WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.150 --> 00:00:05.230 Insurance companies are operating under tougher 2 00:00:05.230 --> 00:00:06.870 than ever conditions. 3 00:00:06.870 --> 00:00:09.630 To stay competitive, they have to gain cost saving 4 00:00:09.630 --> 00:00:13.550 efficiencies in their operations, and free up talent 5 00:00:13.550 --> 00:00:16.810 to create new offerings that drive growth. 6 00:00:16.810 --> 00:00:20.350 Process automation can help them meet both imperatives. 7 00:00:20.350 --> 00:00:24.420 But for many insurers, automation projects take too long, 8 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:28.718 cost too much, and don't deliver the hoped for value. 9 00:00:28.718 --> 00:00:31.659 Generali Italia, a leading insurance provider, 10 00:00:31.659 --> 00:00:33.075 beat these odds, 11 00:00:33.075 --> 00:00:35.282 and achieved impressive results. 12 00:00:35.282 --> 00:00:36.370 How? 13 00:00:36.370 --> 00:00:38.970 It took a smart approach to process automation 14 00:00:38.970 --> 00:00:43.253 by combining people, technology, and process redesign in 15 00:00:43.253 --> 00:00:46.228 ways that brought out the best of each. 16 00:00:46.228 --> 00:00:51.150 We launched our smart automation program back in 2018. 17 00:00:51.150 --> 00:00:53.770 That was in the context of our strategy. 18 00:00:53.770 --> 00:00:57.270 We actually have the mission to become the lifetime partner 19 00:00:57.270 --> 00:01:00.470 of our customers and our distributors. 20 00:01:00.470 --> 00:01:05.010 And we recognized that automation was one of the key levers 21 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:08.130 for some of the objectives that we have, including 22 00:01:08.130 --> 00:01:11.360 improving service level in a radical way, 23 00:01:11.360 --> 00:01:14.120 and also freeing up time of our resources 24 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:17.800 to support the delivery of new services and in general 25 00:01:17.800 --> 00:01:21.210 to focus on more value adding activities. 26 00:01:21.210 --> 00:01:23.070 What I believe was unique about this project 27 00:01:23.070 --> 00:01:25.750 was the capability building dimension. 28 00:01:25.750 --> 00:01:27.400 We assembled a central team 29 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:29.300 with all the necessary capabilities 30 00:01:29.300 --> 00:01:32.990 in terms of business knowledge, processes, 31 00:01:32.990 --> 00:01:36.180 data scientist, and technology. 32 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:39.220 And this team was supported by all the key stakeholders 33 00:01:39.220 --> 00:01:40.520 in the organization. 34 00:01:40.520 --> 00:01:43.900 In addition to that, it was created a center of excellence 35 00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:46.525 to accumulate the knowledge and the experience and then 36 00:01:46.525 --> 00:01:49.600 redeploy it to other dimensions of the organization 37 00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:50.900 after the project. 38 00:01:50.900 --> 00:01:55.070 And also the project management office supported 39 00:01:55.070 --> 00:01:57.800 the execution of all the planned activities. 40 00:01:57.800 --> 00:02:00.610 We took a smart approach to select 41 00:02:00.610 --> 00:02:03.120 the processes that we wanted to automate. 42 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:05.800 On one end was the impact to customers, 43 00:02:05.800 --> 00:02:07.990 and the other the feasibility. 44 00:02:07.990 --> 00:02:12.030 We selected more than 40 processes, potentially 45 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:15.840 for automation, from claims handling in health, 46 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:20.810 to document management in P&C, to call center operations. 47 00:02:20.810 --> 00:02:24.520 At the end of the month two, we had two pilots in production 48 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:27.707 and the impact was very impressive. 49 00:02:27.707 --> 00:02:31.090 I believe the most important step here was to understand 50 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:35.050 that automation is not just technology, it's much much more. 51 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:36.650 Automation is pulling together 52 00:02:36.650 --> 00:02:39.310 a set of ingredients beyond technology. 53 00:02:39.310 --> 00:02:43.000 For example, is understanding of the business requirements 54 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.210 is mapping of the business process. 55 00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:47.480 Is understanding which are the constraints 56 00:02:47.480 --> 00:02:48.880 in the data privacy. 57 00:02:48.880 --> 00:02:51.440 Is understanding how people feel the process, 58 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:53.422 and use the process. 59 00:02:53.422 --> 00:02:57.190 Generally, what we have done was to select a subset 60 00:02:57.190 --> 00:03:00.793 of processes, look into them, redesign the process 61 00:03:00.793 --> 00:03:02.390 to a target state. 62 00:03:02.390 --> 00:03:05.120 And only when the target state was very clear, 63 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:08.430 we eventually applied technology in order to get there. 64 00:03:08.430 --> 00:03:10.250 And on top of that, we applied technology 65 00:03:10.250 --> 00:03:12.880 only when strictly necessary. 66 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:16.570 After one year, we have more than ten processes 67 00:03:16.570 --> 00:03:18.560 automated in production. 68 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:21.130 We are talking about processes, which are core 69 00:03:21.130 --> 00:03:25.290 to the company with very high volumes, like for example, 70 00:03:25.290 --> 00:03:28.850 the health claims handling which is running more than 71 00:03:28.850 --> 00:03:31.710 200,000 transactions per year. 72 00:03:31.710 --> 00:03:34.770 And in those processes, we have achieved significant 73 00:03:34.770 --> 00:03:37.510 improvement both in terms of service level and 74 00:03:37.510 --> 00:03:42.320 cases turnaround times have moved from seven days to one, 75 00:03:42.320 --> 00:03:46.403 and in terms of efficiencies that we have gained.