In a recent episode of Unstructured Unlocked, co-hosts Michelle Gouviea and Tom Wilde had a conversation about the current state of digital transformation in the insurance industry with Farooq Sheihk, the global head of Banking, Insurance, and Healthcare at Unqork. Farooq shared his insights on the similarities and differences across these sectors, particularly focusing on automation, digitization, and the challenges they face.
Listen to the full podcast here: Unstructured Unlocked season 2 episode 5 with Farooq Sheikh, Global Head of Banking at Unqork
Converging paths: Shared challenges and solutions in banking, insurance, and healthcare
Farooq highlighted the significant similarities across the banking, insurance, and healthcare industries. Despite their distinct operational landscapes, these industries face common hurdles, particularly in digitization and process automation. “All of them have made some progress in terms of digitization of process and increased amount of automation, but all of them have a long way to go…” Farooq noted. The slow pace of automation, largely due to manual processes in onboarding, underwriting, and claims processing, remains a critical bottleneck.
The external pressure from customers expecting faster services and the internal demand for a more efficient workflow underscores the need for comprehensive digital solutions. Farooq emphasized that the winners in these industries would be those who can “automate and digitize the process with humans in the center,” ensuring that automation complements human expertise rather than replacing it. Indico’s intelligent document processing (IDP) system was built with this key tenet in mind—our goal is to make insurance company underwriters as effective and efficient as possible by augmenting their capabilities through AI.
Industry ecosystems: The key to seamless integration
Discussing the founding principles of Unqork, Farooq stressed the importance of reducing tech debt and increasing the rate of change. Traditional approaches often burden enterprises with ongoing maintenance and integration challenges, slowing down innovation. Farooq pointed out, “Historically, the buying pattern in enterprise was you pick your vendors, you pick your partners, whoever they are, and you make them work together.” But this mindset is shifting towards a more integrated ecosystem where vendors collaborate to provide seamless solutions. Farooq explained that the focus is now on creating an ecosystem together with your vendors and partners that sets customers up for success in the best ways possible. This collaborative approach not only simplifies integration but also enhances the overall customer experience.
Related content: A unified approach to digital transformation in underwriting: Insights from James Wright of Beazley Digital
Transformative potential: Leveraging AI to revolutionize industry workflows
The conversation naturally shifted to the transformative role of AI and automation. Farooq observed, “There’s a little bit of too much hype for the short-term impact of tech, and I think we underestimate the long-term impact of AI.” He highlighted several key areas where AI is making significant strides, particularly in document ingestion and intelligent document processing (IDP). Indico is proud to offer AI-based IDP technology that brings immediate impact for insurance companies by enabling them to automate both structured and unstructured document processing.
AI’s ability to understand contextual information within documents, rather than merely recognizing text, marks a significant advancement. “The amount of activity in… intelligent document processing and the enhancements we are seeing there due to LLM utilization is one of the most significant applications of gen AI,” Farooq remarked. This capability allows organizations to automate complex tasks more accurately and efficiently, ultimately leading to better decision-making and faster processing times.
Navigating the ecosystem: Partnerships and flexibility
One of the most critical aspects of successful automation is the ability to navigate and leverage a company’s pre-existing ecosystem. Farooq emphasized the importance of partnerships and flexibility, noting, “There is an ecosystem, and you’re a member of that ecosystem. So you need to work with many others in your space and be easy to work with.” This principle applies to both the business and technology sides, ensuring that solutions are not only effective but also interoperable.
He also addressed the balance between out-of-the-box solutions and customization. While standardized solutions offer quick deployment, they often lack the flexibility required for unique business needs. This understanding allows organizations to adopt solutions that provide the necessary flexibility without sacrificing speed or efficiency.
Related content: The role of claims automation software for insurers
Future horizons: The path forward for automation and AI integration
Looking ahead, Farooq sees the integration of AI and automation as a continuous journey. He highlighted the need to address legacy systems and data silos, enabling a more holistic approach to digitization. “…The ability to extract data in a systematic way, enrich it, bring in the right data vendors and orchestrate the right enrichment and internal processes—that gives a lot of power,” he said.
In this episode, our co-hosts (Michelle Gouveia and Tom Wilde) covered an overview of the current state and future potential of automation and AI in banking, insurance, and healthcare with our guest, Farooq Sheikh, global head of Banking, Insurance, and Healthcare at Unqork. The discussion underscored the need for human-centered automation and the importance of ecosystem partnerships in driving digital transformation. For companies like Indico, these insights are crucial as we continue to develop solutions that meet the evolving needs of these different insurance sectors.
For more insights, subscribe to the Unstructured Unlocked podcast on your favorite platforms, including:
Subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter.
Frequently asked questions
- What specific challenges do legacy systems and data silos pose in the automation process for the banking, insurance, and healthcare industries? While the blog mentions the need to address legacy systems and data silos, it doesn’t specify the challenges they create. These challenges often include outdated technology that lacks integration capabilities, leading to inefficient workflows. Data silos can prevent the seamless sharing of information across departments, resulting in fragmented customer experiences and data inconsistencies. Overcoming these issues is crucial for implementing effective automation and AI solutions that require clean, accessible, and integrated data.
- How does Indico’s intelligent document processing (IDP) technology differ from other AI-based solutions available in the market? The blog highlights the benefits of Indico’s IDP technology but doesn’t detail how it stands out. Indico’s IDP technology differentiates itself by leveraging advanced machine learning models to understand the context and nuances of both structured and unstructured documents. This capability allows it to process a wide range of document types more accurately than traditional OCR-based systems, enabling automation of complex tasks that require contextual understanding, such as underwriting and claims processing in insurance.
- What are some real-world examples of companies successfully implementing human-centered automation in these industries? The blog emphasizes the importance of human-centered automation but doesn’t provide specific examples. Real-world examples could include banks that have integrated chatbots and virtual assistants to handle routine customer inquiries, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues. In healthcare, some organizations use AI to assist doctors by analyzing patient data and suggesting potential diagnoses, thereby enhancing decision-making without replacing the human touch. In insurance, companies might use automated systems for initial claims processing, with human agents stepping in only for cases requiring special attention.
