PZU Improves Customer Experience with RPA

PZU is one of the top insurers in Europe. With a wide array of policies and a large customer base, it became a challenge to provide the personalized customer service they aimed for. With RPA, PZU was able to enhance the customer service experience for both their customers and agents.

With a wide array of policies and a large customer base, it became a challenge to provide the personalized customer service they aimed to achieve. With RPA, PZU was able to enhance the customer service experience for both their customers and agents.

Robotic process automation (RPA) eliminates the time-consuming repetitive tasks that an employee faces in their day-to-day work. These types of processes exist all across different industries and consist of important workflows that must be dealt with and addressed. A robot can do this type of work much faster, and more efficiently, without ever slowing down. The hours saved through automation allow the employee to focus on key areas, adding true value to the business.

Stakeholders, managers, and employees at Poland-based insurer Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń S.A. (PZU) are all too familiar with repetitive, tedious working processes. PZU is one of the top insurance providers in Europe, with around 7.5 million cars insured and 11 million of customers with life policies serving customers throughout its headquartered country of Poland, and throughout the central and eastern areas of the continent. PZU is a long-standing brand in Europe, tracing its roots back to 1803 when its first insurance branch was established in Poland. PZU has grown consistently, and PZU now offers a wide array of insurance policies for consumer and business clients. The organization can provide coverage for everything from vehicles, homes, and travel to industrial machines, transport systems, and goods in transit. As a leader in its market niche of non-life insurance offerings, PZU has one-third of the market share, based upon the number and value of claims it has underwritten.

In order to enable more personalized supportive service, PZU needed to free up time for its agents. The best way to do so was to eliminate the repetitive tasks that didn’t rely on human attention but were still vital to the insurance and claims processes. PZU found the solution it needed with the UiPath Platform, which allowed agents the time to provide the level of customer service that the company was striving toward.

Thousands of daily operations require precise performance

With such a far-reaching service portfolio and a wide range of business- and consumer-level customers, the company and its agents worked to provide peace of mind and security through its comprehensive coverage options. However, with thousands of operations needing service and action each and every day, it became a challenge for PZU to provide the type of helpful and personal customer service that it aimed to deliver.

“The ambition, but also the obligation of an organization such as ours, which was trusted by millions of people, is a continuous improvement in the quality of customer service. Our priority is to improve customer contact channels, shorten the necessary formalities as much as possible, and accelerate the circulation of information within the organization. The goal that sears us is to focus employees' attention on the needs of specific people through an efficient process of their service. Therefore, we were looking for a solution that will allow us to precisely perform repeated services for our customers,” explains PZU SA CEO Paweł Surówka. "We wanted to increase the efficiency of work and thus improve service quality. We wanted to save time for more personalized customer service."

We were looking for a solution that will allow us to precisely perform repeated services for our customers. We wanted to increase the efficiency of work and thus improve service quality. We wanted to save time for more personalized customer service.

Szymon Mitoraj • Chief Digital Officer, PZU SA

PZU employees must be able to respond and address matters associated with customer claims quickly—any long wait times can only add to an already stressful situation for customers. The company required a solution that could accurately complete these repetitive tasks promptly.

UiPath: Introducing successful process automation

Although PZU had been using tools for developing testing automation for many years, this foray into process automation would be all new to them.

After PZU’s Claims and Remote Channels departments identified the specific processes that could be automated and several technologies were verified in the proof of concepts, the Management Board chose UiPath as their preferred RPA vendor.

At first, deployment of the UiPath Platform was divided into two individual pilot processes: one for back-office workflows and one for front-office tasks. After these proved highly successful, PZU expanded its use of RPA automating processes in four more areas, and then an additional 10 process after that.

Due to the nature of PZU’s business and the overarching industry itself, there were plenty of key processes that were ideal for reaping the benefits of RPA. These included:

• Updating court provisions in PZU’s claim system

• Calling for assistance after an accident has taken place

• Preliminary analysis of car damage claims

• Refunding the cost of vehicle repairs based on filed invoices

• Replacement vehicle rental through third-party liability insurance

• Data entry for incurred direct costs, change of policy owner, end of insurance coverage, etc.

• Preliminary payment for car damage

• Correspondence for calculating compensation, and for customer insurance history

• Preliminary analysis of childbirth insurance claims

Overall, PZU has the UiPath Platform in place for 5 of its critical applications, including those used for claims handling and core policy handling. The establishment of these automated processes has also helped drive success across PZU’s RPA journey.

RPA improves employee experience and customer satisfaction

Initially, PZU sought a solution that would free up its employees from having to complete some of the most repetitive and time-consuming tasks, enabling them to leverage this time to provide more tailored and personal customer service. Thanks to the industry-leading RPA solution, PZU was able to realize this goal.

Performance of consultants increased, which means they have time for other current [processes] - they talk to clients instead of spending time generating documents. They care about customer satisfaction. Benefits are therefore multidimensional.

Tomasz Łysiak • Project Manager AROS

"Less than two months after implementation in one of the processes, we noted a 15% increase in the number of decisions issued per person," said Łysiak. “Performance of consultants increased, and they now have more time for other tasks-they talk to clients instead of spending time generating documents. They care about customer satisfaction. Benefits are multidimensional.”

PZU realized a whole host of other benefits as well, including the elimination of added costs like overtime. Because UiPath Robots can work through the night, the technology makes the most efficient use of working time.

This also resulted in significant enhancements in customer service and overall work quality. Call center times were cut in half, going from six minutes, on average, to just three. Agents now have more time to provide a higher level of service, but customers can reach a representative quicker than ever before.

This year, we plan to automate at least six more processes from the pipeline. The UiPath Platform is a very flexible, comprehensive and easy-to-use tool. With these possibilities and pace of learning, extending the scope of automation throughout the organization is just a matter of time.

Szymon Mitoraj • Chief Digital Officer, PZU

By automating data entry and other repetitive tasks, the company was able to eliminate all instances of human error, enabling 100% accuracy in entered data. UiPath RPA technology also enabled PZU employees to correct any gaps between its automated systems and catch any repetition or errors that would have required costly intervention and reconciliation later down the line.

Expanding the scope of automation

PZU’s management and employees have been very happy with RPA technology, and given this success plan to build out their process automation even further in the future.

“Robotic process automation has become the answer to the need to provide our organization with an effective employee-friendly automation tool.” -Mitoraj said. "This year, we plan to automate at least six more processes from the pipeline. The UiPath Platform is a very flexible, comprehensive, and easy-to-use tool. With these possibilities and the pace of learning, extending the scope of automation throughout the organization, development of the internal team, and the current infrastructure is just a matter of time."

This technology is ideal for all types of repetitive workflows, and if you’re ready to learn more about how an RPA solution can benefit your organization, connect with UiPath today.