With the news of the Canadian Broker Network (CBN) creating and deploying its first AI automation bot with the help of Quandri, the company is looking to create a more interconnected and seamless customer experience.
By eliminating the need for time-consuming double data portal entry, brokers are able to free up the time spent with these repetitive tasks to focus on assisting insureds with their requests and refining the industry’s interpersonal ethos.
“We’re putting this bot in place to try and eliminate that problem of double entry,” said Jamieson Fregeau (pictured), president and co-founder of Quandri.
In an interview with Insurance Business, Fregeau spoke about how these AI technologies can create a faster customer experience, why it can be leveraged to solve the industry’s talent shortage and whether or not automated tools should be used more broadly or to target niche concerns.
Implementing AI technologies can provide that speediness that modern consumers have become accustomed to, especially in a more traditional space like insurance.
“Canadians’ needs and expectations are shifting, and we know that their time is super important,” CAA’s Kristen Quayle recently told Insurance Business.
“Whether they choose to purchase coverage digitally or over the phone with a trusted professional, they should feel supported no matter what their preferred method is.”
As the insurance industry ramps up its capabilities in a bid to modernize, Fregeau believes that “the implementation of technologies is what enables brokers to innovate in that space and reach people that want to work in a faster, more automated manner.”
It will also allow brokers to field questions to consumers who still want to have that personalized connection may have about their policy, or other concerns.
“Brokers can focus on how they can reach other aspects of the market, in ways that that market wants to be reached, such as focusing their time and energy on investing in the ability to reach customers directly,” Fregeau said.
In a time when the industry is experiencing a talent shortage, whether due to lack of interest or unavailable candidates, brokerages are going to have to find ways to repurpose certain tasks to make staff more productive.
“AI is a competitive advantage as it can be applied to essentially do more with less,” Fregeau said.
With Quandri’s collaboration with CBN, it is hoped that productivity will increase over 800% as brokers are able take on more pressing, customer-facing work with ease.
This creates an opportunity for talent, whether established or new, to be able to provide the customer service that attracts many to the industry and can be leveraged as a selling point to attract young professionals into insurance.
Fregeau hopes that launches like this will round up enthusiasm for AI’s capabilities throughout brokerages who may be curious but a little more conservative in nature.
“I think fielding more questions and having more discussions with people within the industry is important,” he said.
“Sometimes people just need to better understand what this technology is and how it can be used to improve their business and meet their specific goals.”
When creating and implementing an AI solution, a brokerage may have some questions of whether it can be leveraged for more specific tasks or work across a company more broadly.
“I think people are on different sides of the fence on this debate,” Fregeau said.
“There are going to be many very specific AI that are dedicated to very specific concerns, like double data entry in the case of CBN.”
However, as AI processors become more nuanced and progress with new innovations, Fregeau thinks that this technology will be able to solve problems at a more sophisticated level.
“But I do think there will be a need for dedicated AI to solve very specific problems than a more generalized approach,” he said.
