Nib switches on 'voicebot' in its support centre

Health insurer nib has launched a 'voicebot' as the first point of contact for customers that call in with a question or issue.

Called nibby voice, the 'voicebot' is expected to assist with automating basic conversations, improving operational efficiency and member experience.  

The voicebot acts as the primary contact when calling nib’s support centre and can conduct privacy checks and ask for standard customer information before transferring members to a consultant.

nibby voice was built using the Amazon Connect cloud contact centre platform, Amazon Lex and open source AI platform Rasa.

It is an extension of nib’s chatbot, nibby chat, which was launched in 2017.

Nib's chief information officer Brendan Mills said since its June launch the 'voicebot' has led to a reduction in call volumes that require interaction with a consultant.

“In its first month alone, we saw a nine percent reduction in call volumes because nibby voice resolved our members’ enquiries on the spot or directed them to our other self-service alternatives, including our mobile app, online services, or website,” Mills said.

“A good example of this is during our usually busy tax time period where we had a 13 percent reduction in calls related to tax statements reaching agents thanks to nibby voice’s self-service solutions.”

Mills said that nibby voice is able to authenticate a member calling in for support by matching their phone number to a policy in half of all cases.

“This allows our consultants to focus on servicing our member’s needs right away, while members can spend less time on the phone to us and more time focusing on their day-to-day activities," he said.

Mills said that nibby chat had, meanwhile, conducted "almost 220,000 chats with members” in the last financial year, “an increase of 33 percent on the previous year.”

“[nibby chat] was able to resolve 65 percent of interactions on-the-spot without directing members to a consultant," he said.

The launch of nibby voice coincided with the company onboarding around 600 consultants onto Amazon Connect, a hosted contact centre platform.

“Prior to June this year, only around 10 percent of our consultants were using Amazon Connect, so to move the remaining 90 percent across in a matter of months is a great milestone," Mills said.