Outperform the competition through machine learning-powered automation

Agility and responsiveness are key demands from the digital consumer. Whether in the consumer or commercial sector, a customer experience that is fast, efficient and effective is always the goal. Increasingly, digital-first insurtechs are able to deliver this experience leaving legacy carriers wondering how they can overcome years of systems and process to—quite literally—bring themselves up to speed.

Charlie Newark-French, chief operating officer at Hyperscience, will be partnering with Sam Love, chief product officer of wefox, at this year’s Underwriting Innovation Europe virtual event, brought to you by Intelligent Insurer. During their presentation on June 29, they will be revealing through the wefox case study how legacy carriers can replicate the success of their digital transformation by intelligently automating manual processes such as data extraction and verification. Here, Newark-French explains what viewers can expect.

Why is this case study such an important example of the power of automation?
Wefox is trying to do something unique in Europe: to be the first Europe-wide, fully digital insurance company while still embracing the incumbent broker network. It is looking for substantially better outcomes for customers. This means improving processes and underwriting policies significantly more quickly—and doing so at a lower cost.

It’s unique in that, in the face of digital, many carriers might try to circumvent the broker network, but wefox feels that this service has many advantages. It gives instant scale to startups or new market entrants where otherwise you might need a large marketing budget and extensive time investment to build a similar base.

Distribution makes a big difference. The broker gets close to the customer, understands their needs and can help with more than one product. Intelligent automation enables brokers to underwrite policies for their customers much faster, and this seamless experience for the broker filters down to the end customer.

By improving its business process, wefox has enabled its brokers to provide a much better customer experience, and that helps them expand the broker network.

What lessons can be learned from this case study?
Speed and cost savings directly impact not only your customers, but also your brokers. It’s a miserable process: taking out an insurance policy, submitting information and then waiting for days and more to get an answer. We know there’s a better way.

What contribution is automation making to end customer experience?
Powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, the Hyperscience Platform automatically classifies and extracts accurate, actionable data from the diverse document types required throughout the underwriting process.

This throughput increase not only enables cost savings, it translates downstream to the customers, improving their overall interaction with wefox as their time spent waiting for answers is reduced. In utilising intelligent automation through its insurance processes, wefox is able to compete with other providers by issuing policy decisions faster, allowing the brokers to provide a seamless customer experience.

On top of that, further down the chain, intelligent automation is freeing wefox employees from the time-consuming, manual task of comparing documents against the information entered by brokers, and enabling them to use that reclaimed time better by providing customers with better services. It’s a win-win for all involved thanks to the power and flexibility of intelligent automation.

What best practices will attendees be able to take away from the session?
First of all, it’s thinking about where we are and where we’re trying to get to, plus value to stakeholders and value to the customer. Wefox has looked at the world of today, designed the world where it wants to exist, and then charted a path between the two.

The company has been thoughtful of its employees’ needs—looking for ways to free them to work on more impactful work, rather than keying someone’s name into a system four times over.

It has considered the mundane tasks that a machine can accomplish, while leaving the more meaningful work to employees—enabling a collaboration between machines and humans that future-proofs the organisation in its efficiency and configurability.

With customers at the centre of the digital transformation, wefox has improved the experience of its employees, brokers and customers.

What else should attendees take away from this session?
Put the customer at the heart of your plans when building your business process. Think about ways to upgrade using technology that augments what your employees are able to accomplish, enabling the whole organisation to embrace change.

What I found fascinating is that pre-COVID-19, organisations were reluctant to implement change management. Yet at the start of the pandemic, change happened on a massive scale in a matter of weeks. When it comes to future-proofing your organisation for the benefit of your customers, sometimes it’s best just to tear off the Band-Aid and make the change.

Charlie Newark-French, chief operating officer at Hyperscience, and Sam Love, chief product officer of wefox, will be speaking on Tuesday June 29 at Intelligent Insurer’s Underwriting Innovation Europe Virtual Event (June 28–30, 2021). The event is free to attend for insurers and brokers/agents, but you must register in advance. Sign up to access the content live and on demand here.