HDFC ERGO to leverage AI for redefining customer experience

One of the key reasons for poor customer service is that business decision makers are out of touch with their customers, skipping their real pain and problems, finds a new study, the 2019 Global Customer Service Insights, conducted across the globe by research firm Savanta and commissioned by Pegasystems. The research, based a survey of 12,500 customers, businesses executives, and customer-facing employees, reveals that many businesses don’t even know their customers well enough to be able to provide the level of service required. Eighty-eight percent of customer-facing employees say that customer service is a priority within their business, but the customers tell a different story.

 

In the highly competitive but fast growing Indian general insurance market, being on the wrong side of the customer, is recipe for disaster. Companies are tapping new technologies to better customer experience. 

 

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, India's third largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, announced a collaboration to co-create new Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions on IBM Cloud, that aims to redefine customer experience. 

 

Leveraging IBM Garage, teams from HDFC ERGO and IBM Services will work together to develop and test new solutions. This will help in addressing customer queries better and ensure faster turnaround time. HDFC ERGO also expects to draw deeper customer insights.

 

"HDFC ERGO has taken significant strides in the areas of emerging technologies to lead with a focus on customer centricity. With IBM’s Garage, we are set to leapfrog this vision to newer heights using the cognitive power of IBM Watson." Mehmood Mansoori, Member of Executive Management & Group Head - Operations, IT, Marketing & Online Business, HDFC ERGO General Insurance.

 

IBM Garage is a tool for executing, scaling and managing an organization's multiple transformation initiatives with strategic purpose. It is designed to help companies develop agile capabilities and change the way work is done. The new environment will encourage employees to learn on the job, inspiring organizational change and buy-in.

 

As a part of the engagement, the IBM Garage team, comprises insurance industry experts, Design Thinkers, Data Scientists, Architects and others who will work closely with the HDFC ERGO team to identify data-driven, innovative ideas through short iterations on a continuous delivery schedule. The Garage methodology will help create rapid, scalable and cost-effective ways to develop, test, and deploy high-end automation solutions enabled through AI and analytics capabilities, delivered on IBM Cloud. The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) solution delivery, deployment and testing will involve seamless integration with HDFC ERGO's internal systems. Once the solution has met success criteria, new capabilities will be leveraged for other channels such as voice or chat.