Can AI redefine interactions between insurers, brokers and customers?

Artificial intelligence is gaining traction, with the popularity of tools like ChatGPT encouraging insurers to incorporate cutting-edge AI into their businesses.

But can AI help transform interactions between insurers, brokers and customers? Koios Intelligence thinks so.

The Canadian startup, which offers AI-powered, voice-enabled virtual assistants that help insurance professionals communicate better with their customers, recently closed a $6.5 million funding round.

“We have built a hybrid platform that allows customers, brokers and agents to interact in a user-friendly way using voice recognition,” said Mohamed Hanini, President, CEO and CTO of Koïos. said.

Hanini started his career by studying actuarial science before studying financial engineering at the University of Montreal, where he began experimenting with machine learning.

“My passion has always been building tools in the financial and insurance industry,” he said.

“Huge Drop Rates” in Insurance Quoting Platforms

Armed with his experience in statistics and quantitative finance, Mr. Hanini set out to tackle the biggest pain points of the insurance purchasing process: waiting times and product abundance.

“We have so many products and consumers are so busy, and many online platforms lack educational tools to help them understand insurance better,” said Hanini. .

“Over the past decade, companies have invested in speeding up the quoting process. [on quoting platforms]. Customers should be educated about insurance before proceeding. ”

The CEO noted that insurance customers typically drop out of the online quote process when asked to enter personal information, such as credit scores. The sheer amount of products available on the market can also be overwhelming for most consumers.

“Multimodal” AI to improve communication

Koios aimed to reduce wait times while explaining the process to insurance customers. Olivo was created to act as a virtual intermediary between insurance brokers and consumers using natural language processing.

“We usually need to talk to real people to get more information. At any point in the customer journey, our platform allows users to converse with brokers and agents and ask questions in real time. I can,” he said.

Koïos leverages multimodal AI in its platform, a type of artificial intelligence that can process and understand input from different modes of communication such as text, images, and voice.

A cloud-native application, Olivo is also interconnected with leading industry systems such as Applied and the Center for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO).

According to Koïos, this connection will make the pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase process more efficient.

“The platform is focused so that each business line becomes an application in its own right, which means algorithms are trained on specific data points,” added Hanini.

Will AI chatbots also benefit brokers?

For Hanini, improving the insurance customer journey also means helping brokers and agents focus on what they do best.

“Insurance brokers and agents spend almost two-thirds of their time processing paperwork. AI helps them focus on their expertise and avoid filling out forms,” he said. said.

Koïos says its Olivo platform has cut brokers and agents’ administrative costs by 30% and cut customers’ wait times by 30% compared to having to contact an insurance call center.

As an added bonus, Olivo helps brokers onboard new hires by providing policy updates, educating them about new products, and answering customer questions quickly.

What’s next for Koios?

Hanini said Koios began discussions with a US partner last year and is in the commercialization stage. Also in the US and Canada, he is expanding his partnership with Applied Systems.

“We are starting to finalize partnerships [with Applied] I think it will accelerate our expansion in the U.S. market,” he told Insurance Business.

What do you think of Koios? Let us know in the comments.