No more manual classification at FEDERALE Insurance thanks to self-learning algorithms

FEDERALE Insurance had a team of twenty people to classify incoming communications of all kinds. A task that is now managed from A to Z by Docbyte software. Moreover, since the last department at FEDERALE made the switch to this solution in 2022, classification is partially driven by artificial intelligence. It brings more internal efficiency, clarity and options to work from anywhere, for instance. On top of that, clients are serviced better and faster thanks to fully digitised dossiers.
 

 

From 2015 until now

Already in 2015, FEDERALE Insurance wanted to transform its organization and way of working. Carl Van Vlaenderen, Director of the Non-Life Department at the insurance company, explains: “Clients wanted to get their questions answered more quickly. Digitalization seemed the key to increasing our internal efficiency and, consequently, get back to clients faster. In addition, we believed it could also make life easier for our employees by having everything centralized, more transparent and digitized. It would enable, for example, working from home.”

Docbyte was chosen to digitize document and dossier management and automate the classification of incoming communications of a first department in 2016. Van Vlaenderen’s department was the last to make the switch and choose the Ghent-based company again: “It was not set in stone that we would work with Docbyte again. We definitely looked around to see if there were options better suited to our needs. However, their history with us, the fact that their solution has a proven track record and the fact that they knew us very well, made them our best choice.”

No more manual classification

For FEDERALE Insurance, everything starts with document processing, which Docbyte has now made smart with artificial intelligence. “In the past, documents were manually sorted to be assigned to the right person or put into filing cabinets”, says Carl Van Vlaenderen. “With Docbyte’s solution, we wanted to classify these automatically with minimal human intervention. Of course, there were a few hurdles to overcome before we could achieve this. Issues popped up and discussions were had, as with any project that causes such a big change, but in the end we succeeded in our classification goals. This made our classification team obsolete, giving us the chance to reassign them to other and more important tasks.”
 
“Docbyte’s solution is constantly learning and adapting to our different communications thanks to machine learning. In time, this self-learning will also improve the accuracy of the classification. A real game changer!”

Carl Van Vlaenderen, Director of the Non-Life department at FEDERALE Insurance

 
The Non-Life department of Van Vlaenderen also chose to move their classification part to the cloud, giving them access to artificial intelligence to sort documents. “Up until now, sorting happened through a complicated set of rules that had to be adjusted for new types of documents. With AI and machine learning, Docbyte’s solution is constantly learning and adapting to our different communications. In time, this self-learning will also improve the accuracy of the classification. A real game changer!”

More transparency

Dossiers and documents are now stored digitally and centrally for all departments. This is combined with clear workflows and tasks within Docbyte’s solution to provide transparency about actions to be taken and workload. “Docbyte does more than just classify documents for us”, Van Vlaenderen continues. “There is the case management part too. That makes it crystal clear about what steps need to be taken to help a client and by whom. Moreover, we get more insights into everyone’s workload, allowing us to step in when necessary.”

Improving efficiency

“Classification obviously goes a lot quicker, but there’s other ways in which our tool contributes to improving our efficiency”, Van Vlaenderen goes on. “What makes Docbyte’s software truly unique is that it works for every department at FEDERALE and that we can all have access to those dossiers and documents, across divisions. That makes it easy to find the required documents, because even outgoing communications are added to the software. It also enables us to work from home, which is a big plus regarding the work-life balance we like to offer our employees. Those efficiency gains will increase in the future as we add more automation to our processes.”

Happy customers

One of the reasons the Belgian insurer wanted to digitize, was to align their service level with client expectations. Docbyte’s solution lets them do just that. Carl Van Vlaenderen: “It does not matter who customers reach out to. Everyone can get to the information they need to answer their questions thanks to dossiers being centralized and available across departments. Moreover, any authorised employee can see that status of all requests. To top it all off, we can provide clients with this information in a moment. That helps us deliver an excellent customer service.”
 
“What makes Docbyte’s software truly unique is that it works for every department at FEDERALE and that we can all have access to those dossiers and documents, across divisions.”

Carl Van Vlaenderen, Director of the Non-Life department at FEDERALE Insurance

Docbyte, the expert and partner for insurers

FEDERALE Insurance considers Docbyte a true partner with in-depth knowledge of their market. “As with any project, there were challenges to overcome. We had our fair share of intense discussions with Docbyte about issues that popped up. However, they were always open to tackle them and followed up the entire project with an eye for detail”, Van Vlaenderen reminisces. “Their focus on the insurance sector and its regulations makes it easy to communicate our needs. Their solution is already tailored to our industry’s requirements and considers the laws to which we must adhere. And if anything is missing, they are flexible enough to switch gears and make it happen.”

More AI and automation

Soon, FEDERALE Insurance is eager to introduce artificial intelligence to its other departments as well. Moreover, they want to introduce even more automation with the ultimate goal of processing client requests without human intervention.