Life insurance is on the cusp of a new chapter of reinvention. So far, insurance companies have gradually advanced large-scale digital transformation. But change is coming quickly with the impact of artificial intelligence, including generative artificial intelligence. We are in the midst of a dynamic new year as life insurance companies begin to accelerate and implement their reinvention strategies. Now is the time to be bold.
These underwriting forecasts provide insights into how operators can take action to truly go digital this year.
Generative AI brings new levels of customer centricity
The customer-centric concept supported by generative artificial intelligence will further narrow the gap between operators and customers and provide more personalized products and services. This trend will continue to reach new levels in the year ahead as new technologies enable deeper connections between clients, consultants and operators. Recent research from Accenture found that today Customers feel the need for protection Areas beyond what traditional insurance offers. For example, the next generation of insurance customers say they feel their mental health is less protected. To address these questions and more, guidance from an advisor is key. However, until now, insurance companies have been unable to provide this level of customer experience.
Generative AI extends care and knowledge with hyper-personalized solutions to more people. The growth of digital agents, diverse chat capabilities, “Ask Me Anything” capabilities, and enterprise-grade generative AI solutions are rapidly bridging existing gaps within the industry’s client-advisor-operator framework—and we’re only at the beginning.
In last year’s predictions, I highlighted how new levels of artificial intelligence and automation capabilities would enhance real-time underwriting decisions and enable faster digital buying experiences. We believe this trend will continue this year as more life insurance companies begin to implement strategies.
It will be worth watching in 2023 for the development of generative AI underwriting tools that can improve the efficiency and accuracy of underwriting and risk management, as well as streamline processes and generate valuable insights. This technology, often referred to as Underwriters Co-Pilot at Accenture, will continue to be fine-tuned as the LLM advances and will become even more powerful in 2024.
I want to be clear that new technology will not replace consultants. These technologies are necessary as insurance companies continue to face skilled labor shortages across the insurance value chain. More personalized and customized solutions can address different types of skills shortages. As the insurance industry’s retirement crisis persists, human-machine collaboration will become even more important as we look for new ways to support employees in core business functions such as underwriting and claims.
To share a recent industry-specific implementation, Accenture helped a large A&H insurance company automate its claims process through the use of advanced voice AI, AI-driven human assistance capabilities, digital virtual assistants, and proactive multi-day journeys. These journeys involve event-related two-way messaging that helps complete customers’ requests within the same channel for a smoother experience, while AI assistants work to provide real-time AI-powered guidance to agents during customer conversations.
Digitalization will accelerate the journey of reinvention
Life insurance companies may promote digital underwriting processes and aspirations, but many remain stuck in analog operations. Operators have always been paper-based companies with paper-based processes, and this remains the foundation of business as today’s paper takes the form of PDF, Excel and Adobe. But by 2024, if operators have the imagination and leadership to initiate digital transformation, true digitalization and the transition to real-time data will be easier than ever to achieve. journey of reinvention.
Reinvention will truly digitize life insurance end-to-end – turning everything in the business into real-time data. From improving claims core and engagement systems to enhancing underwriter workflows, there are many ways to rewrite processes once information becomes data. The benefits are there, including cost savings, increased utilization, and more. While I don’t think this will be the year to complete a complete reinvention, this is the year to start your journey by focusing on reinventing each part of your business.
I recommend taking inspiration from one of the leaders of change in the industry today. Safety Launched pilot digital solution to enhance agent planning, increase sales performance and improve its life insurance business. The pilot reduced development time by 30% and increased service reuse by 25%.
now is the time to start from Experimentation to implementation
Starting any journey requires action. This year, several life insurance companies will take an important step in their digital journey, moving beyond proof-of-concepts to implementing transformative tools and proven technologies currently available.
Entering the implementation phase will drive business transformation, impacting everything from the underwriting experience to the claims experience to the customer experience. As an evolving technology area in insurance, smart ingestion (the ability to digitally ingest data) offers incredible advantages as a starting point for this phase.
As a final thought to this blog post, another notable development is the emergence of comprehensive beneficiary care services as a unique value proposition for new product sales – a topic I will explore in detail in my next blog. stay tuned.
Let’s talk about implementing initiatives for your reinvention journey.
Also, check out Accenture’s new generative network Eager to learn artificial intelligence.
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