COVID-19 pandemic has brought forth a huge set of challenges in front of all business sectors. But with the implementation of advanced technologies and top-notch strategies, businesses found effective ways to overcome the obstacles and stand out. Well, the Indian Insurtechs are no exceptions to it.

India's insurance companies have redefined the sector's growth, especially during the pandemic, by adopting progressive technologies. To comply with COVID-19 safety guidelines and deal with the challenges of social distancing, maintenance of lockdown, etc., Indian Insurtechs have incorporated digital contactless solutions.

A must-mention fact is that Indian Insurtechs managed to mark their optimal growth during this pandemic despite innumerable challenges. The current pandemic propelled 9% of fiscal growth in the insurance industry. In March 2021, health insurance companies of non-life insurance sectors marked a significant growth of 41%. So, here is how the Insurtechs of India has managed this growth.

1. Incorporation of chatbots

   The pandemic initially created a huge challenge in customer interactions. As per COVID-19 protocols, visiting the physical offices of insurance companies for minute reasons is not allowed. These restrictions reiterate the concern of the government regarding COVID-19 transmission.

   But for insurance companies, customer interaction is a crucial area. Thanks to digitisation! Insurtechs in India successfully made a digital shift to chatbots to serve users' requests through smartphone apps. Facilitating auto-generated answers to FAQs through chatbots makes it easier for policyholders to access vital information related to their policies quickly.

   Thus, with the adoption of AI-enabled chatbots, Insurtechs are bridging gaps and delivering more personalised services to consumers. As per reports, SME-based chatbots have been utilised in 4000 use cases in the insurance industry.

2. Use of AI and Machine Learning in claim processing

   This pandemic has made more people avail of new health and COVID insurance policies. Also, the deteriorating healthcare scenario of the country has made many consumers opt for insurance claims. Hence, the workload on insurance companies has grown drastically. Additionally, due to the restrictions on working hours because of repeated lockdown in the country, it is tough to get manual workforce that can speed up all claim-related tasks.

   However, the insurance sector is getting enriched with advanced technological incorporations. Thus, addressing such problems has become easier. With AI and Machine Learning, claim processing tasks can be automated, improving speed and accuracy.

   AI and ML algorithms can easily access digital insurance files of each policyholder uploaded on the Cloud, verify their policy and claim details, check for fraud claims, and, based on the analysis, process the payments of respective claims. Thus, it minimises errors due to manual interference and reduces downtime and expense.

3. Improvisation with drones

   Drone services are not only limited to site inspection or eCommerce delivery tasks. It is now also leveraging the insurance sector. How? Insurtechs of India is planning to use unmanned drones as efficient tools for improvisation in farmers' insurance.

   These UAV devices will be used for collecting sufficient data for risk evaluation before issuing a farmer’s insurance policy. At the same time, it can aid in efficient preventive maintenance. Also, drones can be used to assess the damage or production loss caused due to disasters in fields.

   Thus, the utilisation of drones has eliminated insurers' hurdle to make physical visits to farms, especially during this pandemic situation, where mobility across a large area is highly restricted. Also, drones are expected to give the future of farmers' insurance a bright prospect and ease out their claim settlements with high accuracy and pace.

4. Implementation of telematics

   Telematics is another unique digitised method to fuel growth in the insurance industry, particularly during this pandemic. Due to lockdown imposition, it is pretty difficult to manually visit and inspect every safety feature of a vehicle before insuring its auto policy. Thus, to do away with this issue, Indian Insurtechs aims to leverage motor insurance policies with telematics while offering an enhanced end-user experience.

   To mark the growth of digitisation in vehicle insurance, cars will now be equipped with monitoring devices to measure the risk factors related to driving it. Parameters like distance traversed, location, speed and frequency of driving the car, and all other driving habits of the driver will be assessed automatically through telematics. And based on the data obtained, your car insurance's policy premium will be decided.

   A safe driver would have to pay a lesser premium, while a rash driver would need to pay higher premiums, as the latter has higher chances of facing accidents and opting for a claim. Thus, using telematics, Insurtechs would be able to offer superb personalised experiences to consumers.

Final Thought

Though the pandemic has created a huge drawback in the global insurance market, its impact has made Insurtechs of India undergo massive digital transformation and witness a significant gain with better market penetration. The inclusion of new-age technologies and the implementation of tech-based improvements to policy administration, claim processing, and customer dealing has seen higher growth.