How can AI technology improve customer experiences in the insurance industry?

What does the future of the insurtech industry look like? Artificial intelligence (AI) has made astounding leaps and bounds forward in recent years. These advancements in AI and machine learning (ML) technology have allowed insurtech companies to develop their own custom-engineered tools and systems – which can lead to things such as an improved customer experience, greater operational efficiency and enhanced compliance capabilities.

These latest innovations are paving the way forward, where future insurance processes are faster, more efficient, more secure and more personalised.

BizCover recently held its annual Tech Showcase, which aims to provide attendees with an exclusive look into the transformative technologies shaping the company and industry’s future. Brad Hoyle, BizCover’s Operational Excellence Manager, hosted the event and sat down with us to discuss key trends in insurtech and how he believes AI technology will continue to evolve.

How technology is transforming the insurtech industry

AI is already playing a pivotal role in developing many new technologies within the insurtech industry. One of its key uses is being able to automate certain tasks and its ability to enhance the customer experience. By successfully integrating AI technology into their business processes, insurtech companies can transform how they interact with and service their customers.

Enhanced customer service

There are many ways technology can improve levels of customer care in the insurtech industry, providing customers with fast and efficient service that also maintains a very high standard of quality.

In 2024, BizCover was proud to take its Pulse Check system to new heights, which had profound impacts on customer satisfaction.

Pulse Check is an internally developed system and has revolutionised the way BizCover interacts with its customers. This transformative tool allows the customer service team to assess in real-time customer sentiment, mood, intent, and many more factors in all interactions – no matter what channel the customer uses to communicate. This saves customers time and effort and allows BizCover to provide a higher level of efficient and helpful customer service.

“Pulse Check gives us a live feed across different channels,” explained Hoyle. “We can now route anything that’s urgent straight to a priority queue across the whole business.”

He continues, “Say we’ve got a contractor on the phone who is waiting to get on site, and they need their Certificate of Currency. Pulse Check can detect this, and we can automatically process that for the customer.”

A development like this can be a game-changer in terms of customer service and satisfaction. By monitoring things like intent and sentiment, BizCover can go above and beyond, taking proactive steps towards helping customers with their queries and requests.

Simple and fast self-service

Also speaking at the Tech Showcase, Daniel Quinn, BizCover’s Head of Customer Acquisition, discussed some of the recent projects the company is working on to streamline self-service processes for customers.

“Probably the longest part of the insurance purchasing journey is filling out the underwriting information,” said Quinn. “So, we’ve refined our question set, which makes it much easier and faster for customers to fill out their details and find the right type of insurance to suit their needs.”

Using tested, data-driven insights, customers are presented with various insurance options most likely to suit their needs. This removes guesswork and the need to contact support, saving customers time and stress. Quinn sees this as something fundamentally important for small business owners, who often have a lot on their plates and need the insurance purchasing or renewing process to be fast, simple and easy.

Quinn confirmed the success of this project by saying, “We’re certainly seeing good customer feedback and better throughput as a result.”

Streamlined occupation classification

Occupation classification has been an ongoing challenge within the insurance industry as a whole. For small business owners, it can sometimes be difficult to find the most accurate occupation when searching for a new insurance policy – especially if they’re in a niche industry. Now, this part of the insurance purchasing process can be significantly improved with the help of AI.

“Plinko is a conversational GPT (generative pre-trained transformer) powered tool which can help customers find the most relevant information and the right selection to start their insurance journey,” explained Hoyle. “It can even give you an explanation of why it thinks the results are suitable for you, which can give customers the clarity and confidence to make a decision.”

While this particular tool is being rolled out in 2025, Hoyle said that “Plinko is already over 90% accurate in finding occupation matches.”

And if a customer is still not completely confident in the results it receives from Plinko?

“They can always call us. The call centre team is always going to be here to help.”

Future trends in insurtech

The insurtech industry is entering a period of serious transformation, driven by advancements in AI technology. The future is bright, with new trends potentially reshaping how customers interact with insurance providers and significantly elevating levels of customer service.

Agentic AI

One of the most exciting future developments in insurtech is the rise of agentic AI. This refers to an AI system that is capable of acting autonomously on behalf of agents or customers. The purpose of an agentic AI system is to manage customer interactions, make decisions and offer solutions.

“Think human-style chatbots, or voice agents that you can call up and are almost indistinguishable from a human,” said Hoyle on this topic. “I think that’s going to be very commonplace by the end of next year.”

In fact, BizCover is already investigating this technology and what it can do.

“The chat bots of the past are going,” states Hoyle. “I think having this kind of technology is going to become really powerful in 2025. And BizCover is going to be at the forefront of that.”

Balancing automation with the human touch

One of the primary hurdles for 2025 will be striking the right balance between automation and maintaining the human element.

Automation can help to streamline processes and also free up agents’ time to focus on more high-touch tasks, personal interactions between staff and customers can become diminished. Insurance is a customer-centric industry, so this is something companies will need to be mindful of.

“BizCover makes sure that being tech leaders and customer fanatics is stitched deep into the fabric of the company,” explained Hoyle. So, while the company is always looking for ways to improve its processes, it’s the customer who is always top of mind when any new project is undertaken.

How insurtech companies can prepare for the AI-driven future

By investing in AI research and development and fostering a culture of innovation, insurtech companies can better prepare for the future and stay ahead of the curve. With things moving so quickly – not just in the insurtech industry, but all industries in Australia and the world – companies need to ensure that they don’t lag behind, especially when it comes to utilising AI to enhance their levels of customer experience.

“All new technological advancements come with unique challenges,” said Hoyle. “As with implementing the tech itself, many will try, few will succeed, and even fewer will get it right. But BizCover is already taking the necessary steps to make sure we’re on the right path.”

Want to learn more about the newest innovations at BizCover? Watch the Tech Showcase video below.