Robotics to reduce insurance costs, manage members

Insurance firms are expected to turn more to automating claims and underwriting processes as they ride on robotics to cut costs and root out fictitious claims.

Techno Brain Ltd director of technology and digital business Saj Abraham said Thursday desire for faster claims settlement will push more insurers into automation so as to on-board the right customers at a reasonable premium.

“Robotics processes automation (RPA) will become very necessary to cut costs drastically. This will help bring down premium costs and allow increased penetration,” said Mr Abraham.

Speaking during the start of a two-day digital insurance forum in Nairobi, Mr Abraham added that tasks such as following up on potential clients, processing claims or updating customer details will increasingly become possible without paper work.

Member of government taskforce on Distributed Ledgers and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Michael Onyango said the industry will increasingly lose shine if it does not deepen adoption of tools such as AI, predictive analysis and chat bots.

“It is no longer possible to continue operating the way we do. Insurers will require this to reduce the current opaqueness in the business and be able to price products better,” he said.

Robotics also have capabilities to issue quotations, manage bulk new members like by printing new cards and renewing policy subscriptions.

According to Andrew de Cock who heads Digital Insurer, a firm championing for transformation of insurance sector through technology, the role of agents and brokers will have to shift.

“Better technology will help in better understanding of needs of small groupings of people and make products suited for them. It will also tame fraud,” he said.

Kenya’s insurance sector has been through challenging times with more than a third of insurers sinking into pre-tax loss of over Sh8.5 billion partly driven by fraud and high operational costs.