White Paper Applicatio of Artificial Itelligece i Isurace Customer Iteractios The strategic iitiatives ad busiess decisios of service providers cotiue to revolve aroud customer prefereces ad eeds. With both, a profoud icrease i the expectatios of customers ad ever evolvig techologies, customer iteractios have assumed added importace especially with respect to the automated exchage of iformatio i real time. Customers prefer to be i self-service mode with automated help immediately available whe problems arise. Huma help, however, remais the most desired fuctio wheever there are complex processes i play. A combiatio of automatio ad huma itelligece is the ideal compromise for both service providers ad customers. This is ow o the verge of beig realized with a ew virtual world of customer iteractios powered by artificial itelligece. This paper discusses how artificial itelligece powered virtual agets ca be leveraged to create deeper ad more egagig customer iteractios, ad throws some light o the evolutio of artificial itelligece ad its techology compoets. This paper also idetifies the busiess challeges i isurace customer service ad how a virtual aget solutio ca be leveraged to address those.
About the Authors Viaykumar Patri Viay Kumar Patri is a Lead Busiess Aalyst ad a Domai Parter with Tata Cosultacy Services (TCS) for various egagemets i the Life Isurace domai. With idustry experiece of 20 years i life isurace operatios, IT ad Cosultig, Viay has actively cotributed to iovatio ad creative proposals. He has authored a asset for which a patet has bee filed. Lakshmiarayaa B Lakshmiarayaa (Lakshmi) is a Property ad Casualty Idustry Pricipal with TCS ad leads the off-shore uit of the Isurace Domai Group (IDG) ad provides domai-led cosultig solutios. With a overall experiece of 25 years i idustry ad global cosultig spheres, Lakshmi brigs deep isights o a rage of domai subjects such as Product Developmet, Distributio, Policy Servicig, ad Claims Maagemet. Rei Parameshwara Rei is a solutio architect at TCS Iovatio Labs - Isurace, with a focus o creatig the ext geeratio iovative solutios i the isurace space. He has bee istrumetal i coceptualizig ad creatig various futuristic solutios at the lab. Rei has also led multiple architectural egagemets for some of the trasformatio programs for large isurace customers. 2
Table of Cotets 1. Customer Commuicatios: A Evolvig Paradigm 4 2. What is Virtual Assistat i the cotext? 4 Usage of Virtual Assistat 5 3. Commuicatio treds ad relevace of Artificial Itelligece i Isurace Fuctios 6 Scearios 7 Search Results 7 Product Specific Guidace 7 Virtual Assistace i fillig out forms 7 Virtual Tour with Guided Assistace 7 4. Techology behid Virtual Assistat 9 Dialog system 9 Natural Laguage Processig 9 Automatic learig 9 5. TCS Offerigs ad Capabilities 10 6. Coclusio 13 3
Customer Commuicatios: A Evolvig Paradigm Customer commuicatios i the busiess world have bee udergoig dyamic chages i respose to the expectatios of tech savvy customers. There has bee a icreasig demad from customers to have access to a self-service mode ad the, o a as-eeded basis, to iteract with a live aget or assistat who would provide persoalized service ad satisfactio. To achieve optimal levels of customer-experiece, isurers eed to achieve high levels of chael itegratio. However, the risig cost of hirig, traiig ad retaiig a customer care force is a challege isurers have to grapple with. A orgaizatio may fid it uteable to provide persoal assistace 24 hours a day. At the same time, however rich the IVR solutios may be, they are o substitute for a live aget who could facilitate a better trasactio processig experiece for the customer. This challege is drivig orgaizatios to cosider deployig techology as a complemet to huma resources. Techological advaces ow make it feasible to automate perceptio-based cogitive data that provides life-like iteractios, with itelligece gathered from past iteractios assisted by machie learig. A Virtual Assistat that operates with Artificial Itelligece delivers a combiatio of persoal touch i respose that is eabled by a system based search. May isurers have idetified that this is the directio i which the olie experiece is tredig. Recet strategic iitiatives of isurace compaies have bee focusig o chael-itegrated web strategies to ehace user experiece ad customer retetio. However the results ad retur o ivestmets realized have ot bee equal to the high origial expectatios. Olie iteractios ofte miss a compellig ad persuasive edge that closes a deal, eve whe the correct iformatio is delivered to customers. Olie trasactios ad iformatio sharig has bee assumig more ad more importace i the daily life of a customer; however more itelliget assistace with a huma face could provide tagible ad far reachig beefits. Virtual Agets or Virtual Assistats ca dramatically icrease user-egagemet i a applicatio. What is Virtual Assistat i The Cotext? Virtual Assistat is a virtual aget, who assists ad guides the users of a applicatio or a web site. Displayed as a aimated graphic, Virtual Assistat is a programmed iterface that quickly idetifies the iformatio users are lookig for. As the ame suggests, Virtual Assistat ca take ay form, which i this case is a computer-geerated huma model desiged to icrease customer cofidece i ad comfort with the solutio. Virtual Assistat is drive by artificial itelligece, ad provides automated olie customer service. This ca be viewed as a exteded form of a Iteractive Voice Respose System that more completely ecapsulates the capabilities of your etire system. The query from the user ca be i the form of text etered ito the system o a computer scree or a voice data capture. The voice is coverted ito text ad a search is iitiated o the World Wide Web i real time. The results of the search are collected, sequeced ad the closest or most suitable fidigs are idetified. Such text is agai coverted ito voice ad is spoke by the aimated Virtual Assistat. 4
Usage of Virtual Assistat The Virtual Assistat ca be projected as a iformative ad etertaiig model that carries itself with busiess value. User experiece is ehaced, as the virtual assistat proffers quality data. Followig features of a Virtual Assistat create a strikig differece ad value durig the customer iteractios: The Virtual Assistat reacts to a customer commet with additioal iformatio that supplemets the user commet Virtual Assistat ca get ito a cotiuous iteractive mode where it guides the user with a olie trasactio, at times a complex process, which the user hesitates to perform aloe. This istills cofidece i the users. Durig the iteractio, the Virtual Assistat ca fetch related iformatio about the subject of the coversatio i a pop up ad poit it out. This fuctioality is see i a few smart phoe applicatios such as Google search; however this is limited to a voice to text coversio ad ot a Virtual Assistat. Iovative Process Admiistratio LLC (US) provides fully automated employee self service erollmet ad related admiistratio for employers ad beefit admiistrators through Virtual Agets that offer multi-sesory, multi-ligual employee iteractio. Lake Health eables its patiets ad visitors to avigate to their destiatios quickly ad easily, through the medium of Virtual Assistat. Speechpathology.com helps pathologists to take cotiuig educatio by creatig traiig simulatios to iteract with Virtual Assistats that play a role of patiets. Similarly, studets of Mout Siai School of Medicie (US) iteract with itelliget Virtual Assistats who deliver life-like simulatios that provide a ew approach to teachig. Case Wester Uiversity A ew study called esmart -HD is beig used o computer kiosks where Virtual Assistats help idividuals improve commuicatio skills by achievig required levels of laguage fluecy. 5
Commuicatio Treds ad Relevace of Artificial Itelligece i Isurace Fuctios Customer commuicatios have bee udergoig trasformatio i the service sector, icludig the isurace busiess. The followig table idetifies the strategic shift of customer commuicatios i Life Isurace fuctios. Customer Based Commuicatios i Isurace Fuctios Customers today prefer self-help, ad are movig away from covetioal methods of commuicatio while still seekig assistace o complex processes such as policy servicig. As a logical sequece this has led to the evolutio of virtual assistace, leveragig the emergece of the latest mobile gadgets, tablets, ad itelliget web applicatios. A isurer s primary ivestmet cosideratios as a service provider are ow with respect to replacig huma iterface with humae automatio (24x7, 365 days) to: Optimize the deploymet of resources Make the operatios cost effective Improve the brad image Ehace customer experiece. 6
Scearios The Virtual Assistat ca be deployed i Isurace Idustry i the followig scearios. Welcome/Itroductio Aimated Virtual Assistat or video welcomes the user o a web scree. If the user opts, Virtual Assistat explais various optios that the user could utilize, by poitig out to the tabs ad hyperliks o the scree. Search Results The most closely matchig search results are listed i a pop up scree. The Virtual Assistat talks about the listed sites ad offers the user the optio to avigate to or ope up the sites. A live aget could emerge, eve takig the form of aother Virtual Assistat, if the search fails to provide adequate aswers. Product Specific Guidace The Virtual Assistat helps the user dowload iformatio o isurace product prospectuses, iformatio brochures, proposal forms, New Busiess applicatios, request forms ad more. The program asks a set of questios to uderstad the isurace eeds ad respods with a suitable product or persoalized graphics. By uderstadig the eeds of a cliet, the Virtual Assistat ca help a cosumer assess offerigs through relevat charts ad projectios. This type of persoalized assistace also reduces frustratio ad ca prevet prospective customers from abadoig website iquiries. Virtual Assistace i Fillig Out Forms The Virtual Assistat ca help fill the applicatio form or Cliet Iformatio Form with validatios ad suggestios. The filled out applicatio could the be uploaded for further processig. The assistat could read out highlighted iformatio or go through the etire documet. Virtual Tour with Guided Assistace The Virtual Aget welcomes the user ad briefs them o Virtual Locatios that the campaig is packaged with. The Virtual Aget leads the user from oe locatio to aother or poits out various optios available to tour. Durig the virtual tour the Virtual Assistat helps dowload material, helps i fillig up forms, ad helps i providig additioal routie iformatio. 7
Relevace of Virtual Assistat i Isurace Processes Relevace of Virtual Assistat i Isurace Services The presece of virtual assistace to the customers backed up with Artificial Itelligece ca be excitig as the complexity of iteractios icrease. The customer experiece is erichig ad the customer realizes the value add created for him i the processes ad trasactios which would otherwise feel complex. 8
Techology Eablig the Virtual Assistats A Virtual Assistat is powered by artificial itelligece providig automated olie assistace. This is achieved through a dialogue system providig specific expertise ad specialized iformatio to the users. Artificial Itelligece i its early stages cotaied algorithms that imitated the sequetial, step-by-step, reasoig that humas ofte assumed while solvig puzzles or makig logical deductios. At a later stage successful methods were developed to deal with ucertai ad icomplete iformatio, which ufortuately resulted i eormous computig ad memory requiremets. I order to overcome this, step-by-step deductio is replaced by a ituitive judgmet model similar to what humas adopt whe arrivig at coclusios based o complex scearios. This expert system is embedded i the Virtual Assistat. Dialog System The dialog system traslates the huma geerated iput ito a digital format. This is further processed, iterpreted ad searched before it returs data that is uderstood by the huma user. This makes the etire evet as atural ad user friedly as possible. Oe of the key techologies that support this ability is Natural Laguage Processig, ad Virtual Assistat cotais a cuttig-edge versio of this software. Natural Laguage Processig Natural Laguage Processig (NLP) is a form of huma-to-computer iteractio wherei the computer ca perform value-added tasks based o huma iteractio that formalizes the elemets of huma laguage, be it spoke or writte. NLP braches off from traditioal artificial itelligece with a ability to maipulate data ad produce huma-like resposes based o the specific set rules that are coded. The capability for higher levels of maipulatio ca be icreased with iput of more complex rules. This was ofte idetified as a limitatio, as resposes were iaccurate ad repetitive if the questios were beyod the limits of rule defiitio. Automatic Learig I order to mitigate this limitatio, automatic learig based o learig rules was used to make the resposes more accurate by supplyig more iput data. Hadwritte, rules-orieted systems ca be made more accurate oly by icreasig the complexity of the rules. Systems, however, become umaageable if the complexity crosses a limit o hadcrafted rules. Because of this realizatio, Natural Laguage Processig has shifted from covetioal direct had codig of large sets of rules to a machie-learig paradigm that uses geeral learig algorithms. Here automatic learig of rules through aalysis of large sets of documets, referred to as Corpora, is carried out. May classes of machie learig algorithms have bee applied to NLP tasks that idetify the word that is beig processed ad the words that are to the left ad right with a part of speech tags. This is a process of markig up the words i a text (corpus) as correspodig to a particular part of speech, based o both its defiitio, as well as its cotext for example, the relatioship with adjacet ad related words i a phrase, setece, or paragraph. 9
Otology Otology with referece to computer scieces refers to a set of cocepts withi a domai ad relatioships betwee cocepts. It reders shared vocabulary ad taxoomy that model a domai. Otology forms Certai Structural frameworks which are used i Artificial Itelligece. TCS Offerigs ad Capabilities TCS Iovatio labs - Isurace has developed a Virtual Assistat to meet the specific eeds of customer iteractios i the isurace idustry. The solutio ca easily be itegrated to ay website ad ca be easily cofigured to provide virtual assistace i umerous busiess scearios ivolvig customer touch poits. The solutio comprises of a avatar compoet, which lies i the presetatio layer, ad a core back ed compoet, which powers the avatar iteractio. The avatar frot ed compoet is a javascript plugi which ca be embedded to ay website. The framework for aimatio of the huma-like model resides i JavaScript, ad eables the Virtual Assistat to iteract ad move across the scree. A series of images are used to create cotiuous motio, sycig the huma model i to the fuctioal sceario. The framework also provides for chage i Virtual Assistat by the replacemet of the backgroud aimatio. The framework provides Applicatio Programmig Iterface (API) for itegratig with the web-page cotets. Web developers ca defie the trigger poits for avatar iteractio, like coditios whe the avatar has to be brought up (for istace, if the user activity is low ad if there is delay i clickig a lik etc) usig the API. It also provides additioal customizatio optios for positioig the character o a web-page, defiig size of the character etc. The javascript plugi has bee desiged talkig ito accout of the performace eeds of eve the heavy ad resource hugry web-sites. The javascript will load avatar module oly after all the resources required for the applicatio web-page has bee loaded. This will esure egligible impact to the loadig time ad performace of the web-sites. The back ed or server side compoet is the brai of the avatar. The server compoet is a J2EE based applicatio ad ca be deployed o ay J2EE compliat applicatio server o ay platform. The server side compoet eed ot reside o the same ifrastructure as that of the applicatio server of the website. This gives more deploymet provisios like off-premise deploymet o private or public cloud. The server side compoet comprises of the followig core modules: Avatar Actio Cotroller Natural Laguage Processor ad Iferece Egie. Rules Egie Text to Speech Egie Kowledge Repository Busiess Applicatio Itegratio Layer 10
Avatar Actio Cotroller The avatar actio cotroller module hadles the orchestratio of avatar iteractios based o the kowledge iferred ad commads from the rules egie. This layer also takes care of routig the request to appropriate modules like atural laguage processor or rules egie. There are two types of iteractios, which the cotroller will hadle User iteractios iside the webpage, based o the click stream/ page views User iput/ query i plai atural laguage. I case the solutio seses pre-defied patters of iteractios, the actio cotroller passes o the iformatio to rules egie to get details o the scearios to be played. A typical sceario will iclude the speech/ dialogue to the spoke, the behavioral actios/ gestures to be performed, ad the web page iteractios to be performed by avatar. If the user query is i atural laguage, the avatar actio cotroller will pass o the request to atural laguage processor, which does the liguistic uderstadig, ad subsequetly a iferece egie will idetify the kowledge elemets i the query. Oce the kowledge elemets are idetified, the cotrol will be passed to rules egie to idetify the trasactios to be trigged like i the latter case. Natural Laguage Processor ad Iferece Egie This module iterprets ad evaluates user iput ad respods appropriately. This uses Sematic Web based otology to aid i the retrieval of relevat data ad cocepts from the applicatio. The applicatio carries out a coversatio with the user i order to idetify the user s requiremets ad accomplish the requested tasks. The mai advatage of such a system is that the user is free to eter ay iformatio i a raw form, ad it is the processed to preset the desired respose. The approach is based o a explicit domai otology that is described usig Sematic Web techology, amely Resource Descriptio Framework, a framework to describe the applicatio iformatio i subject-predicate-object format, ad OWL (Web Otology Laguage). The otology describes the mai cocepts of the domai ad their iterrelatioships with a structure for each of the cocepts. Sematic Web techology allows seamless itegratio of differet resource defiitios that sematically mea the same thig. This permits easier itegratio of domai kowledge, which i tur makes the atural laguage system more robust i aswerig queries posed by the user, thus eablig a more huma like iteractios. Rules Egie The rules egie stores the busiess rules of Virtual Assistat that address its behavior. The iteractio of avatar i a web page depeds o the cofiguratio of rules. The rules are coverted to avatar actio commads by the avatar actio cotroller. Rules ca be cofigured to provide trasactioal assistace i complex processes. The rules ca be simple oes like validatio of user iputs o a webpage or complex oes like trasactioal assistace with avigatio path. 11
Text To Speech Egie The Text To Speech egie is primarily resposible for makig the Virtual Assistat talk to the user. The egie receives the query respose (i text form) from the iferece egie as the iput. The egie the coverts the text to speech ad provides output i the form of a speech file. Kowledge Repository The kowledge repository stores the iteractio rules, busiess rules ad the trasactioal scearios that will be leveraged by the afore-metioed modules. Busiess Applicatio Itegratio This module eables the solutio framework to coect to eterprise applicatios ad retrieve relevat data. Oe example use case of applicability of this module is retrieval of pedig loa amout or accout balace from core systems. This layer supports retrieval of data from core eterprise applicatios via webservices or via direct database queries. Admiistratio/ Cofiguratio The solutio provides a admiistratio portal where-by busiess users ca cofigure the behavioral ad iteractio rules of avatar ad defie the trasactioal assistace scearios for complex processes. Security ad Performace Numerous security aspects too have bee take ito accout. The server ca be coected via API oly usig a ecrypted key (api key) which will be uique to each website. Websites will have to sed the api key alog with ay HTTP request. The server will regeerate the api key dyamically with the website domai address ad other uique parameters for the web site ad will cross-check with the key which has bee submitted by the website. The keys are geerated usig strog oe-way hash fuctios. Additioally the javascript modules are ecoded ad optimized for security ad for better performace. Sice the iterface betwee the avatar frot ed ad the back ed server is chatty, steps have bee take to reduce the badwidth cosumptio. The audio, which is beig trasmitted over the etwork, is ecoded ad compressed. The size of audio file has bee made miimal (i rage of 10-25 KB). This gives a big boost to the performace of avatar frot ed ad the avatar-user iteractio is made seamless. TCS s Isurace Otology A uique library of isurace specific Otology from TCS eables a easy implemetatio of Virtual Assistat to ay isurace process or product specific guidace. Framework of attributes ad relatioships betwee the terms ad key words ivolved i a process or cocept facilitates the cofigurig of the user iteractio with Virtual Assistat. This Web Otology Laguage that comes with a basic start up could be further ehaced easily to suit ad tailor ay specific process. 12
Coclusio Virtual Assistats powered by artificial itelligece are a cocept that has bee evolvig for a log time. However, solutios icorporatig a Virtual Assistat have ow matured to the poit where they ca be a key part of platforms desiged to meet the ever-growig demads ad requiremets of the customer. With its combiatio of wideig techologies, huge fuctioal scope ad cost efficiecies, the Virtual Assistat brigs both immediate ad future earigs potetial ad busiess opportuities. With the capability to reduce or supplat huma assistace i customer service, Virtual Assistat esures that you ca reduce your reliace o high cost service chaels ad guide customers to the iformatio they require faster tha ever before. Virtual Assistat will cotiue to evolve from guidace to persoal assistace across a variety of fuctioal areas, ad the adaptio of these techologies sooer rather tha later will secure your orgaizatio s cotiued relevace ad success i this demadig area of customer relatios. Refereces [1] Isurace Iformatio Istitute at http://www.iii.org/ [2] Cotrollig Claims Leakage through Techology author David Tweedy Albert Risk Maagemet Cosultats [3] 5 Ways To Use Defese Cousel To Lower Claims Expeses Ad Get Better Results By James Pattillo Jauary 5, 2011 [4] Litigatio Maagemet Programs Zurich Fiacial Services [5] Claims Maagemet Whitepaper source http://bbicltd.co.uk/doc/ [6] Time to Get Creative Reducig Claim Costs without Sacrificig Quality By Suzae Gaier [7] Workers Compesatio Claims ad Litigatio Maagemet Posted by Rebecca A. Shafer 13
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