Robotic process automation, or RPA, is becoming an increasingly common tool for workload automation in the insurance sector, as insurers, MGAs, and brokers look to streamline how they work. In today’s world, customers are demanding a super-fast and efficient experience when they purchase and claim on insurance. Workload automation through RPA is one of the best ways of delivering that and getting ahead of the competition, while keeping costs to a minimum.
What is RPA in insurance?
RPA refers to a type of rules-based software, which can handle repetitive insurance processes, such as collating customer data, transferring data between systems and files, automatically populating documents, and carrying out basic admin tasks. It can integrate with a company’s existing systems and handle a lot of the most time-consuming and mundane manual tasks currently carried out by insurance professionals. By leveraging RPA, insurance companies and MGAs have the power to transform productivity, reduce costs, and meet customer expectations.
What are the key benefits of workload automation for insurance MGAs?
Implementing RPA might seem daunting, but when weighing up the pros and cons, MGAs should consider the long-term business benefits, which can include:
- Extending the life of legacy systems: One of the big advantages of RPA software is that it can help existing legacy systems to work better together, automating tasks such as transferring data from one platform to another. So, it gives companies a relatively quick way of boosting efficiency without overhauling their entire operations.
- Greater productivity and customer satisfaction: RPA can carry out data entry and reconciliation tasks in a fraction of the time that it takes to do them manually. That means faster quotes, onboarding, renewals, and claims. Employees are freed up to work on higher value tasks, and customers receive a convenient and efficient service.
- Increased data accuracy and reduced errors: By completing data tasks automatically, RPA can also greatly reduce the chance of errors, boosting efficiency, customer satisfaction and reducing unnecessary costs as a result.
- Employee engagement and retention: Less mundane, repetitive work means happier employees, who spend more time on higher value, strategic work.
- Upselling and cross-selling opportunities: By collating and processing customer data, RPA can also help companies to understand their customers better. By building comprehensive, accurate data pools and combining RPA with artificial intelligence (AI), companies can start to personalise their offering for each customer and identify opportunities to cross-sell and upsell new and different products.
- Bottom line impact: As a result of all these benefits, companies will start to see a real impact on profit margins, because of implementing RPA. For example, recent studies show that RPA deployment can immediately reduce labour costs by up to 40%.
How to implement RPA in an MGA or insurance business?
Before you dive head-first into your RPA for insurance transformation project, here are a few things to keep in mind to help you get the most out of your customised solutions:
Define your needs
Before evaluating different software and platforms, it’s essential to define which aspects of your business you will automate first. For instance, what high-priority tasks can you automate to relieve pressure on your teams and deliver maximum ROI? Also, consider complexity; it makes sense to start your RPA journey with the least complex, most repetitive tasks and then build up from there.
Do you have capabilities in-house?
Determine whether you have the technical capabilities in-house to implement RPA, or whether you will need help from an external consultancy or solution provider. Many insurance technology platforms, such as Insly, now incorporate RPA, which makes the transition more straightforward. However, if you want to layer RPA on top of your existing legacy systems, then there are a range of RPA tools and consultancies that can help you.
Consider scaling options
When automating your insurance systems and processes, you might want to start out small. However, think about your scaling options well in advance to gain a competitive edge.
Expanding RPA to more processes across your company can help you leverage economies of scale and reap the full benefits of automation in insurance. It also helps to find a platform that you and your employees can manage easily on your own, through an intuitive user interface and no or low-code development.
Check integration options and complementary capabilities
Since most RPA deployments involve multiple IT systems, it’s important to look for solutions with a modular setup that can integrate with your existing workplace tools. For instance, seek out RPA software that automatically updates your accounting systems with all relevant financial customer transaction data.
Streamline Your MGA Workload with Insly’s RPA Insurance Platform
Insly enables MGAs and insurance companies to enjoy all the benefits of RPA technology without extensive development time and technical knowledge. A low-code SaaS solution, it spans the entire insurance lifecycle from product development to claims and because it takes a modular approach, you can integrate it alongside your existing IT infrastructure.
Get in touch with the team today to find out more and organise a demo of the platform.
