Japan Co-op, a direct primary organization of mutual aid enterprises operated by prefecture branches (only Kanagawa run by the national office), faced unprecedented congestion on the call line at various points due to an increasing number of claims for so-called deemed hospitalization* under the seventh wave of the Covid-19 pandemic after July 2022.

*deemed hospitalization: The condition of an insurance subscriber with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 becomes a recipient of hospitalization benefits even under recuperation at home or accommodation.

Mr. Osawa said, “While we cope with this situation, such as how to lead users to My Page (dedicated page for plan members) on our website, the line had been still under severe congestion and we need to take a new measure to address the issue. Then approached to BELLSYSTEM24, already been the contractor of outsourcing our part of fire insurance division and the co-examiner of the new system, whether the ekubo Voice LITE, an AI voicebot cloud service, can be introduced urgently.”

BELLSYSTEM24's ekubo Voice LITE, one of the entry models of its original AI voicebot cloud service named ekubot®, operates in reception with automated voice response to handle untaken inbound calls among too much to take during spike.

EEven before the Covid-19 pandemic, both Japan Co-op and BELLSYSTEM24 worked together to plan the implementation of ekubot VoiceLITE, an automation system of standardized responses in reception to stabilize and speed-up the billing process in insurance claims against natural disasters.

Mr. Osawa said, “We then consulted with BELLSYSTEM24 about applying this ongoing implementation plan into processing claims for mutual insurance for Covid-19.”

At the request of Japan Co-op, BELLSYSTEM24 launched a project to achieve automation of the system processing mutual insurance claims for Covid-19 rapidly by a month.

“What worried us most was if automatic voice response alone was able to complete each call and if customers might leave the call because they were unfamiliar with it to understand,” said Mr. Osawa.

To address such concerns, BELLSYSTEM24 built a system of claim applications manipulable only by easy dial and voice controls, with automated response scenarios co-designed with Japan Co-op, based on the accumulated expertise of operations in the insurance industry.

Mr. Osawa said, “BELLSYSTEM24 provided detailed advice to us based on their expertise and past successes. This resulted in polishing the initial scenario we had drafted to a more practical one.”

Also, BELLSYSTEM24 offered flexible follow-ups for concerns said by Mr. Osawa as such “We were also worried that the limited number of lines of ekubot VoiceLITE might cause a situation where some calls cannot go through,” by setting up multiple numbers of phone lines to prepare for adjusting in accord to the fluctuations of inbound calls.

The collaboration between Japan Co-op and BELLSYSTEM24 brought about the realization of the automation system operating mutual insurance claims for Covid-19 in just one month from its requirement definition through construction to implementation.

Mr. Osawa looked back at the initiative of ekubot Voice LITE implementation under the covid-19 pandemic which accomplished dealing with the increased claim applications with stable and prompt manners in Japan Co-op as follows:

“Fortunately, BELLSYSTEM24 responded to our requests in a flexible manner to get closer to what we aim for based on their diverse expertise and experiences in the circumstances that compel us to cope with sudden changes in business volume, changes in payment terms, etc. during a coronavirus pandemic, and most obviously in 2022.”

In addition, “The easy obtaining of ekubot Voice LITE was effective in our success in adjusting the number of call lines up to the level of work pressure,” added Mr. Osawa.

He expressed forwarded prospects of Japan Co-op after the achievement this time to develop the utility of ekubot Voice LITE in the field of natural disaster insurance claims.

“We are going to put the plan of utilizing ekubot Voice LITE in the field of natural disaster insurance into action to deal with temporal congestion on the call line in reception operations, in sharp contrast with reaching the end of its role in covid-19 insurance claim on the decline of its number after the change handling method of deemed hospitalization applied in September 26, 2022.”

BMr. Osawa indicated their high hope to deploy their success in the automation of claims for mutual insurance into other fields.

“We have been outsourcing our call center operation in night time and holidays (except fire report reception in 24/7 response) for many years to BELLSYSTEM24, and they are familiar with businesses in each of the prefecture. We can trust BELLSYSTEM24 to perform our work because they address our questions and requests properly and sincerely. We would like their continued support and cooperation in mutual insurance claims processing and ekubot Voice LITE operation. We also expect that they will proactively propose efficient services in terms of increasing the service level of our subscribers and improving our productivity as digital technologies evolve.”