Businesses will be forced to reconsider their spending priorities as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and insurers are expected to ramp up investment in artificial intelligence (AI), according to GlobalData, a leading data, and analytics company.
According to GlobalData’s 2019 Quarterly Tech Trends Survey, 67% of firms in the insurance industry are currently using AI. Although 90% of firms believe that AI will have a disruptive influence on the sector, its adoption remains lower than that of several other prime technologies, including cloud computing (83%), big data (78%), and the Internet of Things (70%).
Beatriz Benito, a Senior Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “At a time when insurers are moving towards discontinuing the sale of products and waiving deductibles, the adoption of technology such as AI, which offers the prospect of operational savings and efficiencies, is likely to captivate the industry’s interest.”
Although the application of AI is broad and may be used across different areas of the insurance value chain, investments in this technology are expected to focus on speeding up claims and detecting fraud.
So far, the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a spike in the number of claims across several business lines, including travel insurance and business interruption policies.
In addition, financial hardship could result in more fraudulent claims. It eliminates the need for any face-to-face contact between customers and agents to submit claims. As social distancing measures remain in place, submitting claims digitally will become paramount.
Benito concludes: “COVID-19 is bound to accelerate the use of AI in claims processing regardless of whether insurers opt to invest directly in the technology or through partnerships. These investments will ultimately benefit customers through more streamlined processes, faster claim resolutions, and quicker payouts.”
