Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Kyobo implements 'AI-based' underwriting system
Kyobo Life Chief Operating Officer Yun Your-hyun, left, holds the Technology Initiative of the Year award at the 23rd Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2019 in Singapore Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of Kyobo Life
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
Kyobo Life Insurance said Wednesday that its artificial intelligence-based underwriting system Best Analysis and Rapid Outcome (BARO) is in full operation, providing real-time services to sales consultants and customers.
Combined with the firm's underwriting manual, BAROfacilitates the online underwriting process via instant communication with sales consultants and underwriters whose role has now become more focused on assessment of higher-risk, higher-stakes insurance contracts.
“BARO is designed not only to have the same rational thought process like human beings but also process word-specific inquiries,” a Kyobo official said. “This helps sales consultants save time in reviewing insurance subscription requests.”
The system can deny or approve subscription requests following an eligibility review based on screening criteria such as pre-existing conditions or medical history, among many other terms and conditions.
If the request can be approved depending on certain conditions, it offers five possible options with frequently used keywords to help sales consultants take the next step.
Distinguished by machine-learning technology that can process text used in a way that does not fit normal speaking patterns, BARO's most distinctive feature is its natural language processing, with the application of computational techniques to the analysis and synthesis of natural language and speech.
Previous similar underwriting systems implemented by some foreign insurers were mostly rule-based, which had clear limitations in processing requests involving complicated products.
“Earlier ones were unable to produce results that fell outside the pattern governed by a pre-set rule,” the Kyobo official said. “BARO, on the other hand, is a self-learning, accuracy-improving system that can process highly complicated requests with special terms and conditions applied.”
The system is expected to enhance the work efficiency of sales consultants and customer satisfaction while helping advance the firm's initiative to lead a digital transformation.
The Kyobo-developed technology won the Technology Initiative of the Year title at the 23rd Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2019 on Tuesday, held on the sidelines of the 16th Singapore International Reinsurance Conference.
Kyobo was among 17 global insurance companies commended for remarkable development in the industry.
Baro means both promptly and doing something right in Korean.