---

At this year’s Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards, several progressive carriers showcased how they’re using AI to boost the performance of their workforces.

Our recently-published research into how organizations are applying artificial intelligence (AI) found that 84 percent of executives believe these intelligent technologies will be essential for them to achieve their growth objectives.  “AI: Built to Scale” describes how organizations that scale up AI across their organizations, rather than focusing on a few specialized applications, can attain exceptional financial returns. 

Many insurers are going beyond using AI to improve underwriting and the customer service. At the recent Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards, for example, a variety of far-sighted insurers showed how they’re already transforming their businesses by using AI to boost the skills and knowledge of workers across their organizations. This wide-ranging roll-out of AI at scale, is delivering dramatic results. It’s enabling progressive carriers to replace inefficient processes and systems, to enrich the customer experience and to capitalize on a host of new opportunities.  

Successful AI-human partnerships require companies to completely overhaul their enterprise cultures. People, processes and technology need to be drawn together within a working environment that encourages collaboration and innovation across the organization. Traditional organizational silos and hierarchies, as well as fragmented approaches to developing new business initiatives, are an impediment to effective AI-human partnerships. 

Indeed, several carriers demonstrated in their submissions to the Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards how they’re using AI to increase the performance and capabilities of their workforces. Earlier in this blog series, I highlighted the AI applications submitted by Nippon Life and PZU. Nippon Life topped the Customer Experience category at this year’s awards with its Taskall intelligent tablet that uses AI to help its representatives secure sales and serve its customers better. PZU’s Robotics Process Automation (RPA) Factory, which won the award for the Best Workforce Transformation Application, has substantially enhanced the performance of the company’s claims-handling and customer-service employees.  

These stand-out AI applications also impressed the judges at the 2019 Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance awards: 

Allianz: The French subsidiary of the multinational insurer has built an intelligent online platform that helps the company’s representatives improve their sales skills and qualifications. The Digital Sales Academy uses AI applications, including smart “gamification” systems and intelligent chatbots, to deliver personalized interactive sales coaching and instruction. Allianz, which developed the online platform with digital training firm Groupe Bizness, plans to roll out the platform at other Allianz companies around the world. 

AXA: This global insurer is using AI to beef up the capabilities of its workforce in Switzerland. Its Swiss subsidiary, formerly AXA Winterthur, is upgrading the skills of employees across the organization as part of an extensive transformation of its business. The company teamed up with training specialists CVCube and People-Analytix to roll out AI-backed instruction and coaching systems that encourage continuous learning among its workers and foster greater internal workforce mobility.  

KBC Insurance: Customer-support staff at this Belgium insurer are now responding to queries more quickly and more effectively thanks to the support they receive from a comprehensive AI solution. KBC’s Email Virtual Assistant (EVA) monitors incoming emails and routes them to the correct recipients. It also provides support staff with prompts and information to help them better respond to customer queries. 

Now’s the time to submit your entries for the 2020 Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards. I strongly recommend that companies throughout the insurance industry consider entering this outstanding competition. It’s a wonderful showcase for the innovation that’s taking place in our industry. It also highlights the progressive companies that are driving this transformation.

To encourage firms to participate in this year’s Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards, and to help them deliver outstanding submissions, l’ll provide a step-by-step guide in my next blog post. Look out for my “Innovation in Insurance Awards Ultimate Submission Guide”.

For more information about the Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards, and to enter for this year’s competition, visit: https://www.efma.com/innovationininsurance/.