Robotics & AI can transform business

Robotics process automation (RPA) has the potential to transform the insurance industry by freeing up resources, reducing turnaround time in operations and improving overall accuracy across many manually-driven functions of the insurance lifecycle, Justin Davies, vice president and regional head of EMEA at Xceedance, told Baden-Baden Today.

According to Davies, RPA can be interpreted as an effective ‘virtual resource’ in that it performs repetitive, rule-driven tasks, directed by software and existing applications.

Xceedance recently carried out an in-house RPA proof of concept for an insurance client. The RPA was applied to policy processing tasks, and the initiative significantly cut the time to issue policies and increased accuracy considerably, so that insureds now receive correct and comprehensive policy forms quickly.

“There was a marked improvement in productivity and reliability,” said Davies. “Among the findings of the RPA initiative, the time to issue a policy was cut in half, there was 100 percent accuracy in formatting, and it took 90 percent less time to validate the policy information.”

Furthermore, Davies said, robots could have a significant impact on the workforce of both insurers and reinsurers.

“According to a recent study, approximately 80 percent of insurers within the P&C domain are considering RPA integration,” he continued. “Because of this wide adoption, there is growing fear that robotic technology could ultimately replace humans.”

In fact, the underwriting function was recently ranked fourth on the US-based Center for Business and Economic Research’s (CBER) report of the top 10 list of occupations that can be automated.

“While RPA will probably change the makeup of tomorrow’s workforce, human intelligence and intuition in risk evaluation and management will always remain a steadfast and essential part of the industry,” added Davies.

“Insurance is driven by an understanding and appreciation of risk in conjunction with special conditions, contingences, and a viewpoint to expect the unexpected. Only human experience, logic and foresight can address these factors.

“Rather than working in competition with robots, the workforce of tomorrow will likely be one in which humans and robots work in tandem,” he concluded.

Get the latest re/insurance news sent to your inbox every day -  Sign up to our free email newsletters

Other stories from the Baden-Baden Day Two newsletter

Hannover Re prepares to grow its book as nat cat losses drive rates upwards

Hiscox Re to increase capacity on back of balanced book

Munich Re seeks US growth as rates rise on back of nat cats

Volatility in Spanish bond market will hit re/insurers

Alternative thinking: the historic rise of ILS

Empowering reinsurance buyers on capital optimisation

The changing face of terrorism risk

Expert support for catastrophe and exposure management

Certain lines must push back on rates

Rates to return to risk-adequate levels

Incumbents must absorb disruptive forces

US may look to replicate UK’s Flood Re programme

Baden-Baden Survey - In association with Swiss Re

Insurers must learn to sell themselves better

Recent losses ‘first big test’ for alt capital

US rate increases to spread to Europe

Cost per natural disaster falls

Insurtech’s effects become clearer

Rate increases will be biggest talking point

Don't miss our insurtech email newsletter - sign up today