Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK), the global insurance specialist, has struck a deal with the UK arm of Japan’s IT services giant NTT Data to start using the Blue Prism robotic process automation (RPA) offering.
The process has also the introduction of what NTT describes as “Cargo 10 Virtual Workers”; an automation process that it is allowing TKM to transform its back-office transaction framework.
Darren Sharp group head of IT at TMK said: “While originally an experiment initiated by the IT department, TMK is now embracing RPA technology.”
He added that with benefits already demonstrated and “impressive”, the business is actively identifying and prioritising further improvement opportunities, “with a growing list of processes ripe for automation.”
“The cloud-based service is extremely cost effective, frees us from traditional infrastructure constraints and allows some of the services that IT delivers to scale up as rapidly as the business needs them to,” he added.
Ripe for Disruption
The insurance industry, with its high numbers of manual processes and calculations, is ripe for disruption by AI, ML and RPA. A 2016 McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) study found that up to 45 percent of all work activities in the United States, where MGI performed its analysis, could already be automated with OTC technology.
In the two years since, the technology has improved dramatically.
NTT DATA UK is using Blue Prism software which provides a robotics as service offering. In an online statement Phil Fersht CEO and founder for HFS Research said: “The disruptive impact [of RPA] on the outsourcing industry at large has been immense, with many CFOs today viewing automation as a replacement to offshore outsourcing to uncover new thresholds of value for their organizations,” he added.
Simon Williams, CEO NTT DATA UK added: “As RPA technology continues to advance, we are developing more innovative approaches to automation. Insurers are focusing on reducing operating expenses, increasing broker responsiveness and removing repetitive work so business teams can focus on higher value activities. RPA is a core component of any organisation’s digital approach.”
