What Artificial Intelligence can offer insurers

The applications

Using artificial intelligence in a customer portal has the potential to improve the customer experience and better streamline multiple processes. Here are some of the ways AI can be used:

• Chatbots: Powered by AI technology, a chatbot can provide excellent customer service quickly and effectively via integration into the customer portal. These automated helpers are available 24/7 to assist customers with any queries or problems they may have regarding their purchase or service.
• Accelerated claims processing: By using AI algorithms for automated assessments and procedures, manual review is minimised, facilitating and shortening the entire process.
• Risk analysis: Using AI, insurers can access comprehensive data from multiple sources to accurately assess the risk level of their customers, allowing them to tailor insurance products and pricing.
• Personal recommendations: Using AI, customers can get tailored recommendations for insurance products and services based on their unique data.

Implementation

There are a lot of possible applications with the potential to boost the customer experience. But how do you choose the solution that suits your organisation and how do you implement AI applications? For that, it is recommended to do the following steps:

• Discover use cases: Consider which different tasks or customer interactions can be improved by integrating AI. This could include answering frequently asked questions, giving individual suggestions or automating customer service.
• Data collection: To train AI models effectively, it is essential to collect and purify the necessary data. This could include customer interactions, product data or other relevant information.
• Constructing AI models: Using the data obtained, develop intelligent AI models. This may involve training machine learning algorithms or constructing rule-based systems.
• Integration: Link AI models to current customer portal software. This can be done, for example, by linking them to a chatbot platform or by incorporating them into existing forms and procedures.
• Testing and deployment: To ensure that AI models function optimally and provide accurate, pertinent answers, it is paramount to test them thoroughly before deploying them.
• Evaluation and monitoring: Regularly assess the performance of AI models and their behaviour. This may mean keeping track of customer feedback, along with statistics such as accuracy and response time.
• Ongoing maintenance: Stay up-to-date with AI models to ensure their performance remains high and they can meet ever-changing customer demands.

The benefits

Implementing AI models in the customer portal has a lot of benefits. Below is an overview of positive outcomes of successful application of AI.

• Improved customer experience: AI can provide customers with quick and effective support, answer common questions and recommend customised insurance products or services. This makes AI a valuable asset when it comes to improving customers' experiences with your company's offerings.
• Increased efficiency: Using AI, mundane and repetitive tasks can be automated to free up time for service staff. This allows them to focus on insightful efforts that deliver more value.
• Accelerated decision-making: By using artificial intelligence, organisations gain the ability to access and analyse data from a wide range of sources to generate actionable insights and make more informed decisions.
• Cost savings: Artificial Intelligence can significantly reduce labour costs and dramatically improve operational efficiency.

The risks

Artificial Intelligence does not come without risks. Before considering applying AI in business software, it is wise to keep the following risks in mind:

• Bias: Unchecked AI algorithms can introduce bias into the decision-making process if the training data is not unbiased or not properly validated. This can cause unfair treatment of certain clients.
• Transparency: A lack of transparency in AI systems can hinder people from interpreting and understanding them - making it difficult for customers and service staff to see why or how decisions are made. This can potentially lead to mistrust, doubt and scepticism towards the technology itself.
• Data security: Data security is a key concern for anyone using AI. Given that such technology requires huge amounts of data, there are increased cybersecurity risks and susceptibility to breaches of personal or financial information that could put customers at risk.
• Legislation: Legal and regulatory requirements should never be ignored when using AI systems, especially regarding data privacy and customer equality. Insurance companies should ensure that their AI technology complies with all relevant laws and regulations.
• Dependency: Artificial intelligence can be a powerful tool, but it is not always effective. It remains prone to errors and can be affected by the quantity and quality of data. So it is crucial to have a backup plan in case the AI system fails or becomes inaccessible.

The impact

The impact of AI on insurance company service staff can be twofold. On the one hand, automated processes resulting from AI technology enable employees to focus their energies on more complex and rewarding activities. Think, for example, of maintaining customer relationships or resolving complex complaints. This can result in more job satisfaction for representatives and more opportunities for career development.

On the other hand, AI-powered automation could reduce customer service functions and roles. To avoid this, these service staff should be trained to work side by side with AI technology and take on new responsibilities. In addition, AI can be used as a support rather than a replacement. One example is cognitive computing, where AI models help employees understand complex data to make decisions. This can be one form of an AI application that empowers people and removes many of the risks mentioned above.

Ultimately, the impact of AI on service workers will depend on the implementation and integration of the technology into existing workflows. If properly managed, AI can enhance rather than replace the capabilities of these professionals. Thus, even better and more efficient customer service can emerge.

Conclusion

Artificial Intelligence is more than a buzzword. It has a major impact on customer contact and business operations of the future. There are already several applications where insurers can make a huge impact on the customer experience and the way they work.

Here, however, it is advisable to implement AI in a thorough way and keep track of the potential risks. It is also important to consider the impact it may have on staff. A prerequisite for the application of AI is a future-proof customer portal. After all, it only works optimally in cooperation with reliable functionalities and a good data structure.