AI, ML and deep learning will reinvent core insurance processes and systems: Nilesh Parmar, COO & CTO, Future Generali India Life Insurance

Q. How has the tech-driven disruption increased the insurance penetration and opened up multiple distribution channels for the insurers?

The increasing rate of internet and smartphones penetration in India has led to significant technology disruption that in turn has provided insurers with the opportunity to reach out to the mass population directly. In addition to this huge B2C opportunity, the ability to provide personalised solutions has benefitted the entire insurance value chain, thus delivering increased customer value and meeting their ever-changing needs at a faster pace.

We believe that the introduction of 5G internet services and the proliferation of IoT-based technological applications will act as further drivers for innovation and will have a wider impact across the insurance industry. Consent-based data sharing will help augment India Health stack by facilitating increased trust between the insured and insurers, while the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will unlock further efficiencies by reinventing core insurance processes and systems.

Moreover, with more insurers shifting from traditional systems to distributed cloud-based infrastructure, we should see the entire insurance ecosystem becoming more flexible and attuned to customer expectations. This technology-driven disruption will make insurance more accessible to India’s diverse population, thereby helping insurers penetrate new markets and categories at a rapidly increasing pace.

Q. What have been the key tenets of FGILI’s digital transformation journey?

Recognising the benefits of rapid digitalisation, we were early adopters of advanced digital technology solutions that have helped us deliver personalised experiences to our customers and channel partners. We remain committed to following a mobile-first and digital-first policy by design, striving to make our entire spectrum of insurance products and services accessible at a mere tap of a button.

Following a modular and cloud-enabled approach, we went about integrating digital solutions into our platform which has introduced more flexibility while designing our products and services, empowering us with the ability to provide services that are highly tuned to our customer’s needs.

Our Omni digital delivery platform is one such example where we could react to the unforeseen COVID-19 crisis and enhance our distributor’s capabilities to continue to serve our customers without having to move out of the safe confines of their residential spaces.

Q. How far have you scaled up your digital capabilities while achieving operational excellence and at the same time, delivering superior experience to the customers?

Our continuously expanding digital capabilities have been instrumental in building a digital-backed operating model that truly differentiates us from the competition. More than 95 percent of our new customers are being on-boarded using digital tools or mediums, speaking volumes about our fast and simple digital on-boarding process. To enhance the customer journey further, we are focused on introducing new product offerings for both our customer and distributors, leveraging on the vast insights provided by data analytics to facilitate superior experience delivery.

Recognising the need to integrate more self-service options into our web portal and mobile applications was the precursor to the rapid and aggressive customer experience driven digital transformation that we undertook as an organisation. We are well appreciated by our customers for the suite of self-service options available across all our digital platforms, making insurance solutions and services accessible to them 24X7 at their fingertips.

The goal is to offer simple, easy and effortless customer interactions at all touch points going ahead and integrate more personalisation options for our diverse customer base.

Q. In the backdrop of rapid tech adoption and digitalisation, how’s FGILI changing the way insurance is delivered as well as consumed?

A simple, easy, and effortless customer interaction is our goal. To achieve this, our intense digital and self-service platform empowers customers. At the same time, we understand that human touch is an important aspect in providing services in insurance industry and thus our platform ensures phygital delivery of insurance solutions and services, helping us forge a deeper bond with our customers. Distributors play important role in this entire operating model. By seamlessly integrating capabilities in our digital solutions, we have been able to improve user experiences, increase cost efficiencies, and reduce the time to market insurance solutions.

We are doing this by making intelligent use of the available data through advanced analytical tools and acting upon important customer and market insights to provide an unmatched personalised service delivery experience.

Additionally, we have expanded our capabilities to offer bespoke pricing options when purchasing insurance, providing our customers the ability to infinitely tweak their insurance policies based on their risk and coverage needs. We aim to continue exploring the boundaries of what is possible with insurance and driving continuous UI/UX improvements that can increase customer and stakeholder engagement.

Q. Today the whole world is talking about going the hybrid, multi-cloud way. Are we going to see the insurance industry choosing this path as well?

Most insurers are already on this path, and we will see the entire insurance industry eventually moving to a multi-cloud operational framework. The agility provided by adopting hybrid model that integrates digital technologies into traditional systems will be the core philosophy of doing business in the future.

As insurers, the need to adapt, react or even introduce new products or services in line with customer expectations or changing regulatory environments will drive decision-making, increasingly relying on customer insights derived from consented data sharing to introduce revolutionary insurance products in the future. The proliferation of 5G data services and IoT applications will increase the frequency and quantum of this data flow further; supporting insurers in introducing tailor-made insurance solutions that are suited to individual customer risk profiles.

Delivering a personalised customer experience will however entail leveraging on multi-cloud and Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI), virtualising data storage, computing, networking, and automation strategies to optimise both cost and performance. Insurers will need to also revolutionise core processes such as underwriting, distribution, and claims processing amongst others, by embedding elements of AI and ML to eliminate redundancies and generate predictive insights that can drive faster decision-making. Insurers that are quick to adapt to this new way of thinking and reimagining insurance will have a higher probability of surviving in light of the rapidly changing customer expectations.

Q. Currently, a majority of insurance companies are leveraging AI and data analytics to create accurate individual risk profiles. How’s FGILI using these new age technology tools like AI, ML, chatbots, and RPA?

At our core, the use of data and analytics to power our operating model and structure remains our current focus to boost both productivity and improve the efficiency of our operations. The use of Deep Learning (DL) tools that take inspiration from neural networks to detect hitherto unseen patterns in unstructured data sets, combined with ML is helping us in generating risk profiles and understanding consumption drivers. This helps us in enhancing engagement with our existing customers and also reaching out to the vast majority of our country’s population that continues to be devoid of any insurance protection.

On a daily operational level, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools are supporting us in increasing the efficiency and consistency of service delivery, assisting our large distributor network in maintaining superlative customer experience standards. Additionally, the increasing breadth of self-service functionalities introduced through the use of chatbots and other automation tools has facilitated transformational changes in how insurance is consumed by our customers today.

Q. Any macro themes that you think will drive the insurance industry and any particular technology that you are closely looking at to implement in the coming years?

It will be important to sustain the pace of technological adoption and innovation in the longer term and we believe the introduction of 5G services will act as a short-term boost to accelerate digitalisation. The use of connected devices and the integration of IoT technology will enhance insurers’ ability to collect, process, and analyse large streams of data on a real-time basis. This in turn will drive better and faster decision-making, ultimately resulting in more accessible insurance products that are more suited to the nuanced requirements of our country’s population.

We also believe that the use of AI, ML and DL will play a huge role in reinventing core insurance processes and systems, completely changing the way how insurers will operate in the future. Finally, the ever-expanding India Health stack will offer the insurance sector immense capabilities, for which it will be pertinent to shift to a distributed infrastructure that is facilitated by a shift to cloud-based solutions. The ability to understand customer expectations and innovate almost instantly will remain key to being relevant and creating an ecosystem that promotes ease of doing business.