Three ways AI can, and is, transforming broking

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer something in the future, it’s here today and insurance brokers are already taking advantage of this rapidly advancing technology.

In fact, brokers using Open GI’s advanced Mobius platform already have access to a suite of AI tools – in partnership with Open AI, the company behind Chat GPT – designed to simplify their day-to-day tasks and free-up intellectual capital to focus on more complex jobs.

Open GI uses specialist AI technology, known as large language models (LLMs), to develop tools specifically designed to solve broker problems and ease pinch points. So, let’s take a look at how AI can, and already is, revolutionising, the way brokers work.

It is no secret that when a broking contact centre agent receives a customer call they immediately have to consume, digest and process lots of information about that customer so they can help them. To combat this Open GI developed an AI-powered ‘Mobius-too long: didn’t read’ (TLDR) widget.

LLMs are excellent at summarising text so Open GI built an AI bot to read, analyse and give the agent a concise and but comprehensive rundown of a customer’s backstory all within seconds of answering the phone. Brokers are already using this service and agents are freed-up to focus on complex, non-standard business thanks to the time it can save.

Broker systems often store documents and data in a variety of different formats, sometimes they are sent in physically and scanned into the system and other times they will be provided digitally. Image recognition AI, known as Document Intelligence, is coming to Mobius soon and can scan these documents quickly and accurately to pull out important information, highlight potential discrepancies and flag if action is needed.

For example, if a potential policyholder has declared 5-years no-claims and their documents show only 4-years the AI identifies this speedily and the broker can address it with the client post-quote and amend if necessary. Without the technology a human would have had to review and compare the documents which causes a pinch point in the final approval process following binding. This helps to ensure all the information is accurate and protects the customer, broker and insurer when it comes to a claim. A win-win all round.

We all look at CEOs and leaders with assistants with some envy, but AI is making effective virtual assistants affordable for all. Open GI is exploring using technology known as OpenDialog – the same model that powers Chat GPT – to develop virtual assistants, which go further than chatbots, to help customers. These assistants are being developed to answer customer queries quickly, without having to involve a human.

For example, a customer wants to know if their travel policy covers water skiing. Instead of calling their broker they can look online, where an AI bot can quickly scan their policy document and answer their question, saving them a long wait on hold until a call centre agent becomes available. Who doesn’t like getting a fast answer instead of waiting on hold?

All of this is made possible because Mobius is supported by the Microsoft Azure platform which has partnered with the leader in AI development, and the creator of ChatGPT, Open AI. This means Open GI can access the models as soon as they are available and precisely adapt them to solve the problems of our broker customers.

Support from the Azure platform also means our brokers’ data is secure and protected from cyber threats. It also operates on a ‘need to know’ basis so customer and broker data is anonymised and shielded from Microsoft and Open AI. It’s only us and our brokers who have full access to the information.

Of course, we are not saying the time is ripe for AI to replace the broker. AI should not be used for the sake of it and only deployed where it can add value and solve real broker problems. None of this technology renders the broker obsolete. These hyper-intelligent bots and widgets are merely tools to help brokers concentrate on more challenging insurance problems, help their customers faster, and pass a cleaner book to their insurer partners.

The future is here now and Mobius brokers are at the forefront of using AI to deliver value for their customers and insurers.