Reimagining Insurance: Co-Creating the Future with Strategic Design

Welcome to NTD data insurance thought leadership podcast business transformation and technology conversations that matter today will be exploring the transformative journey of digitizing and streamlining the customer's experience. Let's get started. One of our key solutions is deter employee and a powered agent jointly developed by NTD data and IBM built on IBM WaterSonic's OCE Strait. It's realized in its ability to orchestrate multiple internal systems such as CRM, police or the administration, clean systems, generative AI and communication tools using natural language commands. For example, OCE's representative could simply say extract the customer list, prepare the next proposal and emit it out. Detain employee then excuse the entire workflow and to learn from past instruction and conversation history to continuously improve the process. This makes customer interactions faster and more accurate. It also reduces reliance on specific individuals expertise and creates a more standardized and accessible working environment for our employees. NTD data group has introduced the concept of smart AI agents under this concept agents autonomously handle tasks and workflows. They are designed to support and in some cases replace complex business processes. The digital employee is a direct realization of this vision. It's impressive how digital employee goes beyond simple understanding natural language which this day is almost expected from AI. What really stand out is its ability to interpret context and anticipate what's needed next and deliver thoughtful solutions even for complex and evolving tasks. That's what makes it feel like just another tool and more like reliable coverage you can trust in your daily work. Hello everyone and welcome to NTD data's insurance industry podcast. In this program we bring you insights into industrial trends through conversations with reading experts and innovators. Today's theme is re-imagine the future of insurance. How NTD data's strategic design section is shaping what can's next. Within NTD data's insurance IT services division, the strategic design section works on some of the industry's toughest challenges helping shape the vision and implementation of the data. Today we are delighted to welcome Gio and Rhee together we'll explore the future envisioned by the strategic design section and take a closer look at one of its key solutions digital employee. Recent thank you very much for joining us. Thank you very much for having me truly an honor to be here today as a member of the strategy design section. After working as a system engineer at the insurance company, I joined NTD data and have since been involved in consulting for the insurance sector. Through today's conversation, I hope to share the background and concrete initiatives behind our work and offer some insights that can help everyone think about the future of insurance. Thank you to start to tutor us a bit more about the strategic design section. What was background behind its establishment? The strategy design section was established to strengthen the data's consulting capabilities through a four-side driven approach lined with our meet management strategy. I first had driven consulting, we mean first, envisioning an idea of future state and then working back war to identify what companies need to do to reach that future. As our trust state partner to insurance companies, our mission is to co-create the future of the insurance industry. We support clients not only in designing strategies, but also in developing systems and implementing organizational operational transformations to bring those strategies to life. Very interesting. Thank you for sharing that. Could you also tell us what are the co-apprinse parts or themes that guide your activities? Our work is guided by three key principles, first from vision to execution. We don't stop at drawing the future. We stay with our clients through implementation. Second, customer-centric perspective. We focus on creating value from the viewpoint of policy holders, not just from systems or operations. The third principle is all about our journey that moves from experiencing to emphasizing and then to co-creation. We build shared experiences, develop empathy and use that as the foundation for collaborative innovation. This on these principles we support initiatives such as business transformation, talent development and US enhancement. We are always working closely with our clients to explore and design new forms of insurance services. And we are also developing future operating models for the insurance industry, looking five to ten years ahead. These models anticipate changes in customer values and lifestyles. And they were proposed strategies for short term, medium and long term transformation. By combining entity data technology expertise, we are foresighted into future trends. We aim to create regions that only we can deliver. Ultimately, our goal is to help insurers achieve sustainable growth, while providing more meaningful experiences for policy holders. Thank you for that overview. To better understand the future you are aiming for, could you share how you see the current challenges facing Japan's insurance industry? Of course, recent years Japan's insurance industry has been going through major changes, digital transformation, adoption, or authority. At the same time, expectation for better and more seamless customer experiences are rising. Among those border trends, we are particularly focused on two structure challenges that we believe bear have a long-term impact. The first is a shift in what society expects from insurance companies. This is influenced not only by technology, but also by demographic and social changes, such as age in population, degree in anniversary, advances in medical technology. In the past, insurance companies were seemingly as providers of coverage and compensation when something happened. But nowadays, they are increasingly expected to act as partners and support people's everyday health and verbi. And this shift is really pushing the need for high-value services powered by digital technology. At the same time, customer values are really evolving toward a verbi, my set, focusing on things like prevention, support, and efficacy. That means, insurance need to respond by offering new forms of value, such as personalized service, continuous health support, and even services beyond traditional insurance, like healthcare and caregiving. And to do that, it's not just about updating products, it requires of fundamentally design and business models. The second major challenge is productivity. Because of demographic changes, the workforce is shrinking, which makes it harder to find and keep talent. At the same time, operational workload was continued to increase. Insurance operations seems like there is a policy administration, cleanse processing, and customer inquires are really complex. And they are often inefficient, because systems are silent, and there is too much dependence on individual expertise. In other words, as fewer people have to handle multiple tasks, it becomes a major challenge to standardize things and transform knowledge smoothly. So, this really highlights the need to fundamentally rethink how we run operations if we want to achieve sustainable productivity improvements. Thank you for ad-wining those challenges in Japan. Now, could you share your vision for the future? How these challenges will be addressed? And what your team is aiming to achieve? And our team's vision for the future is built onto pillars. value from the customer perspective and transforming business operations. We take a holistic view of insurance services, breaking down challenges from multiple angles, exploring the most effective solutions. Today, I'd like to share a few examples of what we are working on. As I mentioned earlier, expectations for insurers are shifting from simply providing coverage and compensation to offering services that support health and value. In response, we are designing a future where insurance services are personalized based on individual behaviors and values. This vision looks 5 to 10 years ahead, anticipating changes in life stars and preferences. Rather than just offering standardized products, insurers work with tailored experiences that really fit each customer's context, preferences, and their routines, what makes them feel secure and healthy today. Of course, to make all of that possible on advanced technologies like AI, they are played a critical role. The second area we are really focusing on is operational efficiency, particularly in the face of workforce shortage. Now, our vision here is to fundamentally transform insurance operations through technology, so that human employees can concentrate on high-value tasks that only people can do. Solving these basic problems is necessary to create insurance experiences that really focus on people's lives. Across the industry, complex work flows and highly individualized manual responses continue to hinder operational efficiency. Serious representatives, for instance, spend a considerable amount of time on the industry tasks such as identifying customer segments, scheduling appointments, and preparing proposals or materials. And that means less time to focus on the high-value human-centered work that only people can perform. One of our key solutions is to determine employee AI-powered agent jointly developed by entity data and IBM. Built on IBM, what does it as orchestrated? It's serialized in its ability to orchestrate multiple internal systems such as CRM, police, auto-ministration, clean systems, generative AI, and communication tours using natural language commands. For example, authors representative courts simply say extract the customer list, prepare the next proposal, and emirate out. Detain employee then excuse the entire workflow and to end, learning from past instruction and conversation history to continuously improve the process. It also reduces reliance on specific individuals' expertise and creates a more standardized and accessible working environment for our employees. Entity data group has introduced the concept of smart AI agents. Under this concept, agents autonomously hinder tasks and workflows. It's impressive how digital employee goes beyond simple understanding natural language, which these days is almost expected from AI. What to really stand out is its ability to interpret context, anticipate what's needed next, and deliver thoughtful solutions even for complex and evolving tasks. Exactly. Digital employee is not just about efficiency. It represents a new way of working where human AI collaborate. By automating complex processes, ensures can free up human resources to focus on high value work. As a result, response speed and accuracy improve significantly. What's more, insurance becomes something that supports customers not only at the time of contract, but in their everyday lives. Now, what we are aiming for is to combine technology driven efficiency with human-centered work-star innovation. By doing this, we can improve operational quality for insurers, who are at the same time increasing convenience and trust for police holders. Thank you. We now have a career picture of your vision for the future. Could you share some initiatives that you are already underway to make this vision a reality? Certainly. I'd like to introduce two initiatives that align closely with what we're with this past today. The first is personalized insurance services using variable devices, and the second is proof of concept for business support using digital employee. Starting with the variable initiative, this project uses biometric and behavioral data collected from devices such as an Apple Watch. This includes data like hardware, step count, sleep duration, blood oxygen levels, and GPS-based movement history. We analyzed this data using AI to detect changes in a policy holder's lifestyle or health condition. Of course, this requires obtaining consent from policy holders after providing clear explanation and making sure that data is handled as an storeroid. So the idea is to detect changes from everyday data. That's fascinating. What kind of experiences that this enable? That's a great question. We are based on detected changes in which can proactively notify customers about policy reviews or new proposals. Here's an example. If sleep data shows a change in health condition, the system could recommend adjusting coverage or premiums. It might also suggest medical check-ups as forms of loss prevention. If step count or location data indicates low physical activity, insurance could offer health improvement programs to prevent lifestyle-related disease. In addition, if location data suggests a hospital visit, the system could guide customers through potential claims. They may be eligible for. Vis and easy smartphone interface customers can update or change their policy anytime. This approach transforms insurance from something experienced at contract time into a source of everyday reassurance. Very interesting. Could you tell us about the true hub concept for business support? Yes, this initiative is being conducted with a life insurance company to explore how AI can support serious representatives during customer meetings. The background includes challenges such as workforce, shortage, differences in communication skills and high employee turnover. To help with this, this to employ support these interactions in real time through three main functions. First, a misspoint detection which converts speech to text during meetings and highlights key statements or confirmations. Second, deep dive assistance. It analyzes customer remarks and suggests follow-up questions. And third, information provision. This instantly brings up reality products, regulations, or FAQ based on what the customer is interested in. That real time support sounds very powerful. Are there any technical highlights? Yes, for high accuracy, transcription and speaker identification, we use entities and their goodness technology. In addition, digital employee can orchestrate multiple AI agents in parallel allowing complex tasks to be handled efficiently. What kind of impact do you expect from this both on the search team and beyond? By creating an environment where advanced support is available to everyone, we reduce reliance on individual experience and improve overall service quality. For insurance, this leads to higher customer satisfaction, lower training costs, improved efficiency for policy holders, it means receiving proposals that truly fit their needs. In a natural and seamless way, we are currently running POC trials with Domest Life Insurers with plans to expand in tests in 2026 and eventually roll out to agencies. Thank you. The initiative you have shared, personalize the insurance using variables and business support through digital embroidery over a very practical and comparing vision of the future. Finally, could you share the strategic design section's outlook going forward? To summarize the strategy design section is committed to addressing the structural challenges facing the insurance industry by envisioning an idea of future and working closely with insurance to make the future a reality. Our approach goes beyond ideas and concepts. We actively support transformations through proof of concept and real world implementation, ensuring that change happens where it matters most. We consistently focus on creating insurance experiences from the customer's perspective while balancing efficiency is meaningful value deliver. That's a clear and focused approach and it seems that AI, especially digital employee, where players central role in that journey. Absolutely. Digital employee reduces employee workload by handling tasks like their support and inquires through natural language. This lets people focus on high-value work, boosting efficiency and building trust with policy holders. Looking ahead, insurance needs are shifting from simple efficiency improvements toward AI native business strategies and organizational transformation. We are keep involving as a partner that co-creates the future supporting clients and to end. Our goal is to design and deliver next generation insurance services through a four-side driven approach. Rayson, thank you so much for joining us today. It's being a truly insightful conversation about the future and visioned by the strategic design section and the initiatives making it a reality. To our listeners, we hope today's episode offer the useful perspective and fresh ideas for thinking about the future of insurance. Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll continue exploring the trends and innovations shaping the industry. Until then, see you next time. Did you find it interesting? Explore more episodes on our website insurance.antitidata.com. Thanks for being part of the conversation. Let's continue transforming the insurance industry together.