nib launches Australia's first health insurance chatbot

nib health funds (nib) has become the first Australian health insurer to introduce artificial intelligence technology to assist Aussies with their health insurance enquiries.

Known as nibby, the chatbot provides customers with access to simple responses regarding their health insurance. And unlike many other chatbots, nibby is integrated into nib's web platform, allowing it to intelligently move customers to the right sales or claims consultant as a customer’s query becomes more complex, and to offer assistance during key customer service moments.

nib's Chief Information Officer, Brendan Mills, said the virtual consultant reflects the next generation of customer service, providing customers with the ability to interact with the health insurer in the most convenient way for them.

"As our newest member of the customer service team, nibby allows customers to access the information they need at a time that suits them, without having to wait for a consultant," said Mr Mills.

"It's been designed to respond intelligently to our customers meaning it can have a conversation and will be able to handle simple customer service queries," he added.

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence on Amazon Web Services, nibby will also learn from nib's customers becoming smarter and more intuitive over time.

"As nibby builds its knowledge bank it will be able to respond to an infinite number of customer enquiries, supplementing existing employees and freeing them up to deal with more complex issues," Mr Mills said.

"It's an investment that allows us to harness digital technology to grow our business and customer service capability, while maintaining our high level of customer service around the clock."

Working with Amazon Web Services and DiUS, the health insurer was able to move quickly from the development of nibby to bring the new service to market within four weeks.

"Thanks to our partnership we have been able to build nibby in a faster, more agile way, which has reduced the operational complexity and the cost of running and managing the chatbot," Mr Mills said.

"We're seeing the application of AI technology moving ultra-fast with an enormous appetite for our services within the enterprise market to develop cutting-edge industry AI use cases. We are thrilled to be supporting nib in delivering this strategic investment in innovative customer experience technology for its customers," said Mr Losinno, Director, DiUS.

nibby reflects the health insurer's committment to innovation in healthcare and ongoing investment in technology to improve the customer experience and meet the rapidly changing needs of consumers.

"Digital innovation and challenging the status quo through new technologies is part of our culture. We believe there is strong role for technology, including AI, to play in healthcare by empowering customers and improving the way we service them," Mr Mills said.

"We're also looking to use AI to improve operational efficiencies and augment our existing teams for smarter decision making in areas such as customer retention, claims and fraud detection" he added.

Customers can chat to nibby by visiting www.nib.com.au/contact-us via desktop, tablet or mobile.