The following article was written in association with UiPath.
Although every aspect of the insurance process, from underwriting to claims, is carried out independently, without a streamlined system in place an insured may not have the opportunity to enjoy a stress-free and straightforward customer journey.
For UiPath, a leading insurance technology provider, increasing overall productivity in the insurance sector using automation and a complete end-to-end digital is vital – which is why it will be the topic of discussion in its industry-focused webinar.
Watch now: View the webinar for free
“Our webinar is about what is happening in the insurance industry recently and what we will be looking out for in the next year,” Sathya Sethuraman, chief digital officer with UiPath, stated.
“We will ask how we accelerate insurance resilience and also future-proofing, as well as the customer experience through automation and embedding AI and machine learning into it.”
Sethuraman outlined that it is important to be accurate in the definition of cost-efficiency and to be cognizant that changing market conditions can affect overall costs for insurance providers.
During the height of the pandemic, Sethuraman suggested, the question of cost efficiency came into question as repeated lockdowns severely limited normal activity for insureds.
“What happened was people were driving lesser miles, there was no congestion, and [as a result] the claims came down for insurance,” Sethuraman said.
“Premiums were reduced, or premiums were refunded to the customer.”
However, inflationary factors and supply chain and labor shortages entered the equation increasing claims as a result.
“Each insurer needed to pay 30% to 40% more salary to retain employees or recruit new employees to handle the operations and claims,” Sethuraman explained.
“Given that scenario, the costs have escalated, and we are looking at price increases this quarter and the next couple of quarters,” he added.
To overcome these macroeconomic factors, Sethuraman pointed out, insurance providers need to determine the overall cost efficiency when dealing with increasing claims costs by streamlining their internal processes.
“You need to look at costs and balance them. This is where automation comes in,” Sethuraman noted.
According to Sethuraman, an automated system implemented from the outside that can reduce minor tasks with a built-in AI to ‘remember’ important information is the key to increasing overall efficiency. UiPath offers such a technology platform.
“In their automation journey, insurers are looking for different personas within the organization where the robots will do the data work, leaving the human to the decision making,” Sethuraman described.
“You can introduce these robotic capabilities that take away some of the manual work for employees to free them up to deal with more direct face-to-face interaction.”
Sethuraman pinpointed that roughly 10% to 12% of insurers’ work can be automated. The next step that UiPath’s platform entails is “embedding intelligence into the automation which can address another 12% to 15% of automatable tasks.”
“If you put AI and machine learning into that sort of decision-making process, you are also making it much more objective,” Sethuraman detailed. “You are building a clear analysis of the claims and decision support system that help the claims adjusters and underwriter to make not only efficient decisions but also very standardized and objective decisions.”
UiPath’s platform allows for micro-tasks that are the backbone of insurers’ work to be automated, decreasing the possibility of both human error and any risk of fraudulent activity.
UiPath’s webinar is a chance to highlight just how the foundations of the insurance process can be aided by technology that provides a complete end-to-end customer journey.
As Sethuraman summarized, automated digital solutions can take some of the manual tasks out of the process while leaving the insurance provider the necessary time to cater to the customer, as well as increasing overall cost efficiencies for an insurance provider.
“We see the automation helping organizations with the future workforce and this end-to-end automation will drive continuous improvement,” Sethuraman concluded.
