The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the insurance and broader financial services sector will see the industry become more proactive in its ability to make decisions in real-time regarding the risks covered in their contracts.
According to Johan Reyneke, research and development executive at SilverBridge, this approach will enhance the customer experience in the process.
“One of the unintended consequences of technology is that customers have gotten used to their transactional information being available on-demand. This means they are expecting immediate decisions from their service providers on any requests made.”
From the perspective of an insurer, the organisation wants to ensure it takes due care in attracting and retaining the right customers at the right price point. This is an important part of a strategy to manage not only their fraud risk at claim stage but also meet regulatory requirements, such as FICA.
“These two perspectives can often result in conflict between meeting customer expectations and taking due care on the insurance process. Speedy decision-making regarding the assessment of risk factors can address this, in turn resulting in improved company results and a great customer experience.”
Embracing AI
This is where the adoption of AI will enable quick decision-making in the space of risk analysis and fraud detection.
“The level of acceptance of automated decision-making does not warrant people thinking that AI will fully replace the human factor in the process. Rather, AI should be seen as a support mechanism to decision-making to considerably speed up a time-consuming process.”
The ability of the machine to learn from data and people (the experts), will enable AI to think more like a person. When combined with continuous learning (machine-learning) and automated support processes, AI will improve decision-making resulting in an enhanced customer experience. Even better, this will not compromise on the appetite for risk from the insurer.
“The people involved in the traditional manual processes can then refocus on delivering high intelligence-based strategic value to the business. AI can gather information quickly and apply that directly to specific risks in the business, helping to shape responsible decision-making.”
Faster claims processing
With AI improving decision-making, it will accelerate the payment of honest claims.
“Similarly, false claims can be filtered out more easily. This will promote more honest and affordable insurance for everyone and yield improved returns for insurance companies.”
If an insurer wants to strengthen its ability to meet regulatory and underwriting requirements, fast-tract claims, and mitigate fraud in a manner that is not unpleasant for the customer, then it must be willing to embrace the potential AI has to offer.