anne Marion-Delpont<br />

Head of International HR Development<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_15


AN<br />

THE AMERICAS<br />

1,679<br />

employees<br />

l Argentina (Buenos Aires)<br />

l Brazil (São Paulo)<br />

l Canada (Montréal)<br />

l Chile (Santiago)<br />

l Colombia (Bogotá)<br />

l USA (Chicago/Miami)<br />

l Mexico (Mexico)<br />

l Panamá (Panamá)<br />

PRESENCE<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> employs more than 6,300 people in 33 countries<br />

worldwide. This 5-region organisational structure enables the company<br />

to manage the international problems of its customers on a global scale,<br />

whilst retaining an essential local presence.<br />

ALGERIA<br />

ARGENTINA<br />

AUSTRALIA<br />

AUSTRIA<br />

BENELUX<br />

BRAZIL<br />

CANADA<br />

CHILE<br />

CHINA<br />

COLOMBIA<br />

CZECH REPUBLIC<br />

FRANCE<br />

GERMANY<br />

GREAT BRITAIN<br />

GREECE<br />

HONG KONG<br />

16_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


FRANCE<br />

1,474<br />

employees<br />

l France excl. subsidiaries<br />

l Cours Legendre<br />

l Domiserve<br />

l Maroc Service<br />

l Pluridis<br />

l Truck<br />

<strong>Assistance</strong> International (TAI)<br />

l Holding company<br />

NORTHERN,<br />

CENTRAL AND<br />

EASTERN EUROPE<br />

1,400<br />

employees<br />

l Germany<br />

(Munich/Frankfurt an der Oder)<br />

lAustria (Vienna)<br />

lBenelux (Brussels)<br />

lGreat Britain (Redhill)<br />

lIreland (Dublin)<br />

lPoland (Warsaw)<br />

lCzech Republic (Prague)<br />

lSwitzerland (Geneva)<br />

lTravel<br />

MEDITERRA-<br />

NEAN, ME, CEE*,<br />

INDIAN OCEAN<br />

1,482<br />

employees<br />

l Algeria (Algiers)<br />

l Spain (Barcelona/Madrid)<br />

l Greece (Athens)<br />

l Mauritius (Coromandel)<br />

l Italy (Rome)<br />

l Morocco (Casablanca)<br />

l Portugal (Lisbon)<br />

l Turkey (Istanbul)<br />

* Middle East, Central and Eastern<br />

Europe.<br />

ASIA-PACIFIC<br />

322<br />

employees<br />

l Australia (Sydney)<br />

l China (Beijing/Shanghai)<br />

l Hong Kong<br />

l India (New Delhi)<br />

l Japan (Tokyo)<br />

l Singapore<br />

l Taiwan (Taipei)<br />

l Thailand (Bangkok)<br />

INDIA<br />

IRELAND<br />

ITALY<br />

JAPAN<br />

MAURITIUS<br />

MEXICO<br />

MOROCCO<br />

PANAMA<br />

POLAND<br />

PORTUGAL<br />

SINGAPORE<br />

SPAIN<br />

SWITZERLAND<br />

TAIWAN<br />

THAILAND<br />

TURKEY<br />

USA<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_17


THE<br />

GLOBAL NETWORK<br />

Jérôme Bedouk<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE FRANCE<br />

PERSONAL SERVICES<br />

AFFILIATES<br />

Marylu Forttes<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE CHILE<br />

Lena Bonilla<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE PANAMÁ<br />

Bertrand du Réau<br />

TRUCK ASISTANCE<br />

INTERNATIONAL<br />

FRANCE<br />

François<br />

Klitting<br />

FRANCE<br />

Nicolas Sinz<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

FRANCE<br />

Olivier Van Poperinghe<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE USA. INC.<br />

Bernard Ferrand<br />

THE AMERICAS<br />

Sven Loison<br />

INTER PARTNER<br />

ASSISTANCE BRAZIL<br />

Rogelio Alvarez<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

MÉXICO S.A. DE C.V.<br />

Serge<br />

Morelli<br />

Patricio Lanus<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

ARGENTINA<br />

Fabien Navet<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

CANADA INC.<br />

Carlos Eduardo Espinosa<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

COLOMBIA<br />

18_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


Bob Ewers<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> UK<br />

REDHILL<br />

Markus Wendler<br />

Inter Partner <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

SWITZERLAND<br />

Marta Kalenska<br />

Inter Partner <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

Polska S.A.<br />

Christophe Marius<br />

Inter Partner<br />

<strong>Assistance</strong> BELGIUM<br />

Markus Lichtinghagen<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> GERMANY<br />

Konrad Legat<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> AUSTRIA<br />

Eoin Lyons<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

IRELAND<br />

Jan Cupa<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

CZECH REPUBLIC<br />

Jean-luc Renson<br />

NORTHERN, CENTRAL<br />

AND EASTERN EUROPE<br />

Dominic Ang<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

SINGAPORE<br />

Hiromitsu Matsumoto<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> JAPAN Ltd.<br />

Olivier Van Poperinghe<br />

Axa <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

australiA PTY LTD.<br />

Marc Veisen<br />

Inter Partner<br />

<strong>Assistance</strong><br />

CHINA<br />

Olivier Eap<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

THAILAND Co. Ltd.<br />

Gabriel Comes<br />

ASIA-PACIFIC<br />

Joseph Lee<br />

Inter Partner <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

HONG KONG Ltd./ TAIWAN<br />

Eduardo Picarra<br />

Inter Partner <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

PORTUGAL<br />

Enrique Lamarca<br />

Inter Partner<br />

<strong>Assistance</strong> ESPAñA S.A.<br />

Pradeep Bery<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> INDIA<br />

PRIVATE Ltd.<br />

Martin Weintz<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> Customer Services<br />

MAURITIUS<br />

Mehmet Tanel<br />

INTER PARTNER<br />

ASSISTANCE TURKEY<br />

Lamine Benaissa<br />

Inter Partner<br />

<strong>Assistance</strong> ALGERIA SPA<br />

Paolo Hubaux<br />

Inter Partner<br />

Assistenza Servizi SpA<br />

ITALIA<br />

Alain Ducamp<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

AFRICA<br />

Bruno Jantet<br />

MEDITERRANEAN,<br />

ME, CEE,<br />

INDIAN OCEAN<br />

Dimitri Constantinou<br />

Inter Partner <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

GREECE<br />

Nadia Chraïbi<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

MOROCCO<br />

Jean-Marc Beauvieux<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> RUSSIA<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_19


SATURDAY 19 MARCH, 11:30 A.M. ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BRASILIA<br />

Joachim’s weekend with friends had got off to a<br />

bad start. It was true that his dad had lent him<br />

his old Beetle, but breaking down in the middle<br />

of nowhere wasn’t part of the plan.<br />

He used his smartphone to call <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>: his dad<br />

had insisted that he stored the number, and dad was<br />

right – again… An hour later, the recovery truck was<br />

there, and Joachim and his friends were back on the<br />

road in a car provided by <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>… “And<br />

if we’d had the on-board b-call system, it would have<br />

been even quicker”, pondered Joachim, thinking<br />

of his own future car. But that’s another story!<br />

20_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


Saturday 19 March,<br />

1:30 p.m.<br />

on the road<br />

to Lago Sul…<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_21


MOVING BEYOND<br />

TRADITIONAL ASSISTANCE<br />

WITH A RANGE OF HIGH<br />

ADDED-VALUE SERVICES<br />

Social change and economic factors<br />

in the Vehicle market are encouraging<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> to offer new services and<br />

to structure its international deployment<br />

as part of ensuring that it can serve its customers<br />

wherever they may be in the world.<br />

Jean-Pierre Lerin Director of the Automotive Business Line<br />

he world is changing, and the world of<br />

assistance provision is no exception! The<br />

attitude to private cars is gradually moving<br />

away from one of treating vehicles as assets<br />

towards treating them as services. The fact is that<br />

drivers now want more from mobility than simply the<br />

status of owning a vehicle. “We’re ready for new<br />

models that are clean, safe and connected. That’s<br />

why we’re seeing the emergence of innovative<br />

vehicle engines, especially hybrid and electrical<br />

solutions, the development of driver assistance<br />

systems, and many applications of new technology<br />

in the automotive industry. It is also important to<br />

bear in mind that the market for mobility – which will<br />

be a huge growth market in the future – saw the<br />

emergence of potentially important new players in<br />

<strong>2011</strong>,” explains Jean-Pierre Lerin, Director of the<br />

Automotive Business Line.<br />

aNEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EAST<br />

The other major step change is a geographical<br />

one, as growth becomes more international, with<br />

prospects for exponential growth in China, India<br />

and Brazil. “Our customers expect us<br />

to be able to follow them wherever<br />

they locate, and to guarantee them<br />

a consistent service wherever they<br />

operate geographically. In addition<br />

to our traditional assistance services,<br />

we must also be able to offer them<br />

additional high added-value services<br />

to set ourselves apart from<br />

competitors in today’s market,” adds<br />

Jean-Pierre Lerin. <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

must respond effectively to all these<br />

challenges, whilst remaining in step<br />

with market trends to act as a<br />

facilitator of change, rather than<br />

become a victim of it.<br />

Although establishing a presence in<br />

new parts of the world is essential, it<br />

can’t be achieved overnight.<br />

Creating a network of reliable service<br />

providers is an essential precondition<br />

for <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>, as is establishing<br />

contacts in new economic markets<br />

22_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


TAI develops unique<br />

assistance services for the road<br />

transport industry.<br />

Bertrand du Réau<br />

Director of Truck <strong>Assistance</strong> International (TAI)<br />

where regulations and practices are<br />

inevitably different. “<strong>2011</strong> was a year<br />

in which we analysed the Chinese<br />

market, initiated our commercial<br />

presence and signed our first<br />

contract (see inset). 2012 will be the<br />

year in which we expand our<br />

operational structures and win new<br />

customers,” explains Jean- Pierre<br />

Lerin. An equally methodical<br />

approach was adopted in India,<br />

where <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> now operates<br />

the country’s most “accessible”<br />

network, with 14,000 suppliers, which<br />

means a rescue operator every<br />

20 kilometres, a great achievement<br />

given the size of the country.<br />

aA MORE CONCENTRATED<br />

LOCAL PRESENCE<br />

It’s an approach that clearly<br />

appealed to tyre manufacturer<br />

Goodyear, which signed a major<br />

contract with <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> in <strong>2011</strong>.<br />

“These markets are doubly important:<br />

firstly because of their size and<br />

growth, which offer us extraordinary<br />

potential, and secondly because the<br />

ability to follow our longstanding<br />

customers into these markets allows<br />

TAI is a business Line in its own right, dedicated<br />

to the road transport of passengers and goods.<br />

A well-known operator in Europe, this company<br />

serves many high-profile customers, including<br />

Total, DKV and <strong>AXA</strong>. Based in Lyon, its call centre<br />

is manned by multilingual advisers who manage<br />

calls in real-time and coordinate with a network<br />

of specialist service providers. It’s a value chain<br />

that demonstrates its effectiveness every day,<br />

with a roadside breakdown resolution rate of 80%!<br />

We judge assistance providers<br />

on the basis of their expertise,<br />

adaptability and international<br />

presence.<br />

Michel Abergel<br />

Head of Insurance at RCI Banque/Renault<br />

RCI Banque is wholly owned by Renault SAS,<br />

operates in 37 countries, currently finances<br />

more than a million vehicles every year,<br />

and offers a portfolio of insurance and<br />

assistance services provided under nearly<br />

3 million contracts. <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>, which designs<br />

and manages services on behalf of RCI Banque,<br />

is distinctive at three different levels: its expertise,<br />

its ability to innovate and anticipate, and its<br />

international presence, which allow us to deliver<br />

the consistency of response we promise<br />

our customers.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_23


us to protect our existing business in mature<br />

countries. That’s important, because an increasing<br />

number of contracts and tender invitations are now<br />

insisting on worldwide service provision. So it’s clear<br />

that we have to be where the growth is,” continues<br />

Jean- Pierre Lerin.<br />

aSERVING CUSTOMER SALES STRATEGIES<br />

In the world’s mature national markets, nothing<br />

can be taken for granted, and customers – whether<br />

manufacturers, rental operators or insurers –<br />

demand offers that will help them retain their<br />

existing customers, at the same time as developing<br />

new business. The result is that new services are<br />

emerging on the periphery of traditional assistance<br />

benefits, like the new “tyres” offer developed in <strong>2011</strong><br />

335.4<br />

MILLION IN REVENUE<br />

GENERATED BY<br />

THE VEHICLE<br />

BUSINESS LINE<br />

IN <strong>2011</strong><br />

for a prestigious German carmaker.<br />

The concept of this new service is to<br />

encourage customers to buy their<br />

tyres from the manufacturer’s<br />

dealers (see inset) by offering them<br />

a range of attractive additional<br />

covers. The same type of thinking<br />

was behind another contract signed<br />

during the year by <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>,<br />

aSIA<br />

A SUPERB FIRST<br />

MILESTONE IN CHINA<br />

<strong>2011</strong> will be seen as the year in which the company really got down<br />

to business in China, with the first structured marketing initiatives<br />

leading to the signature of a contract with a major Chinese insurer.<br />

From 10,000 vehicles covered in<br />

2009, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> exceeded<br />

the 300,000 vehicle milestone<br />

during the year, and is on course<br />

to break the 1 million barrier<br />

by the end of 2012. “The<br />

telemarketing distribution<br />

method used by this major<br />

Chinese insurer is highly innovative<br />

in this market, and is working<br />

extremely well. This partnership in<br />

the Chinese market gives us a<br />

credibility that will prove decisive<br />

with the other financial institutions,<br />

banks and insurers we would like<br />

to do business with,” explains<br />

Gabriel Comes.<br />

Growing interest<br />

in assistance<br />

Another benefit of this first<br />

contract is that it enables <strong>AXA</strong><br />

<strong>Assistance</strong> to refine its suppliers’<br />

policy and begin to build its own<br />

network to ensure that its<br />

trademark service quality<br />

standards are maintained. The<br />

company is already able to rely<br />

on a substantial panel of 4,000<br />

“major suppliers”, each of which<br />

has an operating presence in<br />

several areas of the country,<br />

bringing the total number of<br />

suppliers to nearly 10,000. “We’re<br />

seeing growing interest amongst<br />

Chinese customers for assistance<br />

services, and we’re now in a<br />

position to respond to that trend,”<br />

concludes Gabriel Comes.<br />

24_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


this time with the Opel dealership<br />

network in Spain to provide used-car<br />

buyers with an optional extended<br />

warranty that includes assistance<br />

services. Products like these help<br />

customers to stand out in the<br />

marketplace, at the same time as<br />

enhancing their sales potential.<br />

aA CONSISTENT QUALITY<br />

OF SERVICE WORLDWIDE<br />

If it is to win customers with global<br />

requirements, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> must<br />

now be able to demonstrate its ability<br />

to deliver consistent services across<br />

a much broader geographical<br />

We’ve<br />

remodelled<br />

the way we work<br />

with our suppliers<br />

by putting the<br />

emphasis on<br />

interaction and<br />

ongoing training.<br />

Gabriel Comes<br />

Regional CEO of Asia-Pacific<br />

spread. “It was with this in mind that in <strong>2011</strong> we<br />

continued the process of standardising our<br />

processes, systems and quality commitments, which<br />

makes us one of the very few players in the market<br />

capable of providing a global commitment across<br />

multiple regions. In a world where customers have<br />

increasingly globalised expectations, we need our<br />

entities and representatives to provide us with a<br />

consistent quality of service wherever they may be<br />

in the world,” continues Jean-Pierre Lerin. New<br />

markets, and particularly those in Eastern Europe,<br />

are now covered on behalf of this manufacturer, to<br />

which the company has guaranteed a single<br />

contract and manager in 35 countries. So whether<br />

the driver is in Lisbon or Helsinki, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

is committed to responding to any problem within<br />

45 minutes: it’s a level of responsiveness that makes<br />

all the difference in this premium market.<br />

aA PIONEER IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES<br />

The increasing emergence of new types of vehicle<br />

engine also poses new challenges for assistance<br />

providers. <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> grasped this reality at a<br />

very early stage, and has already established itself<br />

in the high-potential market for electric vehicles. The<br />

company has adopted a policy of technological<br />

innovation alongside sustainable development.<br />

Now European assistance market leader in this<br />

specific business line, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> signed a<br />

partnership agreement with the Renault-Nissan<br />

Alliance in <strong>2011</strong> to become the European assistance<br />

provider for its range of electric vehicles. As a result,<br />

Renault and Nissan now plan to offer customers in<br />

21 countries a package of innovative services in<br />

addition to traditional roadside assistance. “We’ve<br />

re-thought the way in which vehicle assistance is<br />

provided, and introduced training programmes<br />

delivered in our own assistance centres to make<br />

sure that our service providers are completely<br />

familiar and confident in dealing with the new<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_25


37 %<br />

OF OUR BUSINESS<br />

COMES FROM<br />

VEHICLE<br />

ASSISTANCE<br />

‘Tyre’ assistance<br />

is a manufacturer<br />

demand<br />

we are<br />

responding<br />

to with<br />

tailormade<br />

covers.<br />

Jean-Luc Renson<br />

Regional CEO of Northern,<br />

Central and Eastern Europe<br />

requirements imposed by this technology. Our<br />

partner networks are also subject to certification so<br />

that we can guarantee their expertise with electric<br />

vehicles,” explains Fabrice Lock, Deputy Manager<br />

of Automotive Business Line. The IIR (Immediate<br />

Incident Report) represents another key benefit for<br />

this manufacturer, because the ability to receive an<br />

incident report from <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> within the hour<br />

represents a mine of useful information for its<br />

engineers.<br />

aEXTRACTING MAXIMUM BENEFIT<br />

FROM NEW TECHNOLOGIES<br />

Building expertise in the latest technological<br />

developments is a major challenge for the years<br />

ahead. “Our business will become increasingly<br />

reliant on receiving data from vehicle on-board<br />

systems (e-call or b-call) or via smartphones; data<br />

that we must then interpret and sort before we<br />

can feed back our conclusions in the form of<br />

service. This is a major evolution, because it<br />

requires us to develop new skills,” says Jean-Pierre<br />

Lerin. <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> has been supplying its e-call<br />

and b-call services to PSA for many<br />

years now, and is well positioned<br />

to act ahead of future legislation,<br />

such as the European directive<br />

requiring all new cars to be fitted with<br />

an emergency call system by 2015.<br />

Even more innovative, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

developed the new “Smart<strong>Assistance</strong>”<br />

smartphone app in <strong>2011</strong>, which<br />

has already been taken up by<br />

Europcar and Renault. This new<br />

service marks a first step towards<br />

what seems likely to be a major<br />

market of the future, given the<br />

increasing influence of smartphonebased<br />

services. “Voice traffic is<br />

increasingly giving way to data traffic,<br />

26_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


NORTHERN, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE<br />

MANUFACTURERS ARE<br />

CHOOSING <strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE<br />

FOR ITS “TYRE” OFFER<br />

“Tyre” assistance broke through very effectively<br />

in the Vehicle Business Line during <strong>2011</strong>.<br />

In many ways, this offer is<br />

characteristic of the new<br />

services now being developed<br />

around the core of traditional<br />

assistance. It offers manufacturers<br />

two key benefits: the first is the<br />

ability to be distinctive in the<br />

marketplace by offering<br />

completely new types of cover,<br />

and the second is the ability to<br />

generate sales by boosting the<br />

volumes of tyres purchased from<br />

its own dealer network, rather<br />

than from other suppliers.<br />

A landmark contract with<br />

a leading German carmaker<br />

Under the contract signed<br />

in <strong>2011</strong> with this premium<br />

carmaker, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

offers customers who buy tyres<br />

from the manufacturer’s<br />

dealers roadside assistance in<br />

the event of puncture, as well<br />

as reimbursement for the<br />

damaged tyre, which in<br />

turn generates additional<br />

revenue for the manufacturer.<br />

“Demand is increasing in this<br />

new market, and offers a<br />

promising niche for the Vehicle<br />

Business Line. Our premium<br />

portfolio has grown quickly<br />

and significantly in a very short<br />

time, and we’re currently<br />

extending deployment of this<br />

contract outside Germany to<br />

other countries in Eastern<br />

Europe. The package has also<br />

been taken up by Goodyear<br />

in India under a contract<br />

signed in <strong>2011</strong>,” says Jean-Luc<br />

Renson.<br />

and smartphones will be the decisive<br />

turning point in this trend. Eventually,<br />

all of them will be fitted with an<br />

assistance button that users simply<br />

have to press to access a broad<br />

range of services extending well<br />

beyond vehicle assistance.<br />

Smartphones are also a very useful<br />

way of simplifying the relationship we<br />

have with our network of service<br />

providers, by shortening lead times<br />

and reducing the number of<br />

intermediaries. That means even<br />

greater efficiency and faster response<br />

times for the motorist waiting at the<br />

side of the road for us to arrive,”<br />

continues Jean-Pierre Lerin.<br />

aPUTTING IN PLACE THE RESOURCES<br />

TO DELIVER OPTIMUM SERVICE<br />

These major projects and new developments certainly<br />

set the company apart from its competitors, but<br />

naturally, they all require investment. That’s why it’s so<br />

important for <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> to press ahead with its<br />

policy of cost reduction, which is what makes it possible<br />

to offer customers increasingly innovative services<br />

without compromising the quality of service delivered.<br />

“In <strong>2011</strong>, we were able to accelerate the process of<br />

deploying automatic job assignment systems to our<br />

service providers. We were also able to continue to opt<br />

for dual location of some parts of the business, with the<br />

establishment of new centres in Poland and Morocco.<br />

The point of these changes is to improve service<br />

through the creation of dedicated and more specialist<br />

teams,” concludes Jean-Pierre Lerin.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_27


RUE EL MARKAZIA, CASABLANCA, THURSDAY 5 MAY<br />

Leïla, Samir and their 3 children<br />

are raring to go: mum’s swimsuits<br />

and dad’s diving equipment<br />

are all packed.<br />

Stress? What stress? They used their credit card<br />

to pay for their airline tickets, and they know<br />

that <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> is covering their trip,<br />

whatever happens. Happy holidays ahead…<br />

28_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


Rue El Markazia,<br />

Casablanca<br />

Saturday 7 May<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_29


GLOBAL EXPERTISE<br />

IN THE NEW WORLD<br />

OF TRAVEL<br />

Travel is now a fact of life, whether you’re<br />

travelling on business or for pleasure.<br />

In responding to the new needs of its customers,<br />

wherever they’re going and wherever they come<br />

from, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> innovation offers them<br />

extended worldwide coverage.<br />

Jesus Carmona Director of the Travel Business Line<br />

ravel insurance isn’t what it used to be: it now<br />

goes a great deal further! Recent natural<br />

events, like the Icelandic volcano eruption of<br />

2010 and the disruption that resulted from its<br />

ash cloud, have driven the introduction of new covers<br />

every year. Products are also being introduced<br />

to complement and strengthen the traditional offer<br />

with personal safety services and others that deliver<br />

greater convenience, such as concierge services.<br />

At the same time, technology is revolutionising just<br />

about everything, with the introduction of mobile<br />

phone apps and insurance quote comparison sites.<br />

Travel insurance must adapt to all these new trends.<br />

Another key parameter is the growth in travel to<br />

emerging countries, with the emphasis on Asia and<br />

South America. As people travel more and more for<br />

business and pleasure, financial institutions are keen<br />

to expand and enhance their offers. Lastly, globalisation<br />

is already a reality for <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> customers,<br />

especially for credit card providers, which are now<br />

keen to identify a single partner that can offer global<br />

coverage, worldwide support and the guarantee of<br />

consistent service quality. “The organisational structure<br />

of <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> is perfectly suited to responding<br />

effectively to all these changes. Our international<br />

model has proved just how effective<br />

it can be, and is being rolled out further<br />

every year. <strong>2011</strong> was a pivotal,<br />

and very positive, year which saw the<br />

practical implementation of efforts<br />

undertaken by our teams since 2010,<br />

especially in terms of securing our key<br />

partnerships and winning prestigious<br />

new contracts,” says Jesus Carmona,<br />

Director of the Travel Business Line.<br />

aCARDS: A LONGSTANDING<br />

LEADERSHIP<br />

For more than 2 decades, <strong>AXA</strong><br />

<strong>Assistance</strong> has been a major player<br />

in the travel market, and is now the<br />

leading provider of assistance<br />

services to credit card issuers. “Our<br />

offer combines travel insurance with<br />

medical repatriation cover, as well as<br />

a series of increasingly successful<br />

additional options, such as concierge<br />

services. Our working relationship with<br />

some issuers dates back more than<br />

25 years, so it’s fair to say that we’ve<br />

30_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


got to know them pretty well, but we<br />

also understand the necessity to be<br />

proactive in forecasting their needs,<br />

adapting our rates and developing<br />

our offers in line with their expectations<br />

and those of their end-user customers,”<br />

explains Jesus Carmona. <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

works with most of the leading issuers,<br />

which together account for nearly<br />

70% of all the cards currently in<br />

circulation. These include Visa and<br />

American Express, with which the<br />

partnership celebrates its 20th<br />

anniversary in 2012, and which<br />

recently presented the company with<br />

its Partner Customer Experience<br />

Award (see inset) in recognition of its<br />

status as a preferred benchmark<br />

supplier. “These institutions want us to<br />

be able to offer them global solutions<br />

that work in every part of the world.<br />

They know that they can rely on our<br />

international network of service<br />

providers to supply the high level of<br />

service quality they demand. For all<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> Travel Insurance: offering<br />

card issuers an offer and expertise<br />

unique in the world.<br />

Richard Zann Global Commercial and<br />

Marketing Director, <strong>AXA</strong> Travel Insurance<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> Travel Insurance (ATI), the <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

subsidiary company dedicated to serving the<br />

credit card industry since 2007, works closely<br />

with all the leading players in this market. Its<br />

international structure enables it to provide<br />

worldwide management of key contracts with<br />

customers as prestigious as American Express and<br />

Visa. The long-standing collaborative partnership<br />

with these major institutions and the wealth of<br />

services offered by <strong>AXA</strong> Travel Insurance make the<br />

company a key partner, especially in the crucial<br />

area of delivering end-user customer satisfaction.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> plays<br />

a major role in our customer<br />

satisfaction policy.<br />

Thomas Alder Vice-President International Insurance<br />

Services Europe at American Express<br />

Our partner <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> plays a major role<br />

in our customer satisfaction policy, as a result<br />

of the passion and commitment shown every<br />

day by its people. Their professionalism, ability<br />

to adapt to our requirements and readiness<br />

to listen to our needs are all exemplary,<br />

but they also understand the need to be<br />

proactive in proposing new ideas that will<br />

deliver continual service improvements.<br />

That’s why they were, once again, voted<br />

top American Express supplier in the<br />

United Kingdom this year.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_31


these reasons, we were able to attract a number of<br />

major new customers in <strong>2011</strong>, including Société<br />

Générale, Cooperative Banking Group and BNP Paribas<br />

Corporate. At the same time, we continued to develop<br />

services for existing customers like American Express and<br />

Visa in new markets, such as Mexico and the countries<br />

of Eastern Europe,” adds Jesus Carmona. One of the<br />

decisive criteria in this extension to new markets has<br />

been the concierge services offer, which Visa in particular<br />

has introduced for its customers in the Middle East and<br />

Russia. The more upmarket the card, the more important<br />

these additional services are.<br />

aNEW DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS<br />

The new information technologies are gaining ground<br />

in the travel insurance market. “We’re working on apps<br />

that will allow us to extract maximum benefit from these<br />

technologies, from smartphones and tablets to other<br />

online services. Nevertheless, there’s no point in rushing<br />

things, and we’re consolidating our policy before<br />

launching these new products,” continues Jesus<br />

Carmona. <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> may have already introduced<br />

an online cover application process, but many other<br />

developments are now in the pipeline. For example,<br />

there’s an app that will allow users to buy travel insurance<br />

from a smartphone, with the option to view the full<br />

general conditions of the policy. Another scheduled<br />

innovation is an iPad face-to-face point in airports and<br />

banks that consumers can use to speak face-to-face<br />

with an adviser to buy their travel insurance or other<br />

credit card-related services. “We also have a strong<br />

presence on many of the online price comparison sites:<br />

it’s a new marketing channel for us, but one we believe<br />

has a lot of potential. And we’ve just signed an<br />

agreement with Coverwise, one of the most promising<br />

players in this sector,” says Jesus Carmona.<br />

21 %<br />

OF OUR BUSINESS<br />

COMES FROM<br />

TRAVEL<br />

ASSISTANCE<br />

Tripy<br />

has<br />

re-established<br />

us as a<br />

significant<br />

and innovative<br />

player in the<br />

Italian market.<br />

Bruno Jantet<br />

Regional CEO<br />

of Mediterranean,<br />

ME, CEE,<br />

Indian Ocean<br />

32_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


aAN ORGANISATIONAL<br />

STRUCTURE WORTHY OF<br />

CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS<br />

Over and above these future projects<br />

and current successes, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

focuses its efforts day-to-day on 2 key<br />

parameters governing customer<br />

satisfaction: competitiveness, in order to<br />

offer the best-possible prices, and service, in order to<br />

guarantee maximum quality of benefit delivery. “With<br />

this in mind, we’ve restructured geographically around<br />

the 3 repatriation management centres. This new, more<br />

efficient, way of working will deliver improved service to<br />

our customers worldwide, as well as enhancing our<br />

strategy of differentiating ourselves from our competitors,”<br />

concludes Jesus Carmona.<br />

MEDITERRANEAN<br />

TRIPY: DEDICATED<br />

ONLINE ACCESS FOR<br />

TRAVEL AGENTS<br />

<strong>2011</strong> saw the launch of Tripy (www.tripartner.it), a gateway<br />

website dedicated exclusively to Italian travel agents.<br />

“90% of the highly competitive<br />

trans-Alpine market is held by<br />

our major competitors, but it<br />

remains open to new entrants,<br />

and especially those able to<br />

offer innovative solutions,” explains<br />

Stéphane Coulot, Business Manager<br />

at Inter Partner <strong>Assistance</strong> in<br />

Italy. And that’s exactly what Tripy<br />

is, because it allows the 800 or so<br />

agencies currently registered to<br />

issue a range of around 10 travel<br />

insurance products within a minute,<br />

providing cover that ranges<br />

from medical repatriation and<br />

expenses to airline ticket cover,<br />

special ski products and products<br />

designed specifically for groups.<br />

Simpler than its competitors<br />

In addition to the exclusive covers<br />

it offers, Tripy is also a direct sales<br />

site designed to be extremely<br />

simple to use and very responsive.<br />

Everything about it is automated,<br />

including the submission of claims,<br />

which sets it distinctively apart<br />

from other packages in the<br />

market. “The <strong>AXA</strong> brand is also<br />

enormously powerful in terms of<br />

image. All of these strengths<br />

mean that Tripy has got off to a<br />

spectacular start, and its sales<br />

performance has already<br />

exceeded our most optimistic<br />

forecasts,” says Stéphane Coulot.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_33


SUNDAY 28 AUGUST, 50 KM FROM SINGAPORE<br />

Scott meets up with Doug well off the beaten track<br />

for an energy-packed day of mountain biking.<br />

Unfortunately, nothing went as planned:<br />

it rained, the track was slippery and on the first descent,<br />

there was a nasty fall. Catastrophe: Scott couldn’t move his leg!<br />

No need to panic though, because one call to <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> meant<br />

that 5 hours later, our mountain biker was leaving hospital<br />

with a superbly plastered leg and a big smile… because, as well<br />

as being highly efficient, the emergency doctor turned out to<br />

be an old school friend Scott hadn’t seen for years.<br />

It’s a small world!<br />

34_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


Sunday 28 August<br />

Leaving hospital<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_35


FROM THE EVERYDAY TO<br />

THE EXCEPTIONAL, NEEDS ARE<br />

INCREASING DRAMATICALLY<br />

An ageing population, the withdrawal<br />

of state provision, executive hypermobility,<br />

geopolitical strife and new technologies:<br />

healthcare delivery requires an ever-growing<br />

range of services… some of which have yet<br />

to be invented.<br />

Ludovic Lambolez Director of the Health Business Line<br />

number of key trends in the health sector<br />

were confirmed during <strong>2011</strong>. The first was<br />

the ongoing dramatic increase in needs,<br />

the majority of which are driven by<br />

population ageing and the accelerating rate of<br />

chronic disease: both are global phenomena driving<br />

the structural increase in healthcare expenditure.<br />

aINCREASED PRIVATE-SECTOR<br />

INVOLVEMENT<br />

At the same time, we are seeing the gradual<br />

withdrawal from healthcare provision of heavily<br />

indebted nation states, and a resulting shift towards<br />

private-sector providers. “In order to control their<br />

costs and establish a distinctive identity, Health<br />

assistance providers are looking for additional<br />

services to add to their offer. Ranging from telephone<br />

advice to specialist networks for particular illnesses<br />

or medical specialties, chronic illness treatment,<br />

training and even mobile apps, and the list goes on.<br />

The list of needs doesn’t stop there though, and goes<br />

hand-in-hand with the absolute necessity for a return<br />

on the investment required to deliver all these<br />

services. So the new products and services we offer<br />

our customers must be not only distinctive, but must<br />

also be able to demonstrate their<br />

financial performance in the short<br />

term by generating either cost<br />

savings, higher sales or – better still –<br />

both,” explains Ludovic Lambolez,<br />

Director of the Health Business Line.<br />

aHEALTHCARE ON THE MOVE<br />

Mobility is another key trend. Some<br />

people see no alternative but to seek<br />

treatment outside their own country,<br />

whether for reasons of cost or treatment<br />

quality. These new flows of patients are<br />

often also guided by cultural factors,<br />

with the emphasis on the links between<br />

certain countries. For example, seriously<br />

ill Turkish patients often seek treatment<br />

in Germany, where they may have<br />

family to accommodate and support<br />

them. “We’ve analysed this new order,<br />

and we’re fully capable of responding<br />

to it thanks to our national networks, our<br />

joined-up international coverage, our<br />

expertise in cross-border medical<br />

logistics and our ability to act as a link<br />

36_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


etween medical teams in different<br />

countries. To extend our service even<br />

further, we’re working on putting<br />

together ‘elite’ networks for around<br />

forty illnesses, bringing together the<br />

world’s Top 5 or 10 treatment teams for<br />

each condition,” adds Ludovic<br />

Lambolez. In addition to medical<br />

mobility, professional mobility is also on<br />

the increase, with the trend moving<br />

away from expatriation towards shortterm<br />

and medium-term international<br />

secondment for executives. As<br />

geopolitical uncertainty continues to<br />

prevail in many countries creating<br />

combined health and security risks,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> had a duty to respond<br />

to the expectations of international<br />

companies committed to offering the<br />

best protection for their employees.<br />

a“CORPORATE MOBILITY”:<br />

CONCENTRATED EXPERTISE<br />

Restructured in <strong>2011</strong>, the “Corporate<br />

mobility” offer now provides a<br />

comprehensive response to these<br />

expectations. With 50 years of<br />

expertise in providing assistance,<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> has succeeded<br />

in building a package of benefits<br />

to cover all the needs of expatriate<br />

and travelling employees, from<br />

medical and security protection<br />

to business-focused concierge<br />

services. Launched in October<br />

<strong>2011</strong>, this product has already<br />

been taken up by many companies<br />

in many markets, with particular<br />

emphasis on North America,<br />

Europe and Asia. Included in this<br />

product is the Webcorp service,<br />

which is already available as a<br />

standard website and will be<br />

“Corporate mobility”<br />

provides a perfect response<br />

to customers seeking<br />

an integrated solution.<br />

Line Robillard Senior Consultant, Business<br />

Development <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> CANADA Inc.<br />

The “Corporate mobility” solution offers<br />

global coverage, and includes security<br />

risk cover. The programme is totally<br />

personalised, since we provide it as<br />

a “white label” product for customers<br />

to assemble their own package of benefits<br />

using the building blocks we supply.<br />

The package includes a single dedicated<br />

hotline number with multilingual services<br />

available 24/7/365: the bottom line is that<br />

this is a financially responsible, preventive<br />

and prudent offer for customers.<br />

Air France has chosen<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> to support<br />

its global crisis management<br />

structure.<br />

Yves Abbas Director of Internal Affairs, Air France<br />

In the aftermath of the Rio-Paris air accident,<br />

our assistance provider looked after the<br />

process of repatriating the bodies of victims<br />

in direct contact with their families and in<br />

close coordination with Air France. The key<br />

point here is that <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> brought<br />

together a specialist team in Paris dedicated<br />

solely to managing these very sensitive<br />

situations and ensuring that information<br />

flowed freely and efficiently, at the same time<br />

as taking great care of the extremely delicate<br />

psychological aspects of this sad task.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_37


extended to smartphones in mid-2012. Mobile<br />

company employees logging onto this service<br />

can use geolocation technology to identify the<br />

nearest approved medical practitioner or<br />

hospital, backed up by supporting information<br />

on the associated facilities, availability and, of<br />

course, contact details. “Webcorp” can also<br />

provide information about the health and security<br />

status of a particular destination, recommend<br />

how best to proceed on the basis of local<br />

practices, and provide valuable practical and<br />

administrative information.<br />

aTARGETING QUALITY THROUGH<br />

AN INCREASINGLY SELECTIVE NETWORK<br />

Although <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> already had the world’s<br />

largest international corporate assistance network,<br />

the company wanted to go even further in <strong>2011</strong>.<br />

“We’ve done a lot of work on becoming even more<br />

selective in our choice of service providers, based<br />

on identifying the most frequently visited destinations,<br />

analysing the split between tourism and business<br />

travel, and identifying preferred partners that offer<br />

the best service at the best cost. To improve network<br />

control and coordination, we’ve introduced<br />

5 regional network managers and tasked them with<br />

recruiting medical service providers in countries<br />

where we do not have a physical presence, as well<br />

as leading the team of network coordinators based<br />

in our international offices and our network of<br />

220 representatives around the world,” continues<br />

Ludovic Lambolez. As a result, the global network<br />

(excluding the USA) now contains 35,000 healthcare<br />

providers. In the USA, where the healthcare system is<br />

unique to the country, this figure rises to more than<br />

400,000 service providers. “There are many benefits<br />

for our customers, because we’re able to respond<br />

to medical needs anywhere in the world by directing<br />

the policyholder to a high-quality network. Added to<br />

that, the volume of guaranteed<br />

business we are able to provide and<br />

the synergies available within the <strong>AXA</strong><br />

Group give us a very strong position<br />

from which to negotiate medical<br />

service provision at the best-possible<br />

price,” adds Head of International<br />

Medical Network Jean Kramarz.<br />

aRESPONDING TO NEW<br />

REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS<br />

In some regions of the world, and<br />

particularly in continental Europe, we<br />

are seeing companies taking greater<br />

This<br />

programme<br />

of aid for<br />

the people of<br />

Panama illustrates<br />

our commitment<br />

to acting as a<br />

socially-responsible<br />

company.<br />

Olivier Van Poperinghe<br />

CEO of <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

USA & Australia<br />

38_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


esponsibility for psychosocial risks, with<br />

the emergence of increasingly strict<br />

regulations requiring employers to<br />

provide employees with access to<br />

prevention, diagnosis and treatment.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> is supporting this trend<br />

with the development of support<br />

systems offered either directly or via its<br />

partners. These include the EAP<br />

(Employee <strong>Assistance</strong> Programme)<br />

incorporated into the “Corporate<br />

mobility” package, which provides<br />

face-to-face and telephone-based<br />

psychological counselling.<br />

13 %<br />

OF OUR<br />

BUSINESS<br />

COMES<br />

FROM HEALTH<br />

ASSISTANCE<br />

aA PROMISING OUTLOOK<br />

Over and above this existing diversity of products<br />

and services, 2012 looks like being the year of<br />

innovations for the Health Business Line, which aims<br />

to establish its status as the recognised expert in<br />

international and domestic healthcare. It’s a<br />

challenge in which <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> intends to<br />

succeed brilliantly.<br />

AMERICAS<br />

HUMANITARIAN<br />

AID FOR PANAMA:<br />

A QUESTION OF<br />

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY<br />

On 1 January, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> was appointed by the Panamanian Health<br />

Ministry to provide assistance for population groups living in a remote and<br />

mountainous province of the country with no healthcare structure.<br />

“As part of this programme funded by the<br />

World Bank, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> provided its<br />

expertise in medical network management,<br />

as well as 50 employees to visit the villages<br />

concerned and supply help and support to<br />

their underprivileged residents: it’s a really<br />

good illustration of the social responsibility<br />

aspects of assistance provision,” explains<br />

Bernard Ferrand, Regional CEO of Americas.<br />

As a result of the work done by the teams of<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>, nearly 25,000 people living in<br />

these particularly isolated regions now have<br />

access to basic medical care (vaccination,<br />

pregnancy care and obstetrics, paediatrics,<br />

etc.), screening and treatment for serious<br />

illnesses (malaria, tuberculosis, etc.) and<br />

education programmes (in nutrition and<br />

preventive health measures).<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_39


GOETHESTRASSE, BERLIN, WEDNESDAY 23 NOVEMBER, 10:15 a.m.<br />

Jürgen is furious: he needs to rehearse a solo for his<br />

band’s concert on Friday evening, but how can you<br />

play electric guitar when you’re up to your ankles<br />

in water?<br />

Luckily, he has home emergency cover from <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong>.<br />

The plumber arrives at four in the afternoon, so the next<br />

day he can plug his guitar back in… but in the dry<br />

this time. And all without spending a cent since the insurer<br />

pays the tradesman directly. On with the show!<br />

40_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


Goethestrasse, Berlin<br />

Thursday 24<br />

November, 8:15 p.m.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_41


MAKING DAILY LIFE EASIER:<br />

THE NEW CHALLENGE<br />

FOR PERSONAL SERVICES<br />

As daily life seems increasingly more<br />

like a race against time with pitfalls<br />

at every turn, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> is designing<br />

new services to meet the everyday needs of its<br />

end-user customers, from taking care of home<br />

emergencies to providing concierge services.<br />

Philippe Rambaud Director of the Home Business Line<br />

n recent years, longer life expectancy and the<br />

increasing complexity of how we use our time have<br />

generated new needs and expectations. The issues<br />

of personal services and home assistance are<br />

becoming crucial, and as states gradually withdraw<br />

from provision, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> has successfully<br />

established itself in this market. Customers want simple<br />

solutions to their everyday problems, from dependency<br />

in old age to disability support, the problems of finding<br />

available and reliable tradesmen, the organisation of<br />

leisure time and legal protection. Its Business Line<br />

structure means that <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> can offer a<br />

simultaneously global and local presence, which has<br />

enabled the company to become a leading provider<br />

of services in this sector with the ability to support<br />

customers with effective responses worldwide.<br />

aPERSONAL SERVICES:<br />

DELIVERING THE RIGHT OFFERS<br />

Dependency management is becoming a major social<br />

challenge. But despite the clear need, the market<br />

remains underdeveloped even in Western Europe, and<br />

although it offers considerable potential, it is struggling<br />

to take off, because people tend not to consider these<br />

issues until they are in their 60s. “The result is that the<br />

dependency insurance market is<br />

narrow and the cost of policies is<br />

relatively high. So to reach a broader<br />

market with attractive covers at lower<br />

cost, insurers are beginning to<br />

incorporate dependency cover into<br />

their health insurance policies. Against<br />

this background, we’ve taken the<br />

initiative to offer some really distinctive<br />

products with particular emphasis on<br />

preventive care,” explains Philippe<br />

Rambaud, Director of the Home<br />

Business Line. Other key parameters<br />

include tax legislation and social<br />

structures, which differ from country to<br />

country and do not always allow insurers<br />

to operate in this market, regardless of<br />

whether they are private companies or<br />

mutual organizations. However, the<br />

situation is changing fast, and should<br />

enable <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> to reap the<br />

benefits of its early-stage work in coming<br />

years. Already a major player in<br />

dependency care and home care<br />

support through its ADHAP Services<br />

42_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


(care provider) network, which employs<br />

more than 3,000 people in France, the<br />

company continues to develop new<br />

innovations. One of these involves the<br />

development of a new home care<br />

support service for vulnerable people<br />

based on video monitoring technology.<br />

Developed in partnership with Link Care<br />

Services, “eDom” automatically detects<br />

hazardous situations in the home and<br />

triggers an alert displayed on the screen<br />

of a specialist operator, who can notify<br />

friends, family or the emergency services<br />

if required.<br />

aSUPPORTING THOSE<br />

DEPENDENT ON CARE<br />

The www.entreaidants.fr website has<br />

been totally redesigned and enhanced<br />

with new educational resources for<br />

carers (see inset). The “Albatros” system<br />

introduced to support serious personal<br />

injury victims in returning to daily life<br />

continues to build market share in<br />

France, and is beginning to be<br />

deployed in Belgium and Italy (see inset<br />

on next page). Lastly, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

also operates in the protection market,<br />

and has worked alongside <strong>AXA</strong> Direct<br />

Protection to create “Family Protect”, a<br />

comprehensive package of assistance<br />

solutions designed to complement<br />

traditional protection.<br />

aCOPING WITH THE<br />

UNEXPECTED: HANDHOLDING<br />

BY THE ASSISTANCE PROVIDER<br />

Time is increasingly precious and every<br />

unexpected event can take up a<br />

disproportionate amount of it.<br />

Whether your problem is a serious water<br />

leak or a reluctant washing machine,<br />

the new generation of home<br />

e-learning<br />

for carers.<br />

Dominique Barreau Marketing Director<br />

of <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> France<br />

When it comes to delivering advice on how to<br />

care for dependent people living in their own<br />

homes, nothing compares to visual imagery<br />

for getting the message across. Unique in the<br />

market, these e-learning modules form part<br />

of the new services added during <strong>2011</strong> to our<br />

www.entreaidants.fr public website. Their<br />

aim is to provide practical help to carers by<br />

explaining how to deliver day-to-day care<br />

needs, and to offer them practical solutions that<br />

are more effective and confidence-building<br />

in what are often difficult circumstances.<br />

These very well-designed modules<br />

show us the right way to go about<br />

improving the care we provide<br />

for those we look after.<br />

Yvette Riou Carer<br />

It’s impossible to explain just how hard it can<br />

be to care for a dependent relative until you’ve<br />

found yourself in that situation! In hospital, the<br />

nurses point you in the right direction, but they<br />

don’t always have the time to go into detail. The<br />

instructional modules produced by <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

have given me a much better understanding of<br />

how I can support my mother more effectively<br />

when I help her to walk, without putting too much<br />

strain on my own back. The illustrations and<br />

explanations are extremely clear and very useful.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_43


EUROPE<br />

“ALBATROS”: A NEW APPROACH<br />

TO PERSONAL INJURY RECOVERY<br />

An innovative service introduced in close synergy with the personal injury<br />

management insurance teams, “Albatros” provides entitlement to a broad<br />

range of services for victims and families.<br />

Whether completely or partially,<br />

“Albatros” takes the place of the<br />

payments normally made by the<br />

insurer: adaptations to the home,<br />

the provision of home care and<br />

services, re-entry into the world<br />

of work, etc. “This personalised<br />

service is highly appreciated by<br />

those who receive it, because it<br />

creates the long-term conditions<br />

required for people to regain<br />

their confidence and delivers real<br />

customer satisfaction,” explains<br />

François Klitting.<br />

International rollout<br />

Having been tested in France since<br />

2006, “Albatros” really took off in<br />

<strong>2011</strong>, with nearly 1,200 people<br />

receiving help and support in<br />

France, 160 in Belgium and around<br />

10 in Italy. “The way personal injury<br />

recovery is paid for and managed<br />

varies very considerably from<br />

country to country, so introducing<br />

the service into another market<br />

takes time, but that’s what<br />

we’re continuing to do, and we<br />

believe that we will be helping<br />

2,000 personal injury victims by<br />

the end of 2012,” explains<br />

Dionysos Antonopoulos,<br />

Deputy Manager of the<br />

Home, Personal Services<br />

and Personal Injury<br />

Business Line.<br />

emergency and extended warranty covers that deliver<br />

practical solutions are powering ahead. “Water and<br />

energy suppliers, like Luminus in Belgium, are keen to<br />

offer additional services to their customers, whilst<br />

traditional insurers are looking to set themselves apart<br />

from competitors by introducing more covers,” explains<br />

Philippe Rambaud.<br />

aNEW FAMILIES OF SERVICES<br />

In responding to these expectations, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

began by creating an extended warranty for household<br />

equipment (appliances, TVs, HiFi systems, computers,<br />

etc.) that is distinctive from competitors’ offers, because<br />

it covers every item of equipment in the home. Launched<br />

in <strong>2011</strong>, this package has proved enormously successful<br />

in France, and will be marketed in other countries during<br />

2012 through a very broad range of channels, including<br />

cable TV operators in South America. This was followed<br />

by home emergency cover delivered through a network<br />

of tradesmen carefully screened,<br />

selected and managed by <strong>AXA</strong><br />

<strong>Assistance</strong>. “The success of this product<br />

depends on trust: customers must be<br />

able to rely on the fact that problems will<br />

be repaired quickly by a reliable<br />

professional, and that they will have<br />

nothing further to pay because<br />

everything is covered by the policy,”<br />

adds Philippe Rambaud. Since its<br />

launch in 2010, this product has<br />

attracted a number of high-profile<br />

customers.<br />

aFAST GROWTH<br />

IN CONCIERGE SERVICES<br />

Concierge services are increasingly<br />

sought-after, and now form part of<br />

many loyalty and reward programmes.<br />

44_<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>


‘Albatros’<br />

makes it<br />

possible<br />

to put together<br />

tailored<br />

‘life plans’<br />

for serious<br />

personal injury<br />

victims.<br />

24 %<br />

OF OUR BUSINESS<br />

COMES FROM HOME<br />

ASSISTANCE AND<br />

PERSONAL SERVICES<br />

François Klitting<br />

Regional CEO of France<br />

The services are often used to add<br />

value to other offers, from credit cards<br />

to the covers provided by the other<br />

Business Lines of Travel, Vehicle and<br />

Health. “In <strong>2011</strong>, we extended our<br />

concierge service cover for Visa<br />

to include Asia, after North and South<br />

America in 2010. The extension has<br />

been so successful that our concierge<br />

service provision workforce in Asia has<br />

doubled from 30 to 60 in less than a<br />

year. In China, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong> is<br />

outperforming the 50% growth of the<br />

market with 100% new business growth.<br />

And Brazil isn’t far behind, with growth<br />

of 30%,” says a delighted Philippe<br />

Rambaud. Demand for these services<br />

is becoming global, with leading<br />

corporate customers seeking single<br />

partners that can offer worldwide coverage and<br />

deliver the best-possible quality of service regardless<br />

of geography: it’s a challenge for which <strong>AXA</strong><br />

<strong>Assistance</strong> is particularly well positioned, thanks to its<br />

international network of partnerships and service<br />

providers. In this market, technology will play an<br />

increasingly important role, from customer profiling<br />

to smartphone accessibility and push marketing.<br />

“These trends play to our strengths and give us the<br />

edge over local or regional companies, because<br />

we’re able to develop these new resources on a<br />

global scale. The goal of all these developments<br />

is to simplify and improve the customer pathway,<br />

at the same time as improving service quality by<br />

implementing individually tailored services,” continues<br />

Philippe Rambaud.<br />

aADDRESSING TOMORROW’S<br />

CHALLENGES TODAY<br />

In the home assistance market, success will necessarily<br />

depend on technological innovation.<br />

Whether you look at the growth in mobility (with the<br />

option to contact your assistance provider by<br />

smartphone), the connected smart home (that<br />

anticipates emergencies before they occur), or<br />

measuring home energy performance, <strong>AXA</strong> <strong>Assistance</strong><br />

conducts its research in close cooperation with its<br />

customers and partners as part of addressing<br />

tomorrow’s challenges today.<br />

<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCEq<strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong>_45


<strong>AXA</strong> ASSISTANCE – <strong>2011</strong> <strong>ANNUAL</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong><br />

This document is printed in France on FSC-certified paper from sustainable sources.<br />

Publication manager: Florence Carrère – Coordination: Astrid David – Design<br />

and production : – 11195 – Photo credits: Henrik Sorensen/Stone/gettyimages ®<br />

(cover), Jorn Georg Tomter/Stone/gettyimages ® (p. 2), Corbis, Jacques Grison/<br />

La Company (p. 3), Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/gettyimages ® , <strong>AXA</strong>, Renault-Nissan (pp. 4-5),<br />

Carsten Koall/gettyimages ® , Christine Piat, Paula Bronstein/gettyimages ® , efektstudio80<br />

(pp. 6-7), Léa Crespi (pp. 9-11), gettyimages ® , Corbis, Jacques Grison/La Company<br />

(pp. 12-13), <strong>AXA</strong> (p. 15), Hobby Finn/Thinckstock, Corbis, Benoit Paille, Jacques Grison/<br />

La Company (pp. 16-17), <strong>AXA</strong> (pp. 18-19), Will Sanders/photonica/gettyimages ® , Alyson<br />

Aliano/gettyimages ® (pp. 20-21), <strong>AXA</strong>, photoupdesign (pp. 22-23), RedChopsticks/<br />

gettyimages ® (p. 25), Martin Poole/Stockbyte/gettyimages ® , Steven Taylor/gettyimages ® ,<br />

ColorBlind Image/Iconica/gettyimages ® (pp.28-29), Comstock/Thinckstock, <strong>AXA</strong> (pp.30-31),<br />

Alexandre Capi/Latin Constant/gettyimages ® , Jack Louth/Stone/gettyimages ® (pp. 34-35),Tim<br />

Radley/Stone/gettyimages ® , Image Source/gettyimages ® (pp. 40-41), <strong>AXA</strong> (pp. 42-45).<br />

www.axa-assistance.com

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!