Generating efficiencies and staff engagement with AI

Automation improves CEGC operations 

For the CEGC project, the R&D lab worked with Milliman Senior Consultant Loup Ortiz, who leveraged his longstanding relationship with the client to map the insurer’s existing workflows, breaking down each activity into individual steps and taking the time to understand each process from start to finish. Because of the volume of work, CEGC chose to focus on changes that would have the most impact. The Milliman team then identified which tasks were performed manually and reviewed them one by one to determine potential automated solutions, from document reading to data extraction. 

“AI is not a magical tool that can solve every problem,” explains Adel Cherchali, a Milliman senior consultant who manages the R&D lab’s AI researchers. “It is most effective when tailored to a specific task.” 

“What was innovative—and what made this project successful—was how we matched each task to the most appropriate AI technique,” Ortiz adds. 

This was no small feat. “One manual job involved reviewing 20 different documents, which meant training 20 models,” Sow says.  

The ability to leverage insights from the Milliman R&D lab—such as customizable optical character recognition tools—facilitated the project. For example, to spare a claims manager from flipping through those thick paper files, Ortiz worked with Cherchali to train a model that can scan documents, locate a needed signature no matter where it might appear on a form, and extract the necessary information—accurately and quickly. 

When Sow brought these solutions to CEGC’s senior managers, they were enthusiastic about implementation. Automation, they saw, would immediately add value and set CEGC apart from the competition.  

“Collaborating with Milliman on these technologies will enable the automation of business processes for these various tasks,” Sow says. “It will provide a significant time saving and will make the work much easier and more enjoyable for employees.” 

The ROI on AI for a large insurer

Thanks to Milliman, CEGC claims managers today spend five to six minutes less per document review, a significant gain in the high-volume business. While employees are spared the low-value work, customers get faster answers. CEGC leaders have already seen the financial benefit of this project. And the return on investment (ROI) will continue to grow, Ortiz says, because the tools can be adapted to fit other CEGC processes.

“We can apply the model to review other types of documents without completely redeveloping it,” he explains. “We fine-tuned it on one specific case, but we can easily scale it to others. This flexibility is very important and improves the project’s ROI.”

While Sow enjoyed working again with Milliman on another fruitful project—and he is pleased with the balance sheet impact—there are other benefits to CEGC from implementing AI.

“Beyond the financial and time savings,” he says, “it will empower our actuaries to tackle more complex challenges, enhancing their job satisfaction and well-being.”

This article was written by Milliman Senior Writer Adin Bookbinder.

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