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For years, the insurance industry has sought new technologies to improve customer service and risk management and, above all, significantly reduce operating costs. The most popular solutions include chatbots and robotization using RPA (Robotics Process Automation), followed by AI (Artificial Intelligence) supported by advanced Big Data analytics[i]. This is no coincidence: typical business processes in the industry are relatively easy to automate because documents and procedures are highly standardized. As insurers develop robotization, they are building experience while optimizing costs and business processes.
Which insurance processes can be robotized with RPA?
Business-process robotization works best where employees perform repetitive, tedious but relatively simple tasks[ii]. Insurance robots most often handle:- Issuing and renewing policies, including assigning identifiers, entering required data, generating and sending updates, and monitoring payments.
- Verifying and processing claims: bots recognize document content, clean and format data, populate databases, and detect attempted fraud, especially in motor, travel, and life insurance by analyzing prior health records.
- Aggregating data from business applications to prepare information for human decisions, reducing time spent switching systems.
- Managing discounts and rates by checking insurance history and documentation and proposing discount levels; people handle exceptional cases.
- Managing payments and reconciling balances by comparing banking information with business records, identifying unpaid policies, calculating taxes, and issuing invoices.
- Maintaining and verifying general-ledger records, with accountants intervening only in doubtful cases.
- Standardizing documentation and audit trails, ensuring records and operations comply with law and maintaining a complete change log.
- Managing incoming customer and employee queries. Bots supported by AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) interpret emails, answer simple questions, and route others to qualified employees.
What are the advantages of RPA in insurance?
RPA implementations, not only in insurance, are strategically important. Companies redesign operations and employment structures and focus on customer satisfaction. Bots perform repetitive, algorithmic workflow tasks while people make decisions and solve unusual problems. Estimates suggest insurance RPA reduces expert employees’ involvement time by 19%, data-processing time by 34%, and customer-interaction time by 23%, aided by rapid preparation of complete information[iii]. Robotization also makes advanced IT skills, critical thinking, and problem solving strategic priorities, creating knowledge-based companies able to adapt and introduce services faster.What are the disadvantages of RPA in insurance?
RPA cannot repair badly designed processes. Research shows that many companies struggle to implement it on time or achieve lower returns than expected[iv]. Processes must be optimized first, and IT infrastructure must be integrated, requiring money, time, provider expertise, and internal IT competence. Communication between IT and business is another frequent problem. Infrastructure investments must also be coordinated so server upgrades do not force robots to be reconfigured. Insurance robotization therefore carries elevated business risk and high planning and technology requirements. Unattended RPA will not solve process problems, and full automation intended merely to eliminate several positions is unlikely to succeed. Insurers must adapt business models to social change and invest equally in technology and employee reskilling. In coming years, automation and robotization may threaten 30% of jobs[v].Is RPA worth implementing in insurance?
Yes. There is no turning back from insurance robotization. Competitors use RPA to reduce operating costs and improve digitally assisted employee productivity. The greatest success comes from automating simple, tedious tasks rather than the most complex ones. Comparing bot licenses and maintenance with operating-cost reductions confirms the direction: Deloitte estimates a ratio of 1:5[vi]. Employment may initially fall and then rise, as in earlier industrial revolutions. Late adopters will fall behind, while bot efficiency cannot be matched by people.Examples of RPA use in insurance
Robot numbers are rising rapidly worldwide. Poland is catching up quickly. PZU, Poland’s largest insurer, has improved customer and field-agent service through many robots[vii], which:- update court-fee rates in PZU billing systems,
- call roadside and post-accident assistance,
- perform initial analysis of motor-claim documents,
- verify and approve vehicle-repair reimbursements from invoices,
- handle replacement-vehicle rental processes,
- enter direct costs, policy-ownership changes, and termination of cover,
- estimate initial motor-policy payouts,
- handle correspondence about compensation and customer insurance history,
- estimate medical-insurance claims.
