Insurers Must Reskill & Reshape Their Workforces to Seize Growth Opportunities from Artificial Intelligence, According to Res...
May 09 2018 - 7:59AM
Business Wire
Investing in human-machine collaboration could
boost insurance revenues 17 percent and employment 7 percent over
next five years
Insurers risk missing major growth opportunities unless CEOs
take immediate steps to redesign work, bring in new talent, and
pivot their existing workforces to work with artificial
intelligence (AI), according to new research by Accenture
(NYSE:ACN).
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Most insurers are committed to a future
in which AI plays a vital roll (Photo: Business Wire)
The report, Future Workforce Survey - Insurance: Realizing the
Full Value of AI, found that insurers that invest in AI and
human-machine collaboration at the same rate as top-performing
businesses could, over the next five years, boost their revenue 17
percent and their employment 7 percent, on average.
According to the report – based on two surveys, one of 100
senior insurance executives and another of more than 900
non-executive insurance workers – more must be done to train the
insurance workforce to collaborate effectively with AI. For
instance, the executives surveyed believe that only one in four of
their workers are ready to work with AI, and more than four in 10
(43 percent) cite a growing skills gap as the top factor
influencing their workforce strategy. Despite the clear need for
training, only 4 percent of insurers plan to significantly increase
their investment in reskilling programs in the next three
years.
“AI has the potential to boost innovation, growth and
efficiency, but insurers’ hesitance to properly reskill their
employees could limit its impact,” said Michael Costonis, who leads
Accenture’s Insurance practice globally. “To complicate matters,
despite having a business that is ripe to apply technology and
innovation, insurers aren’t in a good position to win the war on
technology talent. Executives need to think pragmatically about how
they can bring new talent in, redesign jobs and reskill existing
employees appropriately. Creating a more-flexible work environment
could be a key first step to attracting data scientists and other
outside talent.”
A majority (61 percent) of the executives surveyed expect that
the workforce of the future will be a blend of humans and machines.
Contrary to the popular belief that AI will reduce jobs, two-thirds
(67 percent) of insurance executives expect AI to result in a net
gain in jobs within their company in the next three years.
The report found that insurance workers are willing to embrace
AI in their day-to-day roles. Two-thirds (68 percent) believe it
will create opportunities in their work, while only 4 percent think
it will create more challenges. Almost three-quarters (73 percent)
believe it will make their jobs simpler, and more than two-thirds
(69 percent) believe it will enable a better work-life balance.
Reaching the Applied Intelligence Stage
The report notes that most insurers have yet to crack the code
about how best to apply AI and other intelligent technologies
within their organizations. Many are either still educating
themselves or experimenting with AI prototypes that could help
improve their efficiency or customer outcomes. Few have entered the
crucial stage, known as applied intelligence, which is the
implementation of technology and human ingenuity across all parts
of their core business in pursuit of new forms of growth.
According to the report, reaching the applied intelligence stage
requires dedicated leadership at the C-suite level and a
cross-enterprise strategy with long-term budgeting. To prepare the
insurance workforce for this stage executives must: reimagine work
to better understand how machines and people can collaborate; pivot
their employees to areas that create new forms of value; and teach
new skills that will enable employees to work effectively alongside
intelligent machines.
New Roles for the Insurance Workforce
The use of AI will reconfigure many existing jobs within
insurance, and the report identified three new categories of
AI-driven jobs likely to emerge: “trainers,” “explainers,” and
“sustainers.”
- Trainers will assist computers
as they learn – for example, to recognize faces or identify images
in photographs taken by drones – and play key roles in
underwriting, claims and customer engagement. They will work with
the systems to ensure that the algorithms accomplish their tasks in
the manner and with the outcomes required.
- Explainers will play a vital
communications role, interpreting the results of algorithms to
improve transparency and accountability for their decisions. If AI
rejects a customer’s insurance claim or offers a settlement,
insurance workers can help dispel the “black box” perception of AI,
helping to strengthen acceptance of AI among customers and
regulators.
- Sustainers will ensure that
machines stay true to their original goals without crossing ethical
lines, including drifting away from desired outcomes or reinforcing
bias. Insurers might need to hire ethics compliance managers to
ensure that an AI-powered claims assessment system does not
discriminate against certain categories of customer.
“As more insurers look to integrate AI within their
organizations, they should pursue a large-scale application in
which humans and AI work together across a variety of tasks,” said
Andrew Woolf, the Talent & Organization lead within Accenture’s
Financial Services practice. “The benefits — including faster
underwriting, quicker claims settlement and improved customer
service — could be extraordinary, helping insurers solve complex
challenges, break into new markets and generate new revenue
streams.”
The full report can be found here:
www.accenture.com/futureinsuranceworkforce
Methodology
Accenture combined quantitative and qualitative research
techniques to analyze the attitudes and readiness of workers and
business leaders with regards to collaborating with intelligent
technologies. The research program included a survey of 100 senior
insurance executives and a survey of 919 non-executive insurance
workers across skill levels, which were conducted between September
and November 2017 in 11 countries: Australia, Brazil, China,
France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.
The research also included economic modelling to determine the
correlation between AI investment and financial performance.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company,
providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy,
consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries
and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest
delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business
and technology to help clients improve their performance and create
sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately
442,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries,
Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and
lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
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AccentureMichael McGinn, +1
917-452-9458m.mcginn@accenture.com
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