AI is the new thing. Everything these days is AI this and AI that. Lately, the insurance AI questions go to insurance agents and to claims. In an earlier story in this week’s issue of Weekly Industry News, we found that people don’t want AI selling them insurance.
They want the real deal — an insurance agent.
Most consumers feel the same way when it comes to claims and the decisions that follow. The insurtech, Sprout.ai talked with a bunch of consumers and found that 51% said they’d probably not switch from a non-AI-assisted insurer to one that uses AI to settle a claim.
That leads to the insurance dilemma. There are huge benefits for insurance companies to use AI. The bottom-line will be a combination of sales and savings that will total something like $80 billion a year by 2032.
All this comes from YouGov who did an online survey of 4,400 consumers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. What they found is a difficult decision facing consumers. They can save money using AI but they hesitate to use it because it’s — basically — a machine making decisions.
Here’s what consumers want from an insurance company:
- Trust — 62%
- Speed — 57%
- Customer service — 52%
- Is transparency important — maybe not since it’s at 18%
- Technical capability — basically doesn’t matter at 8%
However, a large percentage of people — 27% — still value human involvement over technology.
Sprout.ai’s CEO Roi Amir said the irony is that a high percentage of people want speed and accuracy in settling a claim but don’t like the idea of that speed and accuracy coming from a machine.
“The benefits of AI in insurance are undeniable, but this research highlights some critical factors that insurers must consider to ensure no customer is left behind,” he said. “Customer service can’t just be about speed and efficiency — insurers need to meet the full customer need, bring them along the digital transformation journey, and support them in understanding the role of AI to bridge a widening trust gap.”
That leads to the conclusion that insurers need to take some time and really think this through.
“As competition for customers continues to intensify, insurers need to think about the customer experience more holistically, and that must include empathy and education,” Amir concluded. “It is the collective responsibility of everyone in the insurance industry to be transparent and informative about how technology is used to make decisions. Those that do stand to reap significant financial and reputational rewards.”
Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/3RSTL2I
