Conversational AI problem statement:
Operating as an Insurer for the modern-day, on-the-spot solution craving customers is a constant battle between passing out relevant information in the quickest possible turn around. As a thumb rule, insurers can’t keep their customers waiting and then pass on incorrect or unwanted information (false positives). While having a dedicated customer service team for this problem may seem like a tried and tested formula, it brings along its own set of business implications which can hinder profitability as well as brand reputation.
Who are conversing through AI, and how?
Research shows insurance companies across the globe are investing in conversational AI tools and solutions to overcome this problem, with the broad objective of delivering customer delight and higher recommendation rate. Conversational AI has already proven its merits amongst several leading insurers:
• Tryg, a Denmark based insurance operator enjoys 97% resolution rates of all internal chat queries; the company has successfully enhanced the abilities of its existing customer support staff. The number of calls from support to back-office teams has also dropped substantially in just one year, post adoption of Conversational AI.
• In a similar instance, Storebrand also claims to have achieved a major break-through in the usage of AI laced chat interactions. Presently, the company powers more than 70% of its chat interactions through AI-chat tools and zero human interventions; additionally, the company also registered a 162% increase in customer interactions through chat mechanisms.
Even though Tryg and Storebrand are two distinct companies operating in separate geographies, they have a strikingly similar strategy of adopting the AI tools. Both the companies have adopted the AI as a complementary solution to their customer servicing team. The two insurance giants have actually deployed their chat tools as the ‘first line of defence’ for the ping traffic inbound. The tools generally soak up all the repetitive and mundane queries which suck up employee bandwidth, unproductively. These tools have been carefully planned, crafted and developed to delimit themselves from more serious and business critical queries, which are eventually transferred to more experienced and skilled customer service executives, owing to obvious reasons.
Who is driving AI-based conversations?
The conversational AI adoption trend is basically fuelled by the fact that customers, especially the millennials prefer fast, efficient and reliable modern communication over traditional channels such as emails and telephonic conversations. Insurers will have to address this sense of instantaneous resolution among millennials in order to carve a better market share among this cohort, which is fast becoming rich and finding ways to manage their finances. According to Accenture, in the next 30 – 40 years, millennials are expected to inherit wealth worth over USD 30 trillion in North America alone. This makes them the next important chunk of population wherein insurers will have to focus more often and create a groundwork necessary for the future to avoid becoming irrelevant and a tech laggard.
How do you jump into the bandwagon?
To kick off a Conversation AI adoption journey, Insurance players will have to begin from their drawing boards and slate down opportunities to improve the critical interactions customers have. Some important areas may comprise the provision of human support over and above AI support, positioning of the tool in the customer’s digital journey in a manner which highlights the scope of the AI chat assistant, induction of “pre-trained’’ insurance specific modules, deciding the key performance indicators for the solution and lastly, a reliable technology partner that can factor in all of the above and come up with a solution that can efficiently manage near 100% of all customer interactions and void of any false positives.
