There is a LOT of buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) and the demand from every industry to adopt it. It is fair to assume that most executives embrace technology and its advancements assuming a strong and justifiable return on investment.
For those still on the fence about AI or yet to truly understand the impacts of AI, think of it like this: introducing AI into business is about automating, augmenting and accelerating mental power, decision-making, and task-based cognitive work. It’s about enhancing your workforce and the value you deliver for your customers.
Of course, demand for machine learning and AI depends on the market landscape, customer need, and economic benefit of AI, as published by McKinsey&Company (see Table 1).
Table 1: The adoption of AI by industry is expected to be driven by market size, addressable pain points (i.e. AI use cases), and a willingness to pay, based on the economic impact of AI.
Let’s dig deeper into the Healthcare, Insurance and Financial Services sectors; industries for which we at Cantina have seen an increasing demand for AI solutions.
Why this matters for Healthcare.
The role that AI can play in healthcare is significant. Using data captured by health practitioners and smart devices and wearables, we now have AI platforms that can collect and analyze large amounts of data to help doctors diagnose and treat disease. This data and deep learning is leading to faster and more accurate diagnoses, and better treatment outcomes. The impact is lower healthcare costs, improved patient health, and better decision-making by healthcare providers.
AI solutions are also empowering doctors in smaller practices and remote areas to offer the same level of care and service as those in larger practices, thus affording smaller communities with better healthcare and patient outcomes.
Further, AI solutions are personalizing healthcare and enabling precision medicine. Take IBM’s Watson as an example. Watson is being deployed to develop better and more targeted treatment plans for cancer patients, through their business unit, IBM’s Watson Health, which provides personalized, evidence-based cancer care to each patient, by rapidly synthesizing and analyzing millions of data points to deliver the right treatment at the right time for each patient.
Why this matters for Insurance.
AI has already has begun to revolutionize the way insurance companies acquire information and deliver value to their customers. The insurance industry provides solutions based on data collected from their customers. AI applied to this data and the customer journey allows insurance companies to offer more personalized coverage, and products and services to their customers.
From a business perspective, AI can also help insurance companies to detect discrepancies or inaccuracies in the data. Fraudulent claims cost the industry more than $40 billion a year. Unlike humans, AI algorithms can quickly sift through massive amounts of data to identify abnormal patterns which recognize when something is fraudulent. This can save the industry billions of dollars each year and free-up valuable resources and time for insurance companies to better serve their customers.
With an increased capacity - through AI - for insurance companies to capture, analyze and provide coverage, comes the ability to offer faster claims. This leads to a better customer experience, which in turn leads to increased customer satisfaction and better ratings.
Why this matters for Financial services.
Financial services is one of the leading sectors in the adoption of AI. Findings from McKinsey&Company also show that the financial services sector is forecasted to be at the top of the food chain in terms of AI spend over the next 3 years (see Figure 1).
As with insurance, financial services firms are using AI solutions for fraud detection. AI offers the ability to process enormous amounts of data and pick up discrepancies that humans may take months to find, if ever. AI, with its advanced analytics and deep learning, can detect abnormalities in seconds.
Emerging technologies like AI-driven chatbots can also enhance the customer experience by quickly collecting, distilling, and presenting financial information in ways that have not previously been possible. An example of this is Sarah, an intelligent chatbot concepted by our team to help financial advisors deliver a more personalized service to their customers. Through voice recognition technology, financial advisors can request information from Sarah. Sarah then presents the required information along with targeted recommendations and offers for other potential services. This kind of personalized assistance can help financial advisors quickly access up-to-date information enabling them to tailor each and every customer interaction. Such technologies can augment and accelerate the ability of financial advisors to deliver value to their customers.
Conclusion:
AI is forecasted to impact every major industry sector. If you are seeking to be a market leader versus a market laggard, then there should be no “if” when it comes to your AI strategy and the adoption of AI. If you haven’t already begun to think about this, then you are probably behind. If you do not know where to begin, you are not alone, and we can help.
Whether you are just beginning to evaluate AI or you are a market leader or you are somewhere in between, we’d love to help. Get in touch and we can discuss how we can help your organization leverage the power of AI and a wide range of other smart tech solutions that will help you deliver value for your customers, team and shareholders.
