Ushering in a new era: The impact of communications automation in the modern insurance contact center

According to a McKinsey report¹, over 30% of insurance customers in North America express dissatisfaction with the digital channels currently available. The stat reflects how critical customer experience (CX) has become in the insurance industry, prompting companies to reassess and upgrade their service-oriented systems.

This demand for improved digital channels highlights a significant shift in customer expectations, where seamless, sympathetic, omnichannel interactions are increasingly valued. Insurance firms recognize that outdated or inefficient digital platforms can negatively impact customer satisfaction and retention rates, impacting revenue.

In this outlook, communications automation in the contact center emerges as a pivotal strategy for insurance firms striving to meet heightened customer expectations. But what is automation in the insurance contact center and how is it taking CX and growth to new heights?

The basics of contact center automation

Automation in the contact center refers to the implementation of Communications Automation Platforms (CAPs) with Generative AI (GenAI), to perform tasks and execute processes traditionally handled by human agents. It encompasses a variety of functions such as customer interactions, data entry, and the handling of routine inquiries. The goal is to offer unique, personalized CX while increasing revenue and streamlining operations and productivity.

Contact center automation focuses on delivering self-service interactions. Through smart omnichannel solutions and AI agents, automated contact centers allow customers to find information, solve issues, and complete tasks on their own without direct assistance. The self-service options empower them to handle many of their own needs quickly and efficiently through Interactive Voice Response (IVR), SMS, AI agent systems, and self-service portals.

Any insurance contact center can leverage communications automation. The platform can be layered over the top of on-premises, cloud, or hybrid infrastructures, offering flexibility to ensure enhanced customer service operations without the need for ripping and replacing their current systems.

Implementing communications automation with GenAI in the insurance contact center has a transformational effect on aspects such as operational costs and efficiency, CX, and revenue by automating:

• Customer interactions
• Claims processing
• Personalized policy renewals and changes
• 24/7/365 customer support instantly available
• And more

In fact, after rolling out automation² in its contact center in 2022, one of IntelePeer’s insurance company customers managed to achieve a 60% self-service rate, automate over 40 million calls and 5,000 concurrent calls, increase call containment by 75%, and reduce on-premises to CCaaS migration efforts by 75%.

Generative AI, the game changer

Communications automation with GenAI offers personalized interactions and increases loyalty just like any Customer Engagement Platform (CEP). Through GenAI Natural Language Processing (NLP) is capable of offering customers unique, personalized exchanges through AI virtual agents just as if they were interacting with a human equivalent — communications automation with GenAI solutions are capable of identifying tone, context, and customer intent and sentiment to adapt their responses accordingly for effective query resolution and higher satisfaction.

After implementing communications automation with GenAI insurers can not only quickly respond to real-time queries using data but can also respond with a wide range of content. This includes text, images, audio, video, code, and more, all without relying on predefined templates. More importantly, these responses can occur across all communications channels —voice, chat, SMS, social media— for seamless and consistent interactions with customers.

GenAI is also able to scale operations during peak times, allowing the insurance contact center to exponentially increase customer interactions without the need to increase headcount, resulting in a reduction of up to 32% in call abandonment rates and a 53% increase in revenue³.

Elevate your communications strategy today

Implement contact center automation and adopt an omnichannel strategy to enhance customer interactions, alleviate staffing burdens, and drive higher profitability.

With IntelePeer, you can provide excellent CX and embrace the future of insurance customer journeys today. Unlock unparalleled efficiency and satisfaction in every interaction.

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1. McKinsey & Company ↩︎
2. Intelepeer ↩︎
3. “7 Ways Automation with Generative AI Transforms Contact Center CX” ↩︎