5 ways RPA can improve the customer experience

Even though Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is not a new concept, considering workflow automation has been around for decades in one form or the other, RPA has been transformative, especially in the customer service automation arena and for the insurance companies. 

A quick glance at what RPA is, tells us it is a key component in automation across industries, where it is used to complete routine repetitive tasks that are high volume and where accuracy is a concern. With RPA, insurance companies can bolster insurer productivity, boost process automation, and help deliver differentiated customer experiences and open up a world of opportunities that would otherwise be lost. RPA helps do away with the worry of hiring resources to handle large volumes of data heavy tasks and ensures an increase in customer engagement as well.

“53% of respondents have already started their RPA journey. This is expected to increase to 72% in the next two years. If this continues at its current level, RPA will have achieved near-universal adoption within the next five years.” [Source: Deloitte’s survey.]

RPA exists in two formats:  

• Assisted RPA [partially automated] –  The process is completed with some level of human intervention, where at times the queries might require an agent or someone higher up to take over.
• Unassisted RPA [Fully automated] – The cases where RPA handles the entire process end to end, without any human intervention.

Let us now look at the top 5 ways through which RPA helps improve customer experience:

• Higher ROI- With the adoption of RPA, companies can now focus on some of the other aspects that might require human involvement – decision-making, developing new strategies or face-to-face customer interactions thereby increasing insurance sales. There is also the impact of RPA on the distribution channels, in areas related to regulations and compliances. 
• Marketing through word of mouth – Customers today rely heavily on reviews from their friends, or others posted online. With RPA integration into the existing business model, the insurer improves the customer relationship, reducing time across processes, especially claims processing. This in turn leads to customer retention, and new customers flowing in through word of mouth reviews/promotions.
• Round the clock assistance – RPA and AI have revolutionized the business of insurance. With chatbots and virtual assistance available, customers can reach out to the brand anytime from anywhere to clarify queries, obtain quotes or share information. Their queries are addressed instantly unless it requires human intervention. Customer needs are met round the clock, which in turns leads to higher customer satisfaction.
  
• Accuracy & productivity assured – Since machines handle large volumes of data, the margin of error goes down to the minimum, which translates into faster processing of submissions. Similarly, there is consistency in the process that in turn boosts an insurer’s productivity giving them time to innovate and offer personalized products and suggestions to customers.
• Improved TAT & value added services – Machines complete tasks faster, which improves the turn-around-time drastically. And with the human task force focussed on strategies, the avenues for value added services grow. These value added services can be focussed on offering enhanced customer experiences. There is also a significant shift in how the underwriting process and pricing is done.

It doesn’t stop here, the system is constantly evolving and now we are talking about Intelligent RPA, which is bound to create the next wave. This will involve utilization of advanced analytics to make predictions and stay ahead of the customers. The challenges faced by an insurer while dealing with the structured and unstructured data analysis is done away with thanks to RPA. Similarly, there is going to be automation across processes, which will optimize the operational outcomes.

At Neutrinos, having been at the forefront of digital transformation, we have been exploring RPA and related solutions for a while. We have in fact written quite a few blogs on this as well. Having worked with many insurers, Neutrinos is in a position to deliver value, not just through the implementation of RPA, but also driven by a results-based approach, tailored to your specific goals. Talk to us to know more!