Could a robot do your job and do it better? And if so, would you admit it to your boss? Aviva has recently said it will ask its 16,000 staff that question, and the ones who acknowledge that they could be replaced by a machine will be retrained for another role at the firm, reported the Daily Mail.
The growing sophistication of robots has preoccupied company bosses across the world looking to cut costs and boost efficiency, and robots have already replaced thousands of industrial jobs. Aviva is probably one of the first insurance companies, and companies in the world at that to pose this question directly to its staff. While call centre staff, those who assess customers’ credit ratings and price insurance are most likely to be affected in the first instance, experts have warned that entire professions dominated by middle-class workers—such as accountancy—could be pushed to extinction as developments in computers make their roles redundant.
Robotics and artificial intelligence affect jobs
According to a recent Harvey Nash HR survey cited in Human Resources Online, 15% of HR leaders are already feeling the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation on their workforce plans, while a further 40% believe this will happen within the next two to five years.
Asia’s economies are set to benefit significantly from the rise of AI in terms of competitiveness, but many (70.8%) believe the adoption of AI and robotics will result in substantial job losses in Asia over the next five years – especially in the financial sector, the MIT Technology Review recently found.
Insurance claims staff replaced by AI
Proving that the risk of being replaced by a computer is real were 34 insurance claim workers at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance. In March, they lost their jobs to AI in the form of the IBM Watson Explorer, which the company now uses to provide insight into insurance claims submitted to the company.
In the case of Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance, the AI will be used to provide insight into insurance claims submitted to the company. It will scan documents and automatically recognise and extract pertinent information such as hospital admission date, surgery date, injuries or illnesses, and more.
But ultimately, the final decision on the claim will still be made by human employees, who will use the information provided by Watson Explorer to come to a conclusion. However, by automising part of the data collection process the company expects to reduce the burden on its employees by about 30%, leading to the expected reduction in staff numbers.
An automated insurance agent?
The agency force is set to be affected too. Chatbots, computer software programmes are already being used by many insurers worldwide, with consumers often not realising they are talking to an automated programme. Recently Facebook announced that it was opening its messenger platform to chatbots, which further pushes the envelope for automating the role of agents.
Aviva, though not relying on agents to sell its products in Asia, has taken a pre-emptive step to prepare its staff for disruption by robots. For the last couple of decades the end of intermediaries has been discussed ad nauseam. Yet intermediaries like agents and brokers are still here today and the human and face-to-face factor continues to be necessary in a wide host of discretionary functions—Facebook learned this the hard way last year when it replaced its trending editorial team with bots, only for them to post fake news.
We can’t wait to know how the results of Aviva’s staff survey will be…can you? And if your employer asks you the same questions, how would you respond?