Equitable Employee Benefits, a division of Equitable Holdings with a history spanning over 160 years, embarked on a journey of modernization and innovation in its high-growth mode. Stephanie Shields, the Head of Employee Benefits, recognized the potential of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline operations and elevate customer experiences. Equitable's decision to harness the power of AI began with the transformation of its group insurance quote intake process—a mission-critical, high-volume operation. The goal was to achieve speed, accuracy, and scalability while enhancing broker and client experiences.

Even in weeks during the busy season, when we get a quote request from a broker, we can have it set up in our systems without human interaction and turn an accurate quote around much quicker than the industry average.

Stephanie ShieldHead of Employee Benefits
EquitableRead the article

Challenge

Equitable Employee Benefits faced several challenges prior to implementing Ushur's Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) Solutions:

• High Volume of Unstructured Data: The company received a substantial number of unstructured quote requests via email, necessitating time-consuming manual data extraction and processing of complex census information.
• Long Lead Times: Existing processes resulted in prolonged lead times, falling short of brokers' expectations for quicker responses and proactive engagement from service providers.
• Proactive Customer Engagement: Brokers demanded proactive engagement, particularly in critical areas such as payment reminders and claim status updates. Equitable needed a streamlined approach to address customer inquiries promptly.

Solution and Impacts

Equitable's partnership with Ushur yielded impressive results and transformed its operations:

• Processing Time Reduction: Ushur's IDP Solutions led to an astounding ~80% reduction in processing time. Ushur helped Equitable compress processing time from 5 days down to 5 minutes - delivering needed response speed and significantly reducing operational burden.
• Human Error Mitigation: By reducing manual work and introducing Ushur's IDP Solutions, Equitable achieved an 85% reduction in the likelihood of human errors, ensuring accuracy and reliability.
• High Submission Volume: Approximately ~85% of RFP submissions were efficiently processed, demonstrating Ushur's pivotal role in handling a substantial workload and meeting broker expectations.
• Swift Implementation: Equitable achieved a significant milestone by going live with the project within just three months from its inception, showcasing the agility and efficiency of the implementation process.

Conclusion

Equitable Employee Benefits successfully addressed its operational challenges and positioned itself for future growth by embracing Ushur's IDP Solutions. This transformative journey resulted in substantial reductions in processing time and human errors, while also enhancing proactive customer engagement. Equitable now stands as a beacon of efficiency and customer-centricity, ready to navigate its high-growth trajectory with confidence. Equitable's commitment to leveraging AI to simplify processes, reduce manual errors, and enhance customer experiences sets a precedent for modernization in the insurance industry. As Equitable continues to scale and serve its brokers and clients effectively, it stands as a testament to the power of innovative technology solutions in the insurance landscape.