AI is how you do it. Surprised? Think your customers are too important to speak to an AI? Are you sure your agents are not providing a worse level of service?
Gartner predicts that by 2021, 15% of all customer service interactions will be completely handled by AI solutions (for example, routine queries can be processed by Nuance IVR or Amazon Lex). Zendesk predicts that 20% of all customer service requests will be handled by conversational AI agents by 2022. And Accenture’s prediction is that by 2035, AI technologies are projected to increase business productivity by up to 40%.
Let’s take a look at the best practices that insurance leaders have adopted to help you get started.
Current Use Cases of Conversational AI and Robotic Process Automation in Insurance Call Centers
MetLife states that technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) will enable insurers to outsource monotonous tasks like data processing to computers. Call center AI provides greater efficiency, insight and possibility in such aspects as building and strengthening relationships with clients and spurring growth.
In a WSJ article, Damon Kowolewski, VP of MetLife's U.S. call center transformation, said that AI assistance allows customer service reps to allocate more time to those “moments of truth” when clients need a lot of care and empathy from customer support: after a car crash, a house fire or losing a loved one.
We could not agree more. One of the key values Dasha AI customers see from using our human-like AI technology is the capacity to free up operators to truly engage with customers on important topics. This is achieved by offloading repetitive tasks to AI.
Allstate has been testing natural language chatbots for routing and resolving requests from customers. Voice support, text and chat interactions are also being considered as areas for integrating virtual assistant capabilities. Customers have reacted positively to self-service options: they are happy to use the company’s mobile and web channels to make straightforward transactions without speaking to a representative. In the future, Allstate SVP Carla Zuniga expects an increase in the use of automation.
Progressive has launched conversational interfaces that can help their clients with account servicing, respond to internal agent inquiries and assist customer service reps with business protocols.
Claims management
It is often the case that several people have to be involved in the claims process. In fact, a LexisNexis study indicates that a traditional auto claim needs 3-4 people and can be completed within 10-15 days.
An AI-assisted claim process that aims to eliminate people from the equation can span a variety of tasks, from analyzing photos of damage to interacting with clients and issuing payments. AI can speed up every step of the process.
A new school insurance company Lemonade states that its AI paid out a claim in three seconds.
This solves for the second part of the problem – processing the claim once it’s been filed. But how do you initiate a claims process with artificial intelligence?
Example: An Insurance Client Automates the First Step in Claims Initiation with Dasha
The contact center inefficiency was a huge concern for one of our clients. 60% of all conversations at their call center were initial claims filing conversations. As their business is very seasonal, they ended up having to hire temp agents during the high seasons. The company used Dasha AI technology to automate the first step in the claims initiation process. When a customer calls to file a claim, they are connected with Dasha AI. Dasha confirms the customer’s identity, asks about the reason for the claim and then, if approved, emails a form for the customer to fill out. As such, Dasha does everything that a call center operator used to waste time on, which is especially important now, with all these pandemic disruptions.
As the second step, the client is using RPA to process the claims. With RPA implemented, they will be on track to cut back the number of people involved in the process from over 40 to 12.
How to Implement Conversational AI in Your Insurance Call Center
The big question you may have at the moment is how you can start applying conversational automation in your insurance call center. Well, there are many paths you can take, but generally, you need to:
Select the best solution- conversational text or voice
Out of all solutions on the market right now, only Dasha AI Platform can boast conversations that are truly indistinguishable from a human operator. But, this level of human-like interaction is not right for every company. A good question to ask is – “how important is it for our customers to be speaking with a real live person on the phone?” If the answer is “important” then Dasha AI can be the solution for your insurance call center. Schedule a call with one of our AI experts here.
Determine processes to automate
Start by identifying customer interactions that are good candidates for automation. It may involve calls that tend to follow the same script and where customers give consistent answers. Some may include appointment reminders, requests for information, status changes, payment reminders, customer follow-up, and more.
Gradually implement AI
While conversational AI can transform insurance customer care, the implementation may be a breaking point. Start slow and small. Introducing AI and automation should be done gradually for both the call center employees and customers. Managers can promote positive aspects such as reduced repetitive calls, which can free the agents to focus on essential calls. AI can promote better job satisfaction by making work meaningful, reducing pressure, and more.
Regarding customers, AI can take on a few calls, and customers can rate the level of service. There should be an option to speak to a live representative if the call doesn’t go as expected. After introducing voice conversational AI, you think of moving to advanced implementations that will leverage robotic process automation to automate insurance-related tasks that would ordinarily require a lot of human input.