Initiating a Digital Assistant for Insurance Users, FMIPA UI Students Win 1st Place in Cigna Innovation Competition

The FMIPA UI contingent consisting of two Actuarial Science students from the 2018 batch, namely Gracella Jovita and Justine Kael Tanady, won first place in the Cigna Innovation Challenge 2020 national competition organized by PT. Asuransi Cigna, a global healthcare company based in New York. This was announced directly by the organizing committee in the winner announcement ceremony held virtually on Monday (21/12) evening.

The innovation initiated by the FMIPA UI team in this competition is chatbot technology or a computer program based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is able to simulate human-like conversations through an automatic communication system on text messages. The innovation refers to one of the two themes offered, namely Innovation in Insurance Sales in the New Normal Era.

To the FMIPA UI Public Relations team, Grace explained, through the chatbot innovation aka virtual robot, both of them are trying to focus on efforts to improve insurance company services to users, both policyholders and prospective policyholders in terms of effective communication, so as to make it easier for users to access insurance services, such as getting insurance policy recommendations that match their personal profile (health, age, expenses), or even buying products without an insurance agent. Prospective policyholders only need to download their identity and fill in the data required by the insurance company.

"There are several advantages that can be obtained with this chatbot innovation as a virtual assistant, including consumers do not need to meet face to face with insurance agents to buy insurance products and recording the database of prospective consumers becomes neater and more structured so that it can minimize errors," said Grace as the team leader to the FMIPA UI Public Relations team.

Justin, his teammate continued, the use of chatbots during a pandemic like today is very relevant. Currently, human space to do various things is very limited, plus if the company gets a lot of questions or requests from customers at the same time, then the use of the chatbot is quite efficient to make it easier for the company to respond to customers.

"Although this Chatbot technology cannot completely replace the role of humans, this digital assistant is quite good at processing requests and providing relevant answers quickly," said Justin.

To win first place, Grace and Justin had to go through a preliminary round, namely designing a proposal regarding the implementation of the innovation they would offer. At this stage, the two faced 92 other teams from all over Indonesia. After being declared to have passed the preliminary round, Grace and Justin advanced to the presentation round, at this stage they presented their chatbot innovation in front of the Cigna Indonesia management team. At this stage, they managed to eliminate 7 other teams to win the title.

Dr. Rokhmatuloh, M.Eng. as the Dean of FMIPA UI appreciated the achievements of his two students. According to him, in accordance with the knowledge gained in lectures, FMIPA UI students must be able to think critically in responding to challenges that occur along with problems that arise in society, and create innovative solutions so that the benefits can be felt by society.

"We are grateful and proud of the achievements of the students of the Actuarial Science Undergraduate Program, FMIPA UI, who have offered innovative products that are relevant to the challenges faced by insurance companies during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this undergraduate study program, FMIPA UI equips students to be able to provide innovative ideas in responding to insurance needs that arise both from the community and the insurance industry, both nationally and globally," said Rokhmatuloh.

The Cigna Innovation Challenge is a scientific paper competition aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students in Indonesia, with the aim of improving students' critical thinking skills.

There are 2 themes raised in this national competition, namely "Programs to improve physical, mental, and financial well-being in Indonesia", and "Innovation in Insurance Sales in the New Normal Era.