Digital transformation drives industries to search for new and more efficient ways of technology implementation. The shift in the insurance industry to automation implies the computerization of the processes and operations. 
Using artificial intelligence (AI) and enabling technologies with intellectual capabilities advance Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to support businesses and meet client demands.
RPA insurance tools can help companies improve the performance of processes and the effectiveness of services. The devices and technologies have evolved and matured, and now the automation process is possible at a significant scale.
Recently, Deloitte has presented an annual global survey of executives, which has shown that 78% of respondents have already started enforcement of RPA, 16% plan to implement the technology within the next three years, and only 6% of surveyed have no plans to use it at the moment.
Now, regular tasks, which employees perform, at work can be leveraged with robotics.
Machines are enabled with cognitive abilities, including machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), machine vision, emotion recognition, optical character recognition, etc. RPA tools can improve the performance of the insurance industry by robotizing operations and enhancing the quality of work.
Robotic Process Automation in Insurance: Defining the Term
What is Robotic Process Automation in insurance? The term “RPA” means implementing AI-based software and the use of machine learning to perform back-office tasks instead of humans.
Current automation opportunities in the insurance industry include quote calculation and presentation, policy delivery, bill/statement produce, fraud evaluation, payment issuance, report performance, etc.
These opportunities have already reached a high level of automation while developing the new products/services, market analyses, determination of payer needs, products/services advertisement and promotion are on the mid-level of automation.
RPA rule-based solutions liberate human resources from high-volume repeated tasks and enable them to handle more complex ones. It also helps business leaders to accelerate the digital transformation of their work environment.
The Value Behind RPA Insurance Services
According to the 2020 Global Survey for RPA, 78% of business executives see RPA as a solution to the global productivity problem, and 93% of those surveyed plan to extend the use of automation across their organizations.
The technology has already shown significant advances in the insurance field, but there is more to look for in RPA solutions.
Automated insurance services have a great potential to improve customer experience and content. Deloitte has carried out one survey revealing that 41% of the respondents have left insurer because of poor client support services.
AI solutions in the automation process of the insurance industry can help businesses avoid this kind of behavior. The use of AI solutions allows organizations to mine valuable insights about the client and design customized products.
Soon, robot agents will manage customer service interactions using natural language processing capabilities. They will identify preference patterns based on customer interactions to create cross-sell/upsell possibilities.
RPA will allow insurers the ability to give an improved client experience and more custom-made offerings. Through solutions that understand natural language, learn and build knowledge, and communicate with customers, organizations can present better customer experiences.
Robotized agents capable of processing natural language could replace human interaction with customers, for instance, customer support departments can take advantage of this technology.
Robots will also analyze patterns in client behavior by using sensing technology and emotion recognition.
Organizations can use insights gained from these techniques to deliver a unique, personalized client experience.
Without emotional wear and tear or natural human fatigue, robots can be used to achieve scale quickly, increasing the scope of this technology to a broad base of payers.
This capability can help the insurer curate and control the customer experience while letting agents focus on more complex tasks.
Benefits of Automation in Insurance
Apart from enhanced customer experience, automation in insurance brings numerous advantages for businesses. They include:
- Increased productivity: employees spend less time on monotonous work and repetitive operations and can devote more time to complex tasks and customers;
- Reduced number of human errors: the AI machine learning solutions will decrease the number of mistakes by automating calculations and operations;
- Higher efficiency: increased productivity and reduced number of errors will result in higher efficiency of your services;
- Better employee performance: once you take off your employees the burden of repetitive tasks and allocate them to deal with more complex ones that require strategic decision-making and thoughtful insights, it will have a positive effect on your team, as they have to solve challenging issues;
- Streamlines claim processing: RPA will help you organize and automate customer claims;
- Improved regulatory compliances;
- Better customer experience;
- Enhanced data analysis: insurer can use AI solutions for data processing and analysis. They can process volumes of data quicker and give more detailed information about customers. This information will help you design better offers and deliver a personalized experience;
- Reduced costs: the implementation and use of RPA will save the company’s budget as hiring and training human resources requires more costs and takes a lot of time.
RPA makes it possible to perform the entire end-to-end processes by software robots with very little human interaction, and these solutions can be deployed in a couple of weeks.
That is why RPA software has lower implementation costs and requires less time. In addition to this, RPA tools enhance the flexibility and scalability of the operations, as many robots can perform a series of instructions at once and be quickly reassigned to more critical tasks when they arise. However, it is essential to apply RPA in the right way.
7 Ways to Apply RPA in Insurance
Robotic Process Automation in insurance can be applied in several ways. These areas include:
- Claims Registration and Processing: manual claims registration and processing take a lot of time. It requires agents to collect volumes of data from multiple channels and enter it into different systems. Employees can go through a limited number of claims per day. Thus the process slows down and results in decreased customer satisfaction. RPA solutions can collect the required data from multiple systems and bring it into one location. It facilitates the process for the agents, speeds up delivery time, and reduces human errors.
- Regulatory Compliance: automated solutions will help you keep in order regulatory report generation, validate existing customer information, and send out notifications on account closure processing.
- Underwriting: these requests require gathering information and assessing the risks associated with given policies to evaluate risks and exposures of customers. It takes from 2 to 3 weeks to come up with a conclusion in a regular manner. RPA solutions can expedite the process, as data gathering and analysis will be automated.
- Analytics: AI and robotics are used to improve collected data analysis. The acquired data can enhance business operations and client experience.
- Form Registration: RPA tools can reduce the time spent and workforce required to complete the process. Form registration is a necessary task, but it is redundant.
- Policy Cancellation: while the process involves many transactional tasks, the automation can speed it up three times.
- Policy Administration and Servicing: insurance organizations use complex policy administration systems, which are not flexible, and it can be hard to scale them up or upgrade. Although these systems help streamline quoting, underwriting, rating, and customer service distribution, they are hard to navigate. Thus, the operation efficiency is reduced. Automation of accounting, tax, regulatory compliance, risk capture, settlements, etc., will help agents complete volumes of tasks without time-consuming navigation across different systems.
Automate insurance operations to accelerate the digital transformation of your company. The RPA solutions have numerous advantages, and they will help you survive the competition and suit the requirements of today’s customers.
RPA Development Process Checklist
The insurance industry is a perfect field to experience the advantages of RPA solutions and modify existing systems.
Customers have already encountered the benefits of the automation processes in other spheres, so they expect the insurance organizations to suit a modern standard.
RPA solutions have proven to be game-changers, and companies start to use them to enhance their services, employee working environment and automate tedious operations.
Before you begin searching for the right team to help you implement the solutions, it is crucial to have a detailed plan. Here is a list of things you should think of when choosing the path of digital transformation:
- Build the Right Strategy: highlight critical strategic objectives and align them with business outcomes.
- Speak to your board: everyone in the company should be aware of the upcoming changes. Share your strategy with the board and take into account their ideas regarding automation processes.
- Identify the Process and Opportunities: identified business process and its outcomes have to be mapped to specific problems RPA solutions should solve.
- Evaluate Technology: assess current technological capability and identify tools and partnerships needed to enable desired business outcomes.
- Run pilots: test the solutions to identify weak areas and ensure that implemented technology delivers business value as planned. Also, it is essential to acknowledge your employees with changes and train them on how to use the updated systems.
How to Develop and Implement RPA in Your Services?
The RPA development and implementation processes are not time- or cost-consuming.
The technology requires low coding, and solutions can be incorporated into the organization’s system within several weeks. But it is more important to find the right team to realize your plans into reality.
There are two ways of finding skilled specialists:
- Create your own IT department and hire the right human resources;
- Use the services of IT outsourcing.
The first way might take a lot of time and effort, as you have to analyze which resources your need, interview all the candidates, and provide them with suitable equipment and technologies.
In this case, you will have an in-house team that will solely work on your projects, maintain the systems, and enhance them as technologies evolve.
In case you choose to outsource, you don’t have to waste your time finding suitable candidates, as you will get the whole team at once. Outsourcing teams usually have experience working with other insurance enterprises, know the details of the industry, and can quickly come up with the best solutions for your case.
What is more, outsourcing implies hiring a professional team with their tech tools and equipment. This way, you take the burden of the hiring process and finding the equipment to modify the department off your shoulders.
Thus, you and your team can concentrate on your regular tasks or deal with urgent or complex issues. The development process will be the responsibility of the outsourcing team.
We at Intellectsoft empower insurance companies and their workforces with innovative solutions and approaches. Are you and your organization looking for some?
Contact our experts and learn more about the development and implementation processes of the RPA tools. Our team will answer your questions and explain how your business can start benefiting from it today!
