IE thought it would be a good time for a little Q&A with Jayne Lansdell, Head of IT Strategy and Governance at Markerstudy Group, on the growing importance and implications of GenAI in the insurance sector. What’s the word? Let’s find out.
IE; With all of the buzz around GenAI at the moment following chatGPT’s release, is this just a passing trend, has anything actually changed or developed recently?
JL: The broader application of AI has been developing and moving our world on for some time now. ChatGPT is the latest headliner that is capturing the imagination of the public. AI has a fundamental place in our world, looking for those things which are hard for humans to consistently and accurately identify. What it doesn’t do is replace the emotional intelligence which people can bring to a situation. The bot AI takes that pattern matching and turns it into human-like conversation and communication, making it easy for people to assimilate information, engage with technology and it opens up communication channels which people like – conversation, who doesn’t love to chat?
IE: What is the role of GenAI tools in insurance?
JL: AI is already extensively deployed across the insurance industry, protecting customers and underwriters from fraudulent activity by spotting patterns in data and activities. More recently the use of GenAI, either on-line or via voice channels, has extended into the provision of high frequency/low value customer services interactions. This enables customers to get 24/7 services without the need to queue, be passed around or redirected.
IE: The use of AI in insurance is not new. In what ways does GenAI differ to general AI?
JL: It is the ease of the application of GenAI which is most attractive; much of the heavy lifting of the technology underpinning the capability has been provided by global and well-known tech brands. It can sit on voice channels and online journeys, fronting what we would call ‘live’ customer services which is delivered either through web chat or contact centres. It is the ease and the quality of engagement which makes GenAl a winner. If an organisation is training the GenAI well, it can be like dealing with one of their expert customer service agents without the need to wait in line. The key point of sensitivity is knowing when to escalate the conversation to an agent to resolve complex or sensitive issues.
IE: In what areas is it currently most useful?
JL: GenAI or bots are helpful for online journeys where customers want an ‘in the moment’ answer to a question or where customers make a call and are unsure about who they need to speak to. The customer would be able to ‘say in their own words’ what they want, and the bot will ensure the call gets to the right team to resolve.
IE: Does the area of insurance in which it is used affect its impact? For example, whether it is being used in customer service or underwriting.
JL: In the customer service arena it certainly can have benefits, whether that is policyholders getting support around the product they’ve bought, enquiring about cover, making changes or checking payments. AI, whether it’s machine learning or cleaver algorithm finding patterns, also has a very clear use case in Fraud prevention.
IE: When it comes to the use of GenAI in customer service, through the use of chatbots for example, how can insurers maintain a trusting relationship with their customers if they are minimising human contact?
JL: You’re not missing the human contact, as it’s the human contact of many millions of customer services experts and consumer interactions that have informed how the Chat Bot behaves. AI is constantly being reviewed and assessed to ensure that the experience does not devalue the customers journey and the fine tuning of when to escalate to a ‘live service’ agent is really important to get right. This will be particular to the service, product and person involved and will need to be specifically developed for each provider and could be the difference between retaining and losing a valued customer.
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