U.S. Insurance Carriers Embrace AI, Drones And Other Technologies

U.S. insurance companies are rapidly adopting new technologies such as artificial intelligence and drones to better serve their customers, and they are looking to business process outsourcing (BPO) providers to help them roll out these advancements, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group, a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2019 ISG Provider Lens™ Insurance BPO Digital Services Report for the U.S. finds the insurance market embracing AI and other automation technologies to improve everything from accuracy in underwriting to claims processing. Insurers are using drones to check on property damage, and they are enabling robo advisors to provide personalized services to customers.

"The insurance industry is one of the early adopters of automation," said Jan Erik Aase, director and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. "Insurers have a vast number of applications for robotic process automation, and service providers are introducing bots that can help carriers with underwriting, claims processing, data entry, billing and several other functions."

Insurance carriers increasingly are looking to collect data from Internet-connected devices like wearables and connected cars to calculate premiums and investigate claims, the report adds. The Internet of Things will transform and empower insurers by giving them new insights on their customers, and BPO providers can help make sense of the wealth of new data, the report says.

In addition, insurance carriers increasingly are using social media and mobile apps to interact with customers, the report says. At many carriers, purchase of insurance policies is just a click away, while social media is allowing carriers to predict and understand customer sentiments and deliver tailormade responses.

As the market embraces technology, an emerging category of vendors, called insurtechs, is offering to help traditional insurance carriers adopt disruptive tools. Some BPO providers are partnering with insurtechs to build technology ecosystems that insurance carriers can seamlessly adopt, the report says.

The 2019 ISG Provider Lens™ Insurance BPO Digital Services Report for the U.S. evaluates the capabilities of 14 providers across three quadrants: Life and Annuity Digital Services, Property and Casualty Insurance Services and Life and Annuity TPA Services.

The report names Cognizant, DXC Technology and EXL as leaders in all three quadrants, and Infosys, NTT DATA, SE2 and WNS as leaders in two. Genpact is a leader in one quadrant.

Customized versions of the report are available from EXL, Infosys, SE2 and WNS.

The 2019 ISG Provider Lens™ Insurance BPO Digital Services Report for the U.S. is available to ISG Insights™ subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe and Latin America, as well as in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., the Nordics and Brazil, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

The series is a complement to the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, which offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 70 of the top 100 enterprises in the world, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry's most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.