The US Insurance industry is at a turning point. Growth is being affected by shrinking investment incomes, escalating claim costs and rising regulations. At the same time, advances in technology and the growth of InsurTech are raising customer expectations for greater innovation and revising traditional insurance models.
It’s All About Digital Transformation
According to the 2017 US property-casualty insurance outlook by EY, 2017 will be the year for building core digital technologies, such as cloud, mobility and social media into business processes. Additionally, the internet of internet of things (IoT), telematics, artificial intelligence, driverless cars and blockchain have the potential to transform industry fundamentals and even redefine the nature of risk. In fact, Two-thirds of insurers (61%) believe that digitally driven transformation is the key to their organization’s commercial future success.
Let us take a look at this infographic on a Future of Work in the Insurance Industry by Cognizant. As you can see, the technologies that will have the biggest impact on the insurance industry over the next three years are big data, cyber security and cloud. Closing out the top 9 are robotics.
The EY report also references a survey by FICO, finding that 57% of insurance providers expect an increase in the amount of fraudulent claims. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
Where Does Robotic Process Automation Factor In?
Surprisingly (or not?) in this report is the strong emphasis on robotic process automation and the role it will play in the future of the industry. In several places, David Hollander, Americas Insurance Leader at EY, strongly encourages the industry to utilize robotics and process automation as a first line of defense. He states, “Every client we are talking with is looking at deploying robotics to automate processes and cut costs. That’s just something every carrier should just do.”
You may be asking how robotics, specifically virtual robots, can streamline your business? Imagine this scenario. Currently, staff is periodically checking for requests for insurance quotes by logging onto their system and checking their email. Once a request is made, they manually input the information into the CRM and assign the quote to the appropriate sales staff who is then notified they have a new prospect to call.
But what if a virtual robot, instead, was programmed to do that same task? He would log in, check email and look for a request for the quote. He would then input it into the CRM for you and then notify the assigned sales staff, freeing up your other staff to focus on tasks that require much more of a human touch.
As we see the shrinking returns in the insurance industry, the first line of defense for insurance companies is to use robotics to automate business processes and streamline their back-office operations. By digitizing their everyday processes, insurance companies can reduce costs, lower error rates and increase customer satisfaction.
How Can The Cloud Help Your Agency Succeed?
We believe that the insurance industry is well positioned to take advantage of the Cloud and Robotic process automation to improve customer expectations, increase efficiency and lower costs. At dinCloud, we help insurance institutions meet regulatory compliance requirements and realize the maximum benefits of cloud infrastructure and robotic process automation with our recently introduced James, The Virtual Robot, a software testing and monitoring service. We invite you to keep reading and check out the following resources to learn how cloud services could revolutionize your insurance company.
