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Legalese Decoder: Making Access to Justice Easier Than Ever Before

Vancouver, Canada- Legalese Decoder, the innovative AI-based platform that makes legal jargon more accessible, has been spotlighted by the Maryland Access to Justice Commission for its role in advancing access to justice.

In a recent post on its Facebook page, the Maryland Access to Justice Commission (Powered by MSBA) highlighted the numerous benefits of Legalese Decoder for those seeking access to justice. The post noted that the platform’s use of artificial intelligence to break down legal terminology into plain language has the potential to level the playing field for individuals who may not have a legal background.

“We are thrilled to receive the positive attention from the Maryland Access to Justice Commission,” said William Tsui, founder of Legalese Decoder. “Our mission has always been to make the legal system more accessible, and it is an honor to be recognized for our efforts.”

The Maryland Access to Justice Commission is a collaborative effort between the Maryland State Bar Association and the Maryland judiciary, with the goal of promoting equal access to justice for all Maryland residents. The Commission’s recognition of Legalese Decoder underscores the platform’s potential to revolutionize the legal industry by breaking down barriers created by legal jargon.

“We are proud to be part of the effort to advance access to justice,” said Tsui. “We look forward to continuing to serve with the Maryland Access to Justice Commission and other organizations to make the legal system more accessible for all.”

Legalese Decoder is at the forefront of the movement to create a more accessible legal system, with its innovative platform providing a groundbreaking solution to the problem of legal jargon. For more information on Legalese Decoder and its platform, visit https://legalesedecoder.com/.

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Computers & Software Health & Medicine Technology U.K U.S

ObvioHeath to Conduct Decentralised Clinical Trial on Mi-Helper Device: Treatment of Migraines Expected to be Facilitated

On March 16th, Mi-Helper, Inc. and ObvioHealth reportedly declared a collaboration to carry on a decentralised clinical trial (DCT) in order to analyse the effectiveness of a non-invasive neuromodulation (nVNS) device. 

This nVNS device, called Mi-Helper, is expected to facilitate the treatment of migraines.

According to NeuroNews, the device will be used for a randomised, controlled, and fully remote clinical trial where patients with migraine issues will be able to record essential data from the comfort of their homes.

The partnership will ensure a cost-effective and accessible remedy for this debilitating neurological condition that affects around one billion people across the globe.

Migraines: a Quick Overview

Migraines are described as miild to severe headaches that cause intense, throbbing pain. The burden and prevalence of self-reported migraine and severe headaches in the adult population in the USA are high, affecting more than 39 million Americans, according to Migraine Research Foundation.

In addition, roughly one in every seven adults in the U.S. suffer from migraines. The economic costs of migraine-based diseases were evaluated to be USD 36B in 2016, taking into account the factors such as loss of productivity (i.e., inability to work) and medical costs, according to the NIH.

On top of that, in a recent study published in AANP, more than 40% of migraine patients reported dissatisfaction with existing treatments because of precautions, tolerability issues, lack of efficacy, or contraindications between medications.

The Collaboration will Facilitate Migraine Treatment

With the partnership, both companies expect to devise a more targeted, effective, and non-drug pain management system for people suffering from migraines.

A small, non-invasive therapy device, the Mi-Helper delivers an on-demand stream of conditioned air intermixed with nebulised mist to the mucosa membranes in the nose to help recover from migraine pain and related symptoms, for instance, photosensitivity and nausea.

“We are working with the top headache neurologists in the world to inform our clinical studies,” said Steve Schaefer, CEO of Mi-Helper. “And, we are committed to delivering a paradigm shift for migraine treatment—fast, accessible, and affordable relief for this highly complex and debilitating neurological disease.” 

With the partnership, both companies are committed to increasing diversity in the trial by enrolling the underrepresented social, racial, and ethnic minority groups from all over the continental United States. 

“Mi-Helper and ObvioHealth are dedicated to inclusivity,” said Ivan Jarry, CEO of ObvioHealth. “By designing a decentralised clinical trial without the need for physical site visits, we can recruit patients anywhere in the continental United States, including underserved communities. This will provide Mi-Helper with essential data on a real-world population in a real-world setting and should help to ensure that the device, when launched, can serve a broad population.”

Featuring a DCT-based adaptive design, the study is expected to start enrolling participants this summer.

The ObvioGo app, which will be used for conducting remote study, is expected to improve patient centricity in the trial by allowing patients to participate, consent and document any critical conditions remotely. 

ObvioHealth has confirmed that its experienced COACH team will ensure remote and real-time monitoring of patient safety and compliance.

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Business Computers & Software Government & Politics Technology U.K

Governance and Uses of AI: Using ChatGPT-4 in MVP Development

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On the 29th of March, the British government released a white paper to “guide the use of artificial intelligence in the UK, to drive responsible innovation and maintain public trust in this revolutionary technology”.

In this white paper, the government has outlined five principles that should be considered by regulators “to best facilitate the safe and innovative use of AI in the industries they monitor”.

The five principles are:

  • Safety, security, and robustness
  • Transparency and explainability
  • Fairness
  • Accountability and governance
  • Contestability and redress

There is also a plan for a £2 million sandbox which will help businesses test out AI rules before they go out into the market.

The use of AI has steadily increased over the last few years, with the technology becoming more mainstream since the public launch of ChatGPT.

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT, the really smart chatbot created by OpenAI, has caught the public’s attention because of its natural language processing capabilities that allow it to converse with people like a human.

Some people think it will replace search engines—no more wading through a list of pages to find the answer. Others, on the contrary, worry it might “steal jobs”.

However, since it’s here to stay, experts are exploring ways of using it. And, according to The Recursive, ChatGPT-4 can be especially useful in the development of MVPs.

Using ChatGPT for MVP Development

MVPs, or minimum viable products, are a no-frills version of a digital product. An MVP is complete and has all the features that necessary for proof of concept. However, it doesn’t include any additional nice-to-have features.

One can get MVP and software app-building services from businesses that specialise in this type of development, like Luminos Software. This company in particular will be the first to emphasise that designing an MVP is not just about coming up with the idea and rushing to build it.

To design a successful MVP, which can then be developed into a successful product, one needs to have completed market research to see if there is a need for it at all. There also needs to be a detailed roadmap, where the important features are listed and prioritised.

And, according to The Recursive, the planning stage of MVP development can be made easier with ChatGPT.

Market Research

Whilst the chatbot cannot go and interview people (not yet, anyway) for market research, what it can do is scour through search engine result pages. It can look at the search queries people are using and the results they are generating.

This information can be used by startups to gain valuable insight into what their customers are looking for and what the market needs.

Financial Decisions

Startups can use ChatGPT as an autonomous business consultant to develop a narrative for potential investors. The tool has access to a vast amount of data that it can use to generate insights. 

These can help in creating accurate budgets, resource allocation, and investment decisions.

Idea Validation

The ChatGPT chatbot has been quite handy in helping people refine ideas because one can use it as a sounding board. It has access to the information available on the internet—as long as that information as published online before September 2021. 

It can carry out a discussion, offer suggestions, and come up with solutions. That can be beneficial to the process of verifying concepts and developing ideas.

The tool can also be utilised for prototyping, where it may run user testing, recommend improvements, and simulate new products.

Better and Cheaper Decision Making

Thanks to its access to vast amounts of data and its processing power, ChatGPT-4 has made decision-making simpler and cheaper. It can automate certain tasks and sift through data in a shorter amount of time than a human can.

That is not to say that it can replace developers. One would still need trained professionals to build their MVP. 

However, with AI, a lot of the planning can be done quickly and easily, without using up a big part of the initial funding on prep work.

Originally published in Geeky News

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Business Computers & Software Technology

Microsoft Teams Now Empowering Users to Edit Excel Spreadsheets in Real-time; User Productivity Expected to Improve

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The software giant Microsoft is reportedly bringing Excel directly into Teams. With the new update, multiple users can collaborate in real-time on a single spreadsheet through Excel Live while in a Teams meeting.

The new Excel Live version will allow users to make edits or update data during a Teams call, and the changes will be reflected in the spreadsheet in real-time, according to techradar.

“Until now, sharing spreadsheets within a Microsoft Teams meeting has been a fairly one-sided experience. You share your screen, and everyone else watches while you navigate through the workbook and update the content. But what if your group could use that meeting time more efficiently to get the work done together? Building on what we’ve learned and the evolving needs of today’s workplace, we’ve created an enhanced collaboration solution for working on Microsoft Excel workbooks—Excel Live—empowering your group to collaborate in real-time within your Teams meetings,” explained a member from Microsoft’s Tech Community.

Excel Live in Teams

Excel Live is built on top of the Live Share feature of Microsoft, described by the company at its Build 2022 developer conference.

Previously, meeting attendees were required to open Excel documents and share their screens. However, this process creates conflict, thus negatively impacting users’ productivity.

The new update of Excel Live will allow owners to choose the workbook file they want to share with others and edit directly while on a Teams call. Upon sharing the file, they can grant editing permission to specific meeting attendees or allow all participants to edit the workbook from the Teams meeting interface.

Microsoft expects the new update of Excel Live will make collaboration on Teams meetings seamless, delivering a frictionless co-working experience. 

In addition, by enabling users to co-edit Excel spreadsheets right from within the meeting window, this new Teams feature will eliminate the need to switch between multiple windows, thus saving time in consolidating content after the call.

The new update has a scheduled rollout date of April 2023 and will be available on PC, iOS, and Android devices. 

Microsoft Striving to Fortify Customer Experience

Microsoft has been working on updating Excel and Teams as part of its effort to fortify customer experience. 

For example, it has recently added a new “@mentions” expansion which is expected to enable users to tag their co-workers, both within their company and outside. 

On top of that, by releasing the spreadsheet software update last year, Microsoft has rectified an obvious drawback dating back several years: Excel users can now drop hyperlinks into comments added to spreadsheets.

To make presentations more accessible, Microsoft has recently introduced the Closed Captions feature with PowerPoint Live for Teams meetings. 

Moreover, Microsoft is poised to give Excel a deep AI boost by bringing out an assistive AI system, FLAME AI. An AI developed for Excel-specific tasks, FLAME is expected to make automation in the Excel app more efficient.

Excel charts have now become the go-to choice for many when it comes to making a large volume of datasets easily comprehensible. By recapitulating massive troves of data in visual form, Excel charts help professionals assess key trends, evaluate key values at a glance, and more. 

However, despite releasing a number of updates, the built-in Excel charts and graphs are still overwhelming to work with. 

For example, formatting functionalities are limited with some types of Excel charts, which make the process of creating professional-looking PowerPoint presentations arduous and time-consuming. 

For professionals who are often required to make PowerPoint presentations with great-looking charts, investing in high-quality add-ins such as think-cell is a sensible decision.

With less formatting and fewer clicks, PowerPoint add-ins enable users to create charts directly in PowerPoint, thus significantly saving working hours. 

Wrapping Up

Microsoft expects the new Excel Live feature in Teams will allow users to collaboratively edit Excel spreadsheets while making file sharing in meetings more seamless than ever before.

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Financial Market Health & Medicine Public Affairs Technology U.S

Community Health Systems Completes Divestiture of its Last Hospital in West Virginia for $92M

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Tennessee-based healthcare giant, Community Health Systems (CHS), has reportedly divested its 25-bed Plateau Medical Center (PMC) in Oak Hill, West Virginia, to the affiliates of Vandalia Health. Vandalia Health is the parent company of Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC).

The transaction, according to businesswire, was put into effect on April 1, 2023.

Details of the Divestiture

Closed on April 3rd, 2023, the sale of Plateau Medical Center is worth roughly $92M. Besides the medical center, the sell-off includes PMC’s outpatient services, physician clinic operations, and respective assets.

The agreement for the Plateau Medical Center acquisition was inked earlier this year.

“As a critical access hospital, Plateau Medical Center plays an important role in the Oak Hill community and beyond,” said David Ramsey, president and CEO of Vandalia Health and CAMC. “We are excited they are joining CAMC and Vandalia.”

Now that the transaction is finalised, CAMC is about to hold sway over the hospital operations and work with the medical staffers as part of its effort to deliver proactive services to the region. 

“The staff is terrific,” Ramsey stated. “They do a great job of taking care of the community and the patients that come to them.”

Plateau Medical Center

Previously a for-profit hospital, Plateau Medical Center is a certified 25-bed hospital with more than 315 staff on the Oak Hill campus and in nearby clinics. The specialised services it offers are paediatrics, family practice, emergency medicine, cardiology, internal medicine, and general surgery.

CAMC is a not-for-profit organisation; funds raised from the hospital will be used for the betterment of the state and the people of the Oak Hill area.

CHS Continues with Hospital Sell-off

The divestiture of Plateau Medical Center is one of the potential sell-offs CHS detailed on its final quarter and fiscal year-end 2022 earnings call.

With this transaction, CHS has ceased its services in West Virginia. 

The agreement to sell the PCM took shape over two years after CHS had completed the massive divestiture of a hospital program that dropped its hospital count to 79 from its peak at 206.

The CHS now runs 78 acute-care hospitals and around 1,000+ other healthcare sites, including emergency care centres, imaging centres, physician practices, cancer centres, freestanding emergency departments, occupational medicine clinics, and ambulatory surgery centres.

On January 1, 2023, CHS sold Greenbrier Valley Medical Center — a 122-bed healthcare facility based in Ronceverte, W.Va. — to Vandalia Health for a cash consideration of around $85M.

CHS has been selling hospitals recently as part of its effort to improve its financial position while also reducing its heavy debt load.

The hospital giant has encountered significant losses over the past several years, including a $2B loss in the final quarter of 2017. 

Overcoming Divestiture Challenges

Whether it’s a spin-off or an equity carve-out, divesting a business asset is a complex transaction that comes with strict time constraints. 

For businesses undergoing a divestiture, investing in a high-end carve-out consulting service like Fission Consulting is a sensible business decision.

Industry-leading IT transformation services can mitigate investment risk and help businesses make more informed decisions while significantly accelerating the overall separation timeline.

Wrapping Up

Community Health Systems, one of the largest publicly traded hospital companies in the U.S., continues hospital sell-off with the divestment of Plateau Medical Center. With this divestiture, CHS has no remaining hospital in West Virginia.

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Financial Market Services Technology Transportation & Logistics U.K

Holme Beach: An ANPR Camera Has Gone Live; Drivers Using the Car Park Being Charged Again

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As declared, an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera has reportedly been installed to monitor cars parked at Holme-next-the-Sea, near Hunstanton, in the English countryside of Norfolk.

With the new ANPR system enforced, drivers will now be charged £100 as fines if they don’t pay for using the Holme beach parking lot, according to Eastern Daily Press.

Fleshing Out the ANPR Parking System

Also known as Licence Plate Recognition (LPR), an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system is a specially designed high-speed image capture technology that can identify and read vehicle registration plates as they pass through an infrared camera.

Built on optical character recognition technology, an ANPR camera captures an image of a vehicle number plate as it enters or exits a parking lot. The image, when passed on to a compatible number plate reader, gets converted into standard Wiegand format ID numbers. Upon comparing this information with the record in the existing database, the access control system decides whether or not to grant access to that vehicle to the parking premises.

The recorded vehicle registration plate details and the location data can be used for various law enforcement and traffic management purposes.

Besides enforcing surveillance of vehicle entry/exit at parking facilities, an ANPR system ensures car parking security.

A cost-effective way to provide consistent data to parking management apps, an ANPR camera also helps with threat recognition, repeat delinquent detection, or targeting vehicles/block-listed vehicles.

For a ticketless parking lot, deploying high-quality ANPR surveillance cameras that seamlessly integrate with parking management and enforcement solutions, such as ZatPark, is essential for vehicle access control. 

High-end ANPR integration increases efficiency by enabling seamless processing of ANPR images. This type of system helps extend enforcement hours without increasing overhead expenses.

Advanced ANPR technologies ensure a 100% capture rate accuracy under recommended lighting conditions.

Fully automated ANPR camera systems do not require employees to operate them, thus reducing operating costs.

Deployment of ANPR Camera at Holme Beach Car Parking

The deployment of the ANPR system took shape after the Hunstanton Golf Club had been given a go-ahead by West Norfolk council in December to install the equipment in the parking lot it owns on Beach Road at Holme.

In a planning statement, the golf club, said: “The proposed installation of ticketing equipment would allow charges to be levied all year round on a more cost-effective basis.”

According to a report written by an officer who recommended the approval of the ANPR camera installation last year, “Based on the existing use of the land, the surrounding area and the level of natural screening, it is not considered that these small scale additions will have a significant visual impact or adversely affect the locality.”

Earlier, a kiosk was used to manage the parking premises at Holme beach. However, anyone arriving at the parking lot, when the kiosk was not open, could park their vehicles without paying until the concession closed in the summer of 2022.

Now that the ANPR surveillance camera is deployed, drivers need to pay £3 to park their vehicles for two hours, £5 for four hours, or £7 to park for an entire day.

Charges at the Holme beach parking are lower than the nearby Hunstanton Cliff Top car park, where drivers have to pay £2.20/hour, £4.20/two hours, £6/three hours, and £8/day.

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Arts & Entertainment Computers & Software Media & Communications Society & Culture Technology

How AI and Cloud-Based Filmmaking Could Redefine the Way Videos & Films Are Made

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Social media users and visitors on image and meme-sharing sites must have seen the image of the pope in a fancy jacket that’s been doing the rounds. The image is fake, of course. It was created by the artificial intelligence (AI) image generator, Midjourney.

The platform has since discontinued its free trial, citing “extraordinary demand and trial abuse” as the reason.

The thing is, AI–generated images are not the only thing taking the content world by storm. AI and the cloud are also changing the way videos are being made and edited.

In an article by Forbes, the author discusses how film and TV show production is being transformed by AI and camera-to-cloud technology.

Using AI in Film Production

AI technology has been used to change the appearance of actors, going as far as to make them look younger. This can be seen in the Miramax feature, Here, starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Both actors start as younger versions of themselves and age through the course of the film.

For agencies, this can be a good thing as their best-selling actors can be made to “last longer” and be suitable for a larger variety of roles. 

However, creatives are insisting that technology can only support human creativity, not replace it.

AI can be very useful for sifting through information that might be tedious for humans to go through—like finding a scene from a longer piece of footage. This feature then frees up human creators to focus on other, less “automatable” tasks.

Camera-to-Cloud in Film Production

Michael Cioni, Adobe’s senior director of global innovation, claims that by 2030, all electronic assets in the media and entertainment industry would be “generated in the cloud, by the cloud.”

According to Cioni, edits and effects would be added to pre-shot scenes simply by telling the computer to do so, using text-based commands. For example, he said, one could shoot a scene and then add rain to it simply by typing “make it rain”.

Filmmakers would be able to create a rough “assembly” with basic visual effects, colour correction, and sound design. That would then be passed on to specialists to be refined.

Cloud-based filmmaking would also mean directors could collaborate with each other, even when they aren’t in the same physical location. It could also speed up short projects like music videos and advertisements.

In short, AI and cloud-based tools are being touted as a way to enhance productivity by delegating mundane tasks to them.

Legal Implications of AI in Filmmaking

However, lawyers are advising that contracts with “language that purports to control the right to simulate an actor’s performance are void and unenforceable until the terms have been negotiated with the union.”

This fact can be quite divisive as some actors might want to take advantage of technology to extend their “viability”. However, there is a concern that it might be used as a way to avoid paying for digital performances since they technically aren’t being played by the artist.

Content generation using AI has led to an authenticity concern, especially with deep fakes that seem extremely realistic.

Actor Keanu Reeves, who has been quoted as saying he finds the idea of deep fakes “scary” often has a clause in his contracts that forbid digital manipulation of his performance. Interestingly, this clause dates back several years—decades, even—when a production added a virtual tear on his face. 

According to the actor, any performer might expect the footage to be edited with their consent. However, deep fake is different, as it has no input from the performer.

Of course, this technology is still mostly limited to films and television productions. Corporate videos still require the services of video production companies, like Bold Content. (Check out Bold Content’s contribution to encourage girls into STEM studies.)

However, with AI taking over so many tasks, it remains to be seen whether it will help enhance filmmaking or “take away jobs” in yet another industry.

Originally published in Geeky News

Categories
Business Law & Legal Services Technology U.S

Legalese Decoder, AI legal language translation platform, announces its application to Seed Checks for funding

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Legalese Decoder, the AI-powered legal language translation platform, announces its application to Seed Checks for funding. The startup aims to revolutionize the legal industry by providing a solution to a common problem experienced by many: the difficulty of understanding legal language.

Founders and entrepreneurs are often left in the dark when it comes to deciphering legalese, which can be a major barrier to creating and running successful businesses. Legalese Decoder seeks to solve this problem by providing an easy-to-use platform that translates complex legal language into plain English.

Seed Checks, launched by venture capitalist and growth marketing entrepreneur Julian Shapiro, is a platform that allows founders to apply for funding from top investors in a quick and efficient manner. Legalese Decoder is excited to apply for funding through Seed Checks and join the thousands of other startups that have already applied.

Legalese Decoder’s AI-powered technology is unique in the legal industry, and the company is confident that it will have a significant impact on the industry as a whole. With the support of Seed Checks, Legalese Decoder aims to continue developing its technology and expanding its reach.

“Our goal is to make legal language accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or experience,” said Legalese Decoder founder, William Tsui. “We believe that our platform has the potential to change the legal industry for the better, and we are excited to partner with Seed Checks to make that vision a reality.”

Legalese Decoder has already received significant interest from investors and entrepreneurs alike, and the company is eager to continue growing its reach and impact. With Seed Checks, Legalese Decoder hopes to find the right investors who share its vision and can help take the company to the next level.

For more information about Legalese Decoder, visit our website at www.legalesedecoder.com. To learn more about Seed Checks, visit their website at www.seedchecks.com.

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Computers & Software Professional Services Technology World

Help Net Security Discusses How Passive Cybersecurity Awareness Training Might Not Be Enough Anymore

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There was an article on Help Net Security that claims that the era of passive cybersecurity training is over. The article discusses how, despite people realising the need for improved cybersecurity, there are still vulnerabilities that leave businesses exposed to cyber threats.

The aforementioned statement is based on the key findings of a survey conducted by Action1. These are presented here:

Breaches Due to Known Vulnerabilities

The survey found that 10% of the respondents had suffered from a cyber attack in the past year. And, out of them, 47% were through known security vulnerabilities.

49% of the respondents said phishing was the most common attack vector, and over half (54%) reported they lost control of their data due to ransomware attacks.

Lack of Support from Executive Teams

Several IT teams reported that they didn’t receive adequate support for cybersecurity initiatives from upper management. That, according to them, has been a critical threat to the business’s cybersecurity posture.

The teams also reported that they often were too busy with operational issues to be able to adequately take care of cybersecurity.

Inadequate Response Time and Remediation Efforts

According to the respondents, the time taken to identify vulnerabilities, failure to prioritise security issues, and the delays in remediating known vulnerabilities might cost their companies in security breaches.

Not Enough Cybersecurity Awareness Amongst Employees

The survey reported that employees need more time to improve their cybersecurity awareness. That means organisations are more at risk through phishing and other cyber attacks.

Based on these findings, what can businesses do to reduce their risk of cyber threats?

Manage Security Vulnerabilities Better

Since known vulnerabilities are often the ones exploited by threat actors, it is essential for businesses to manage and patch these flaws as soon as possible.

Use Automation to Reduce Cybersecurity Costs

Executive teams might not see any direct benefits of spending on cybersecurity, even though a cyber attack can end up costing the business a lot. However, IT security teams can use automation to lower their costs. This can be useful in arguing their case for a stronger cybersecurity posture.

Improving Cybersecurity Awareness

Since any cybersecurity strategy is only as strong as its weakest link—the employees—it is imperative that they are educated on the threats they might face and how to tackle them.

Communication channels are the preferred mode of social engineering attacks. Data stolen from other sources can be used to customise messages to make them more personalised and appear trustworthy.

With such attacks on the rise, employees should not only be equipped to identify phishing attacks but to also understand the importance of verifying before trusting.

Moreover, threat actors are now also using AI to generate malware, which, depending on how it’s used, might be more sophisticated than the average, run-of-the-mill computer virus.

In other words, businesses need to reduce their reliance on passive cybersecurity training.

Luckily, instead of a six-hour training session, which will be forgotten within the week, there are tools to help with ongoing training and monitoring. One such tool is CultureAI—a platform that helps “improve cybersecurity behaviours and reduce security incidents caused by employees”. 

The platform offers human risk monitoring, security awareness coaching, employee security empowerment, and human risk response.

This platform can help alleviate some of the problems faced by businesses, such as poor cybersecurity awareness among employees, lack of knowledge on how to deal with potential risks, and what to do when an employee is at risk.

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Computers & Software Professional Services Technology

Can Digital Transformation Make the Life Insurance Industry More Empathetic?

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Life insurance is one of those things that regular people don’t fully understand. Calculating premiums is a complex task that takes various factors into account. Then there are different types of life insurance policies, which makes it difficult for someone to choose from. Then there are the anecdotal reports of people not getting a payout because they didn’t have enough coverage.

The thing is, if the beneficiary is making a claim on a life insurance policy due to the death of the policyholder, it’s already a sensitive time for them. If they are told they are not eligible for a payout at that time, it can affect their perception of the company.

And, it will definitely affect how other people close to them view the insurance company.

At the same time, insurance companies have to follow rules as well. They have to ensure that the terms of the policy are being met. 

This conundrum has led to people not trusting insurance companies and “keeping their distance”.

However, there is an unlikely mediator who could help the industry build a better relationship with customers.

The Use of Technology in the Insurance Business

This author has already discussed the benefits of the insurance industry using AI to deliver a better experience to customers. However, digital transformation can be used to improve user experience across the board for all customers.

In fact, insurance software provider, Zinnia, has said that life insurance quoting software products is not the only way to keep customers happy. 

The key is to provide great customer service throughout the process.

The best part is, technology can also make insurance companies show more empathy to clients. 

However, building a relationship starts much earlier than that stage, so here’s how technology can make life easier for customers.

Demystifying the Onboarding Process

This article touched upon how the initial stages of purchasing a life insurance policy are so complicated that they put people off. 

Technology is already making this phase easier through automation.

Insurance companies are leveraging technology to allow potential customers to register themselves quickly and easily. They no longer need to navigate through complex options.

Optimising Customer Communications

With the rise of AI chatbots, insurance companies no longer need humans manning phones. Well, they do, but a vast majority of queries can be answered using automated responses.

In fact, if companies invest in consolidating their customer data, the customer can communicate with the company through any channel of their choice without it being disjointed.

Technology can also be harnessed to customise the user’s profile so they get marketing communications tailored to their needs. That means they get offers and promotions that are relevant to them, and not what they’d consider spam.

Humanising Payouts

As mentioned earlier, when beneficiaries make a claim on a life insurance policy, they are already going through a difficult time. The post-death processes of a loved one can take an average of 420 hours across months.

It makes no sense to make them jump through hoops when they and their families are already grieving.

Using technology, companies have made it easier for claimants to file claims digitally. Others are going the extra mile by using technology to provide support to grieving families. These include grief counselling, funeral assistance, and logistical as well as emotional support.

The Tech–Human Balance

Whilst technology can be an excellent tool, it can never replace the human touch. Insurance companies can use automation and AI to streamline their processes, but empathy has to come from the people. 

However, digital transformation can be very useful in making the lives of their customers easier. That, in turn, will help mitigate some of the “bad press” the insurance business gets. And, eventually, it might even help these companies build stronger relationships with their customers.