Insurance 2025: AI in claims, with Claim Technology CEO, Michael Lewis

At Claim Technology, you can automate specific parts of the claims process. Why is this better than a fully automated claims process or if the process is not automated at all?

If you don’t look to automate your processes at all, you will only be good as you are now.

But in seeking to automate, you immediately realise that you are constrained by your existing policy or claims management systems which are principally systems of record. They enable you to record the fact that the person has a policy, or has made a claim, but aren’t the engines of automation, or for designing a process around your customer. 

You may also be constrained by an IT department that is already too busy to help you automate.

We have established the industry’s first Claims-as-a-Service platform which allows you to use cloud-hosted services to automate any claims task, from answering FAQS to settling a claim or anything in-between.   These services are hosted in the cloud and can be used independently of, or integrate with, your existing systems.  You can use these services manually or embed them in your website or applications.  Any claims task can be automated in the cloud and continuous process improvement can be made by automating one task at a time.  

Looking on your website, you are transforming customer journeys using an AI bot called Robin.  How much of what you do is face to face?

Robin is a market-leading conversational chatbot and provides a consistent experience when interacting with customers or powering self-serve.  Robin complements existing customer channels such as telephone, which are incredibly important in the claims process.  

By offering a digital channel, you can improve the way your customer accesses your service, and at a time that is convenient for them.  At the same time, you can reduce the pressure on your contact centre.  Robin can still present an option to the customer to call the contact centre from within the chatbot and can integrate with your choice of live chat system to facilitate a seamless transition from bot to human.   

How have you managed to strike a balance between automated business and face to face service?

Our technology sits alongside your existing systems. Every company handles claims in the same way: a number is available on the website to “call us”.  That can be very reassuring for a customer, but it also means that the customer has no choice of how they communicate with you.  A customer wouldn’t be able to submit a claim out of office hours if they wanted to, they would have to wait until 9 am the next morning.   Our system allows you to decide how you want to model your operations and provides you with increased flexibility.

Your AI bot is called Robin, what exactly does it do?

Robin is a digital claims assistant who can automate repetitive tasks on behalf of a claims handler when asked to do so.   This can be empowering for staff who want to automate their administrative tasks using a digital concierge so that they can focus on adding value.   The claims handler simply tells Robin which task they want fulfilling and if this is a customer-oriented task, Robin will then send an SMS/email to the customer, enable the customer to self-serve the task from within a conversational chatbot, and then notify the claims handler that the task is complete.  Robin will also remind customers for missing information, helping to automate time-consuming outbound call centre processes.   

Robin is designed to automate many claims tasks, whether it answering FAQS, validating the identity of the customer,  onboarding them, or booking appointments with a supply chain provider.  Any claims task should be capable of automation.   

What can attendees expect from you at Insurance 2025?

I would say that they should expect the unexpected. Our claims-as-a-service (CaaS) is a new paradigm and radically different from the current solutions offered by claims and case management software vendors.   It will power new business models and new levels of customer service.  Expect a lot of innovation and a chatbot capability that isn’t just best-in-class in insurance but challenging what a customer can do using a chatbot/AI capability.