Harnessing AI for the broker market

The following article was supplied by Open GI.

It seems no more than a blink of an eye since generative artificial intelligence (AI) launched itself on the unsuspecting world.

Since then we’ve seen a variety of models come to the fore ready to revolutionise how the world creates and does business. The insurance industry is riding the crest of the AI wave and brokers are already taking advantage of this rapidly advancing technology.

AI – a friend instead of a foe

Software providers are already helping their broker partners access AI and utilise it as a friend instead of a foe. Brokers using Open GI’s Mobius platform can already use a comprehensive suite of AI tools.

Our partnership with OpenAI – the brains behind AI posterchid Chat GPT – gives us access to a range of widgets designed to simplify a broker’s day-to-day tasks and free-up intellectual capital to focus on more complex jobs.

Typically, Open GI’s AI suite uses Large Language Models (LLM) to specifically develop the right AI tools to help brokers solve their problems and mitigate any pinchpoints.

AI in action

A good example is the Mobius ‘too long, didn’t read’ tool. We specifically designed this to help brokers get up-to-speed with their clients’ history within seconds of answering the phone.

The tool leverages LLM’s ability to speedily summarise any text and instantly analyse the customer profile and history to give the agent a concise but comprehensive rundown of a customer’s backstory, all within seconds of answering the phone. Brokers are already using this service and agents are freed-up to focus on complex, non-standard business thanks to the time the LM widget can save.

AI can also work with images which can be particularly helpful to brokers when customer data is uploaded to their systems in a variety of formats. Sometimes customers will scan a document and provide an image featuring the data required to support their insurance needs. In cases like this, image recognition AI, known as Document Intelligence which will soon be added to Mobius, can scan these documents to quickly extract important information, highlight discrepancies and flag if action is required.

For instance, if a potential policyholder claims a 5-year no-claims history, but their documents only verify 4 years, the AI quickly identifies this discrepancy. This allows the broker to discuss the issue with the client after providing a quote and make any necessary adjustments. Without this technology, a human would need to manually review and compare the documents, creating a bottleneck in the final approval process after binding. This technology ensures the accuracy of all information, protecting the customer, broker, and insurer during a claim—a success for everyone involved.

AI and virtual assistants – what’s happening?

AI is also making effective virtual assistants affordable for all. Open GI is exploring using technology known as Open Dialogue – the same model that powers Chat GPT – to develop virtual assistants, which go further than chatbots, to help customers.

These are being built and trained to answer customer queries quickly, without having to involve a human. For example, a customer wants to know if their travel policy covers water skiing. Instead of calling their broker, they can look online, where an AI bot can quickly scan their policy document and answer their question, saving them a long wait on hold until a call centre agent becomes available and, again, freeing up brokers to address more complex, profitable queries.

All of this is achievable because Mobius is backed by the Microsoft Azure platform, which collaborates with OpenAI, the leading AI developer and creator of ChatGPT. This partnership enables Open GI to immediately access and tailor the latest AI models to address the unique challenges faced by our broker customers.

Furthermore, the Azure platform ensures that our brokers’ data remains secure and protected from cyber threats. Data is managed on a ‘need to know’ basis, meaning it is anonymized and shielded from both Microsoft and OpenAI. Only our brokers and we have complete access to the information.

It’s clear the brokers can harness AI as a friend to help them to speed-up day to day administration and make light work of simple tasks that in the past could be time-consuming. AI doesn’t have to be a threat  and should be implemented purposefully, only in areas where it can add value and address genuine broker issues.

Mobius brokers are at the forefront of utilizing AI to enhance value for their customers and insurers.