There are approximately 40,000 independent insurance agencies in USA. Increased competition is hurting the margins. Technology is a competitive advantage for independent agencies to attract and retain business. Smart technologies like AI, ML can make a huge difference to the functioning and productivity of an agency. Consider “quote generation”, a key activity in the insurance life cycle. An insurance quote us an estimate of what your rate could be with a prospective insurance carrier. Generating quotes is not easy. A south Florida based agency was spending close to 12 days to generate a complex quote. The reason generating quotes takes so much time by CSR is quotes are subject to change depending on how much information you give at the time of quote. When you call an agent, you may spend 10-15 minutes to give your information. Customer service representative have to look at multiple carrier sites to evaluate the right policy for you. Based on the information shared, an agent has to match the policy to meet your requirement.
When CSR are evaluating a commercial policy, they are not just selling a policy for you, but a cover that adds value to clients and their business. Insurance is a highly regulated industry and compliance with prescribed norms is mandatory right from quote generation stage itself. What agencies need is a quote generation engine that fetches most up to date information from various portals adhering to the rules while retaining the flexibility to generate best possible quotations. An agent engages with clients to assess their premium cost preferences, ratings of the cover, inclusions and exclusions, etc. For instance, when reviewing Commercial Auto Insurance quotes, client may want to see the level of coverage each policy offers for bodily injuries, property damage liability, collision coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, and personal injury protection. It is not just the cost of the policy but its limits and deductibles also form important criteria for recommendation. CSRs pull out the information from industry portals or from the websites of Carriers they work with. Obtaining the data from multiple carriers, collating and displaying the information, when data may dynamically change at Carrier’s side is what makes quote generation complex.
Generating quotations accurately and in real-time can make a huge difference to customer experience. Unfortunately, in most independent agencies the process of quote generation is still a manual process. A team of CSR speak to customers to understand their requirements. This information is entered in quotation management system (QMS) or written over manual forms that are later uploaded into a lead capture system. Another team member logs into the Carrier portal to check for quote against the requirement and various quotes from different carriers are tabulated into a xl document or the QMS. As with any manual process, quote generation process suffers from errors, repetitive activities and time over runs. In many agencies lack of a standard operating procedure for customer requirement, evaluation and documentation affects customer service. Manual quote generation process is time consuming and cumbersome as it involves multiple iterations and approvers. Accessing and retrieval of information and inability to track versions and their locations poses administrative challenges.
Now imagine a smart AI/ML based software agent. The chatbots at the front end can engage with the client to obtain relevant information. The speech to text engine converts the client requirements and enters into QMS. A smart BOT access portal of various carriers and fetches quotes based on the rules. The BOT can organize the quotes and present it to the CSR for human assisted evaluation. Alternatively, the BOT can evaluate and score the quotes based on the requirements of the client and recommend appropriate policies meeting client’s interest.
Exdion Solutions has developed smart AI/ML based Bots for quote comparison (ExdionQComp) & and Quote review (ExdionRev). Insurance agencies which have adopted smarter BOTS like ExdionQComp have benefitted from:
• Quote generation within minutes than days
• Fast and accurate quotes
• Deliver premium quotations and coverage options via chatbots for human experience
• 70% increase in umbrella policy sales
• Extremely delighted agents and customer
• Smoother Underwriting logic pushed into AMS decreases E&O exposure
• Customizable defaults by agency, carrier and product type
