Assistance services are nothing other than a guarantee of help at any place or time, regardless of the situation.

The year 2008, with turbulence in world financial markets, loss of confidence in banks and insurers, uncertainly and fears of unemployment, proved a watershed for assistance services. Paradoxically, the world economic crisis not only failed to rock the foundations of the assistance sector, but proved to be a factor that stimulated growth in that industry.

Added value

Assistance services make it possible to awaken customers' interest and to transfer the positive connotations of assistance to the product itself. Also important is the prestige character, high quality and significant value of the help provided. For end customers, assistance services have measurable as well as subjective value. Above all they obtain a guarantee that help will be given in various areas of life, from medical consultation to childcare, computer repairs or, for example, a personal navigator. “Almost one in three new contracts in 2008 involved assistance services added on to banking products. It is no accident that awareness and interest in assistance services have developed at a time when Poles' purchasing decisions are being guided by pragmatism. Most of the new contracts were connected with the sectors which had felt the global economic crisis most harshly: banks, insurers, airlines,” said Jowita Firlej-Bobkiewicz, Business Development Manager at Mondial Assistance.

Assistance is a benefit based not on cash payments, but on organizing help for the beneficiary. It may be a separate insurance policy or an add-on to other policies, products or services. Thanks to their vast back-up resources and sophisticated data communications solutions, combined with high operational efficiency, assistance firms are able to solve practically any problem – from bringing “standard” help in case of a minor road accident, to the most bizarre orders under concierge service. Apart from appropriate technological solutions and a network of service providers, important factors also include the high operational efficiency and training of employees.

“The scope of assistance services offered with insurance or added on to products and services is growing larger and larger. At the same time, under the various types of assistance, unification of the scope of benefits is becoming more and more common. For example, many credit card users are also potential tourists and drivers. One of many examples of a universal assistance service, used in a variety of assistance packages, is a medical information helpline,” says Mariola Kotlewska, deputy director of the Product Launches and Development Department at Inter Partner Assistance Poland.

How they work

Assistance services involve organizing help over the telephone. Staff of the assistance operations centre answer calls as representatives of the client for whom they are providing services, and use that client's name. Callers are usually not aware that they are actually communicating with a firm specializing in bringing help, and not with the insurance company itself.

Assistance specialists bear a great weight of responsibility. In this profession it would be impossible to work to a prepared script. Knowledge and ability are what count. The satisfaction of customers, and often their health or even their life, can depend on the success of the decisions taken independently by the operations centre employee, and on his or her efficiency and ability to cope with atypical circumstances.

The number of possible variations taken by the cases handed by an assistance employee on an everyday basis is vast, even within a given type of cover. According to the most experienced specialists, there is never any certainty how a particular case will develop.

The provision of professional assistance services requires specialist skills on the part of staff, as well as technological readiness. To make this type of business profitable, it is necessary to have a sufficiently large portfolio of clients and cases.

”Most insurers, banks, vehicle manufacturers and other institutions opt to use an outside provider of assistance services. By serving many customers and having international experience and partner networks at their disposal, assistance companies can offer both attractive rates for their services and high quality in the help provided,” adds Mariola Kotlewska. Firms providing assistance services collaborate with – among others – providers of medical, transport and legal services all over the world. They have a network of contacts which a firm specializing in a different line of business would be unable to build up.

“Assistance has great marketing value. We often receive enquiries where clients confirm that they want our services to help them stand out in the marketplace. In some sectors, such as insurance, assistance is now part of the standard package. For this reason companies try to provide their customers with an original package of assistance services with less restrictive exclusions,” says Liliana Tytz, director of marketing and PR at Inter Partner Assistance SA.

Road assistance

Road assistance is an example of a comprehensive and very varied package of services. They primarily involve giving support to driver and passengers in case of breakdown, accident, theft or other unforeseen circumstances connected with motoring. “Road assistance is usually available as part of third-party and comprehensive insurance policies, although it may also be distributed as a separate product. Such packages usually include technical, medical and other benefits. They include, among other things, on-the-spot vehicle repairs, delivery of fuel to an immobilized vehicle, vehicle towing, hire of a replacement vehicle, transportation of driver and passengers to their place of residence or destination, and hotel accommodation for driver and passengers while the vehicle is being repaired,” explains Mariola Kotlewska.

Medical assistance

Medical assistance includes, among other benefits, arrangement of medical transportation and doctor's visits, care for dependent persons, and provision of telephone access to professional medical information. Without needing to leave home, customers can also obtain advice on how to proceed in case of health problems, and on healthy diet. They can obtain information about the location of the nearest pharmacy, prices of cheaper substitute medicines, availability of diagnostic tests, addresses of medical institutions, etc.

Medical services are often linked with travel assistance. Benefits provided to tourists include, among others, supply of tourist and visa information, help with recovering lost baggage, translation assistance, and cash advances in case of unexpected expenses, such as deposits resulting from loss of bags or documents.

In many cases an assistance package for tourists also includes elements of legal assistance, which may provide payment of bail, information on applicable laws and the most frequently encountered legal problems, and recommendations on what action to take. Legal support may also be offered to families and firms in the home country. In that case it usually involves help preparing contracts and other documents, assistance in court cases, and even providing a lawyer in proceedings and support in reaching out-of-court settlements.

Home assistance

A shortage of free time is also the reason for the increasing popularity of home assistance. The Poles, although used to handling various kinds of repairs in the home themselves, are becoming more and more eager to have them carried out by specialists. At the same time, home assistance is a means of ensuring the attention of tested service providers, with a guarantee that the work will be performed reliably. In case of a household equipment malfunction, burglary or other unpleasant event, an assistance firm can organize an urgent visit to the customer by a plumber, locksmith, electrician, roofer or glazier. Home assistance also includes information services and on-the-spot repairs of electrical and computer equipment. In order to protect the remaining property while the damage is waiting to be repaired, benefits may also include supervision by a security firm. As well as technical help in the home, assistance companies also provide help in difficult family situations, for example by arranging home tuition for a sick child, care for dependent persons, cleaning, shopping, dog walking, etc.

Concierge services

Concierge services are becoming more and more popular in the market for comprehensive assistance services. These are normally not associated with unforeseen events, although sometimes they may provide exclusive forms of assistance in such cases as well. “Concierge services are primarily a response to the constant lack of time felt by overworked people,” explains Mariola Kotlewska of Inter Partner Assistance. “Services include, for example, arranging hotel accommodation, reserving air and theatre tickets, and booking a table at a restaurant. Services of this type are mainly the domain of 'bancassistance' – packages of services added on to various banking products, particularly credit cards and personal accounts.

They are popular mainly because people are more and more overworked and have less and less free time.

Marta Kaleńska-Jaśkiewicz
CEO, Inter Partner Assistance Poland

“The personal services sector is a part of the assistance market which can expect dynamic expansion regardless of the financial crisis. After account has been taken of all factors characteristic of Poland and Europe as a whole, a new role is emerging for large assistance firms to play in our country in the future, more significant than their present one. Thanks to their experience in handling contracts covering millions of people, continuously improved processes, and handling of large contracts involving delivering help to people in all corners of the globe, they can successfully take on the function of intermediary in providing help-based services on a mass scale, and even supplement their service-providing resources with networks that are integrated in terms of ownership. If the French model is copied in Poland, the assistance services sector will strengthen its presence in insurance packages addressed to individual customers, including those of insurers, banks, vehicle manufacturers and importers and leasing and fleet companies; and it will begin to offer personal services available on demand, for example with the use of cards bought at newsstands or cheques financed by employers who have an interest in increasing their employees' efficiency.”

Małgorzata Dygas