There is significant industry focus on artificial intelligence, chatbots, and automation within insurance.
The idea is compelling. Instead of spending hours pulling together reports, searching through spreadsheets or chasing information from different teams, you simply ask a question and receive an answer.
- “Show me my income this month compared to last month.”
- “Which clients are generating the most premium?”
- “Which contracts are approaching renewal?”
At gpm, this is exactly what we’re building with FIN, our AI-powered chatbot for inFOCUS.
But there’s an important reality that often gets overlooked: AI is only as good as the data behind it.
Why AI Needs Structured Data
For AI to deliver meaningful answers, it needs information that is consistent, accurate and structured. Something we talk a lot about at gpm!
If key information is spread across emails, Word documents, personal spreadsheets and different systems, AI cannot reliably understand it.
This isn’t really an AI problem; it’s a data problem.
For example, if different teams record the same information in different ways, a chatbot has no way of knowing which interpretation is correct.
What seems like a simple question can quickly become difficult to answer if the underlying data isn’t standardised.
That’s why creating good data foundations is often the most important step in any AI journey.
The Role of Standardisation
One of the key principles behind inFOCUS is the use of standardised data fields.
Many of these align with the Core Data Record (CDR) standards already used across electronic placing platforms and the wider London Market.
The more consistently information is captured, the easier it becomes for systems to:
- Exchange information
- Produce meaningful reporting
- Support compliance requirements
- Deliver AI-driven insights
Standardisation may not be the most exciting part of technology transformation, but it is often the most valuable.
Why People Still Use Spreadsheets
Of course, technology alone doesn’t solve the problem.
HABIT remains one of the biggest barriers to change.
Many people have built their own ways of tracking information over time. Colour-coded spreadsheets, personal trackers and manual reporting processes often exist because users need visibility that their systems haven’t historically provided.
These workarounds serve a purpose. But the challenge is that they also create duplicate data, inconsistent information and additional manual effort.
The goal isn’t to remove visibility, it’s to provide better visibility directly from the system itself.
Better Reporting Starts Earlier Than You Think
One question we sometimes hear is:
“Is there any point capturing data now if the inFOCUS platform doesn’t yet support the entire workflow?”
Our answer is yes!
The sooner data is captured in a consistent format; the sooner organisations can begin benefiting from it.
Even before a process is fully end-to-end, structured contract and pipeline data can provide valuable insights into:
- Business performance
- Pipeline activity
- Trading relationships
- Growth opportunities
- Operational bottlenecks
Every month that information remains outside a system is another month where those insights are unavailable.
More importantly, it’s another month where new habits aren’t being established.
Building Trust in AI
Perhaps the biggest challenge isn’t technology at all. It’s trust.
Like any reporting tool, users need confidence in the answers they’re receiving. That confidence comes from transparency, consistency and experience.
People will naturally compare outputs, sense-check results and validate information. That’s exactly what they should do.
Trust isn’t built overnight, it’s built through repeated use, accurate results and confidence in the underlying data.
Looking Ahead
Our inFOCUS chatbot FIN is being designed to make reporting and insight dramatically simpler:
- Instead of creating reports, users will be able to ask questions.
- Instead of searching for information, they’ll be able to find answers.
- Instead of spending time manipulating spreadsheets, they’ll be able to focus on understanding what the data is telling them.
But none of that starts with AI, it starts with capturing the right information, in the right place, in the right format.
gpm deliver intuitive, easy-to-deploy cloud-based insurance broking solutions.
Interested in finding out more about gpm’s inFOCUS platform? Contact us today.