In our previous blog article, “Using AI for Increasing Agent Productivity,” we discussed how many insurance companies can only analyze agent productivity based on the premiums written and the loss ratio of their network of independent agencies. In part 2 of our series of articles on “The Top 3 Emerging Trends for Agent/Advisor Analytics Using AI”, we will focus on the benefits of understanding agency sentiment for insurance companies that utilize a network of independent agencies.

Currently, many insurance carriers can only analyze agent productivity based on the premiums written and the loss ratio of their network of independent agencies. Looking only at past results doesn’t necessarily provide an accurate view of how an insurance carrier can increase agent productivity going forward. By using AI for increasing agency productivity, insurers can now predict the best course of action as opposed to waiting to review past results.

In order for regional insurance carriers to continue to grow, the acquisition of new customers and retaining existing customers is imperative. Because of this, identifying cross-sell and upsell opportunities has never been more critical. One of the significant challenges carriers face when growing their company is analyzing and managing the capabilities of their agent distribution channel.

The use of social media is growing at a steady rate, and with that, the adoption of predictive analytics is on the rise as well.

Today, customers expect a personalized, unique experience. Millennials not only expect a superior experience but also expect their service provider to know in advance about the kind of treatment they prefer to receive. A critical step in delivering a unique experience is to know what your existing customers think about you and your services.

I recently saw a tweet from Mat Velloso - “If it is written in Python, it’s probably machine learning. If it is written in PowerPoint, it’s probably AI.” This quote is probably the most accurate summarization of what has happened in AI over the past couple of years. A few months back, The Economist shared the chart below that shows the number of CEOs who mentioned AI in their Earnings calls. Towards the end of 2017, even Vladimir Putin said: “The nation that leads in AI ‘will be the ruler of the world.” Beyond all this hype, there is a lot of real technology that is being built. So how is 2019 going to look for all of us in the insurance world?

Insurers have been using data to improve the customer experience of their policyholders for quite a while now. This data is typically explicit data that is gathered by asking policyholder specific questions. By gathering implicit data, insurers can now understand the sentiment of their customers at any given point of time during their customer journey, without even asking them.

Insurers have a near-constant stream of unstructured data at their disposal that can be used to drive growth by improving policyholder retention and identifying cross-sell and upsell opportunities. One of the challenges for insurers is sorting through this mountain of unstructured data quickly to gain an accurate understanding of the sentiment of their customers in real time.