We all need superheroes in our life, including the Insurance industry. Insurance has traditionally struggled with technology adoption – being risk-averse is in their DNA – and is by no means considered an early adopter.
But technologies like BPM and RPA, AI/ML, Big Data, Blockchain, and IoT have the potential to revolutionize the insurance industry, and disruptive newcomers are capitalizing on them. So, will the industry’s long-time players, of all shapes and sizes, be ready to adopt these digital transformation solutions to survive?
Let me focus on two: BPM (business process management) and RPA (robotic process automation). BPM and RPA complement each other to streamline work processes common to the insurance industry. BPM’s strong suite is process management and clearly, insurance is a process-heavy industry. But the challenges in this industry sector are archaic legacy systems. Core systems are on average 20 years old and different systems live across a variety of technology stacks. With lengthy business processes from incident to closure on the claim end, and the ever-growing complexity on the policy side driven by countless coverage variations, the processes are time-consuming and difficult for humans to comprehend.
A BPM tool like Appian makes it easy to implement such complex rules. It breaks down the barriers of the siloed systems to enable enterprise-wide integration. Appian also presents a low-code option to augment features which are time consuming to implement in monolithic systems.
Many of Appian’s insurance customers have already won industry-recognized business and technology awards for their ground-breaking deployments.
RPA, on the other hand, is very good not just at automating monotonous tasks but also the intelligent work processes previously considered only possible with humans. Automation is a game changer for the industry. It improves efficiency and frees up valuable time for business personnel.
One of the early entrants in this market, Blue Prism, provides integration with cognitive and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In an industry which processes and verifies large volumes of documents and images to extract relevant information, these software BOTS get the job done efficiently and effectively.
The end result is that these solutions help settle claims faster and more accurately. They also empower the underwriting process with improved checks and balance.
It’s an exciting time for BPM and RPA tools in the insurance sector, with the opportunity to transform the industry’s experience for not just themselves but also for their policyholders and claimants.
Perhaps BPM and RPA could just be the superheroes the industry needs.
