Robotic Process Automation in Insurance

InsureTech, Blockchain, Bots…

All of these disruptors are providing new ways to think about how changes in technology will impact the insurance industry.  I have been attending Insurance events for 15 years and cannot recall an emerging technology that got so much traction, so fast, as robotic process automation (RPA). RPA presents a lot of opportunity for Insurers to become more efficient.

First, let’s define RPA.

Robotic Process Automation is a term that describes software agents or “robots” that are programmed to perform repeatable, rules-based tasks which are usually done by humans.  They can incorporate cognitive intelligence to learn on the job, analyze situations and correct mistakes.

Although versatile across many industries, the benefits of “bots” are easy to cost justify:

• Free up employees to provide higher-value work
• Increased speed and scalability without adding staff
• Increased accuracy benefiting regulatory compliance
• Automatic documentation and tracking for auditing
• Work 24/7
• Can be managed by almost anyone in the organization

I see three primary areas where RPA is disrupting the technology landscape for insurers:

1. New Business and Underwriting: Automatically gather and process precise data related to the applicant from internal and external sites.
2. Claims Processing: Quickly input FNOL, automatically notify loss adjusters and assign to claims handlers, integrating disparate claim information and speeding up the process
3. Business and Process Analytics: Gain visibility and metrics into RPA-driven workflows to enable process improvement.

And this growth is only beginning! CIO.com emphasizes:

“The RPA market is small but growing. Spending on RPA software will reach $1 billion by 2020, Gartner says, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 41 percent from 2015 through 2020. By that time, 40 percent of large enterprises will have adopted an RPA software tool, up from less than 10 percent today. For many organizations, RPA may prove to be a stop-gap on their way to AI.”

Have you considered RPA for your organization? If so, what areas of opportunity do you see to automate with bots?