AI for Insurance: A Game Changer

Synopsis :

From enhancing operational efficiency to reducing frauds and improving customer experience, AI is starting to become a game changer for the insurance sector. APAC News Network explores the opportunities, challenges and the future roadmap

The Indian insurance sector today is witnessing a lot of disruption due to generative AI. While AI per se has been a harbinger of innovation for the insurance industry, it has also revolutionized several traditional practices the sector used to follow. For one, it has streamlined the operational efficiency of the insurance providers; it has drastically improved different parameters on which customer experience is measured. Last but not least, the effective leverage of analytics is gradually weeding out unnecessary data and making insurance transactions more secure against frauds.

What the Numbers Foretell

According to Forbes, the successful deployment of AI has increased the operational efficiency of the insurance sector by 60%. More specifically, there has been a 99.99% improvement in claims accuracy and a 95% increase in customer experience. In overall summation AI in the insurance industry is projected to reach a value of $35.77 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 33.06% throughout this period.

Highlighting the Opportunities

The opportunities offered by AI for the insurance sector include enhanced customer experience, data-driven underwriting, detection of frauds and their prevention, predictive analytics for improved decision-making and process automation for enhancing efficiency. Nevertheless, opportunities without a strategic roadmap will not really help insurance providers leverage AI optimally.

Some of the best practices insurance providers need to follow in their strategic roadmap include prioritizing data security and privacy, collaborating with regulators, investing in upskilling the existing workforce with relevant skillsets, conducting timely cost-benefit analyses and last but not least fostering ethical AI practices.

As per KV Dipu, Senior President, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, AI/ML is effectively enhancing underwriting and risk assessment for the insurance sector. “By detecting patterns and anomalies in data, AI is helping insurance providers better tackle frauds and thereby reduce their losses. In addition, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are also helping insurance providers offer more timely and personalized customer support to clients,” he adds.

Insurance providers are also leveraging AI algorithms to assess risks more accurately and accordingly price their policies. They are undertaking a threadbare analysis of the customer demographics as well as historical claims data. Before leveraging AI, this process was being done manually and it was often leaving a scope for discrepancies and errors to creep in.

Abhishek Gupta
CMO
Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance

“We were able to utilize AI in accurately understanding the risks of the customer. This enabled us to first weed out the wrong customer and subsequently onboard the right customer. So with these different AI models, we were able to predict a lucrative customer much better. This, in turn, helped us improve our bottomline,” asserts Abhishek Gupta, CMO, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance.

Generative AI is significantly transforming the customer experience of the users of insurance service providers. AI-powered chatbots have entirely automated the customer service processes of insurance providers. Offering personalized answers to customer queries not only improves the customer experience but also frees up actual human customer care executives to handle more complicated queries.

AI in insurance, feels Sunder Krishnan, Chief Risk Officer, Reliance Life Insurance, can handle the first notice of loss with minimal intervention from humans. The chatbots can efficiently facilitate the claim reporting process as the customers can report their incidents from any device, any place, and at any time. The AI-enabled chatbots can further disperse the information for further processing, Sunder adds. “Frauds are a common thing for insurance but AI can identify the gaps that leave the process of claims vulnerable to fraud.”

AI is also helping insurance providers offer hyper-personalized policies and products that cater to each customer’s unique needs, adds Dipu. “AI algorithms can create customized insurance solutions by analyzing the data of lifestyle, behavior, and preferences,” he adds. This level of personalization can often become a particular insurance provider’s USP in attracting and retaining customers in today’s competitive market.

Listing the AI Challenges

The AI journey in the insurance sector, however, is not all bed of roses but there are a myriad of challenges too. Most insurers admit that data privacy and security concerns about sensitive customer information remain the #1 challenge. The insurance provider needs to strictly adhere to regulatory compliances while innovating and simultaneously leveraging AI. This, according to Gupta, is another critical challenge for the insurance sector.

Upskilling the existing workforce on all the facets of AI and more importantly, maintaining post-AI implementation can be another possible bottleneck for the insurance industry, as per Sunder. While AI presents significant opportunities, the initial costs of integration can be a prohibitive barrier for many insurance providers. Not many without deep pockets can prepare for the long haul in achieving their RoI.

Rajneesh De, Consulting Editor, APAC News Network