HDFC ERGO General Insurance using AI in most areas of ops

HDFC ERGO General Insurance, which is transforming itself into an ‘AI-first company’, witnesses over 30% of customer service requests being handled by artificial intelligence (AI) at present. More than 50% of customers currently resort to the digital platform to avail of any service after purchasing a policy.

“We have a robust IT infrastructure and team, and we believe in building most of the solution in-house. Since we are highly digital in our processes, there is large dependence on technology, and therefore, we keep expanding our IT team and capabilities.

Currently, we are transforming ourselves in to an AI-first company with the clear objective of utilising AI in as many processes possible,” said Mehmood Mansoori, president – shared services and online business, HDFC ERGO General Insurance.

“We intend to build more capabilities and increase adoption. We realise that our customers from tier-2 and 3 cities may not be savvy in using the company’s website or the mobile app. But, they prefer to engage on WhatsApp. So, we have built AI-based chatbots to help them reach out to us and chat with us,” Mansoori told FE. The merger of HDFC ERGO Health Insurance (HEHI) with HDFC ERGO General Insurance was completed on November 13, 2020.

Leveraging the established position of HEHI in the health insurance space, HDFC ERGO’s health insurance premium – as a proportion to its total portfolio – is expected to increase to around 30-35% in the medium to long term, rating agency Crisil said in a note in January this year. “In terms of portfolio mix, crop, motor and health have remained the key focus areas. Based on gross direct premium written in the first half of fiscal 2021, crop accounted for 33.1%, followed by motor and health segments which formed 27.8% and 12.5%, respectively,” the rating agency said.

Mansoori said as consumers are coming online and buying insurance products on their own during Covid, HDFC ERGO has witnessed a steep increase in the website traffic and online sale of health insurance offerings, which have grown by 100% over the last year. “We are using AI at the moment, and a large number of our cases (cashless health claims) are getting approved in less than 15 minutes…”

HDFC ERGO’s gross premium underwritten for 2020-21 stood at Rs 12,295.10 crore, against Rs 9,629.59 crore in the year-ago period.

Source: Financial Express