In the end, the human element of great service is the part that either takes the AI and human service amalgam to the next level, or puts it into the dumper. (Image: Gearstd/Shutterstock.com)
Traditionally, the most satisfying service experience for customers usually lies in their positive reaction to personalized service from another human. But tradition no longer applies. Today, the technological tools available to our businesses have evolved. There are significant opportunities for both efficiency of processing and expense savings as artificial intelligence and API integration have become common elements of an integrated service experience for customers.
So what constitutes good service in today's world? In any business, including voluntary benefits and employee benefits, the best service seems totally instinctive and easy for the user. It seamlessly combines the automated and the human in a way that can delight–or disgust–the customer.
Marty Traynor is an Omaha-based consultant in the benefits field. Recommended For You
Recently, my wife and I experienced a personal experience with our homeowner's insurance coverage that illustrates my point.
One Friday evening, a storm with hurricane-level winds hit Omaha. Our 60-year-old spruce tree cracked in half. Happily, it did not hit our house, though it sat less than 10 feet from our bedroom. That happened about midnight, and at the same time, our power went out. Almost 200,000 households in the area lost power from the storm.
On Saturday morning, we had to deal with the tree. Our local power company said it could take days before power was restored (they were correct; it was out for five days). We realized that our refrigerated and frozen food was likely to spoil. I texted my homeowner's agent, asking whether we had coverage for either disposal of the tree or loss of the food in our refrigerators. We received a text from our agent that conveyed both good news and bad. As expected, there was no coverage for the cost of cutting up and hauling away the tree–$950, as it turned out. However, the agent told us there would be coverage for the loss of food. So, at least we'll get a few hundred dollars to cover the lost food, we thought.
On Monday morning, I called the claims department of my homeowner's company. The good news/bad news theme continued. First, the good news: The process of starting a claim was super easy. The call was answered via AI, and it recognized me by my phone number. All I had to do was provide my ZIP Code and my birthdate and within seconds, I was told that my record had been located. When I said I needed to file a claim, the AI transmitted my record to a claims service agent who would call me back. I was delighted when I was called back within five minutes by a human who did triage on my problem, assigned a claims number, texted me the claim number while he was speaking to me, and transferred me to a claim analyst.
Interlude. Up to here, all good news. A perfect blend of AI doing what it does best, looking up my policy files from a small number of identifiers that were easy for me to recall, and a human representative immediately armed with all my personal policy information. Service delight!
Now the bad news begins: My agent told me my deductible did not apply to the loss of food, but the claims person said my $2,500 deductible would apply. All the goodwill I was feeling about the service process was lost. Someone screwed up. Either our agent made an error or the claims person misread our policy. The money involved–a couple of hundred dollars of lost food–is insignificant in the big picture. But the confusion between the agent and the claims adjuster was a big deal. After double-checking, the claims person was correct and there was no coverage. My wife and I were disgusted.
This could easily have been an employee benefit-related situation. In place of an agent, it might have been "my enroller told me" or "my company's HR rep told me." We do what we can to train and monitor enrollers, to ensure systems contain accurate data, and to make sure HR departments know what their products cover. Claims and service managers do what they can to train their people. But in the end, the human element of great service–the part that we prefer in many ways to sterile AI service–is the part that either takes the AI and human service amalgam to the next level, or puts it into the dumper.
Postscript: My wife and I have multiple lines of coverage with this insurance company. Our account represents nearly $10,000 a year. Needless to say, we plan to contact competing insurers for quotes.
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