Can GenAI and will GenAI take away the insurance agents' jobs?
The industry has been grappling with high attrition rates. In 2022, we highlighted a 45% CSR agent turnover rate rate in a post written by Damien Philippon ; unfortunately, this trend doesn't seem to be waning this year. Why are agents leaving? To name a few, there are work satisfaction, high pressure, and burnout, which leads to quiet quitting.?
Selling insurance is getting more and more difficult with the recent increase in risks, particularly in climate change, inflation, macroeconomics, and microeconomics. Insurance price is getting more expensive, leading many policyholders to choose to live without them! Reportedly, 12% of Americans don’t carry home insurance.?
So what’s in it for the agents beyond commission? A story on Vn Express talked about a young Bancassurance agent who left her job out of remorse for misleading customers. Her former bank required employees to sell insurance alongside their banking duties. She transitioned into a full-time insurance agent but lacked proper training and understanding of insurance products. Even though she earned significant commissions, she encountered cases where customers felt deceived or misunderstood their policies, causing distress. The agents realized her actions were primarily driven by monetary gain, not genuine assistance, prompting her to quit. It is clear that the agents want to have a meaningful job and provide the right insurance coverage that can protect their policyholders.???
If a human wants the job less, can AI take the lead and do it better? Another story, stresses the importance of having a human touch throughout the insurance value chain. Quote to quote from the “The Artificial Intelligence Pathway To The Future Of Work” Forrester report: “ Giving AI independent decision-making authority without human review generates risks, some of which can be ruinous. An AI — not a human doctor — predicted a rapid recovery for an 85-year-old Medicare Advantage patient, prompting her insurer to cut her nursing home rehabilitation coverage short. She hadn’t actually recovered and had to spend down her life savings to qualify for Medicaid. As a watchdog put it, while insurance companies say the AI is only making a recommendation, “It ends up being a hard-and-fast rule” that nobody overrules. This specific example belies a larger trend where human decision-makers don’t know how or when to question AI-led results, leading to greater potential harm than a single human worker alone could cause.. “
So, we are left with humans quitting the job, and AI can’t do it alone. How about using AI to help create a work-life balance, more training support, less pressure, and more job satisfaction so agents can truly enjoy the work? And do what they do best as to establish a trusted connection and provide proper protection.?
We put forward three ideas?
And with AI and the general adoption of #GenAI, it is time to revolutionize the agents' workplace!?
We suggest keeping your policyholders’ contact details up to date and enhancing them automatically with external information. This info should be added to a smart and automated system to alert the frontline teams about any changes in policyholders' situations. It can also suggest different insurance policies that might be a good fit. Additionally, the system should be transparent, explaining why it makes these recommendations so agents can double-check the reasoning. This partnership between AI and agents can help reduce the stress on agents. With the help of data, agents can choose to make proactive calls to check on policyholders' well-being. The system can guide them in asking the right questions and collecting important information to offer better protection and prevention advice.
A recent article from 麦肯锡 pointed out: “Despite the shift toward digitalization, insurers cannot sacrifice the human touch in Customer Experience—especially for life customers, who rank agents as the most trusted source for learning about insurance products. Our survey found that agents and advisers are still the highest-rated channels when it comes to customer satisfaction, and 20 percent of customers report that they would likely switch insurance carriers if their adviser left. Life customers who speak with their agents at least once a quarter have an average customer experience score of approximately 50—compared with roughly 30 for those who speak with their agents annually and zero for those with even fewer touchpoints. Yet only half of insurance customers interact with their agent or adviser on an annual basis, suggesting that insurance carriers—especially life insurers—may be missing out on opportunities to deepen their customer relationships.”
How about fixing burnout with a more meaningful link between agents, policyholders, and the coverage? We propose linking claim statistics to demonstrate to agents how the coverage they sell protects policyholders from various risks, fostering a deeper understanding and engagement. Making the job of selling insurance beyond selling but providing protections. We believe that the agent's job will not go away and that AI tools will be here to support and help the agents do their work more productively and effectively.?
This will also be one of the topics that we will be discussing in our webinar next week with 微软 's General Manager Frédéric Tardy and AXA NEXT 's Global Head of Innovation Frank DESVIGNES . Don’t miss it!
The webinar will be in French. If you want an English subtitle of the webinar! Let us know in the comment, we will send you the video directly to your inbox!?