Evolving field underwriting with Rovr AI
A message from Katarina Nikolic, Vice President & Chief Corporate Underwriter, BMO Insurance
Updated 
4 min. read
At BMO Insurance, we’re continually evolving through digital transformation and advisor empowerment. Rovr AI, your AI-powered digital assistant designed to evolve field underwriting has demonstrated the value of large language models (LLMs) to transform how insurance advisors and MGA’s operate. Rovr improves efficiency, enhances the customer experience, and supports decision making tools. It emphasizes the future role of hybrid intelligence complimenting human expertise to deliver superior services and client outcomes.
Rovr AI is not intended to replace human underwriting or the field underwriting process, but it is designed to help advisors Explore, Uncover, & Assist during the application and quoting process.
Insight #1: Explore
Advisors are not equipped, nor do they have the medical training required to navigate the complexities of their client’s medical history. Human field underwriters are important in the process and differentiate their efforts on large and often complex cases.
However, for those simple cases where advisors are writing multiple applications, Rovr AI helps anticipate possible underwriting outcomes using natural language. It can explore the possible medical rating, and allows the advisor to anticipate if a client is insurable.
Take diabetes and build for example - some of the most common impairments seen in underwriting. 1 in 10 Canadians aged 20-79 has diabetesFootnote 1. Whether Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, medical underwriting decisions are based on several risk factors including (but not limited to) age, date of diagnosis, and stability of blood sugar readings. Mortality is further influenced by an individual’s co-morbidities such as cholesterol, hypertension, build, lifestyle, and smoking status, amongst other risk factors that determine overall mortality risk. Underwriting decisions are highly variable and can range from standard in a well controlled Type 2 diabetic, to a decline for someone who has a high Hemoglobin A1C with associated risk factors.
Rovr can also aggregate multiple impairments to help advisors make an informed decision during the field underwriting process. Each decision will ultimately be based on the complete review of the underwriting file.
Insight #2: Uncover
As an advisor, have you ever put substantial effort into a file, only to find out that your client was medically declined? Have you ever come across a situation where your client thinks they are insurable - only to find out your underwriter thinks otherwise?
Most clients don’t understand the complexities of their medical history, nor how insurance companies assess their insurability and how premiums and mortality ratings are calculated. Although most insurance policies are issued at standard rates, there are many impairments or pending investigations that could lead to a case being rated or postponed. These difficult and surprising conversations often take place after an underwriting decision has been provided, leading to a disappointing result for the advisor and their client.
Rovr AI can assist in these conversations before an application is taken, by acting as a digital underwriting assistant to help you uncover the insurability of your client. Preparing an illustration that reflects a more accurate assessment helps prepare you and the client for what to expect. This ultimately increases the chance the policy will get placed and removes friction in the buying process, while simultaneously reducing wastage for both you and the insurer. Advisors can focus on their strength, which is providing high-quality advisory services and financial planning for their clients.
Insight #3: Assist
Advisors currently spend a significant amount of time searching for and referencing information across multiple source documents to accurately answer client queries. These tasks are time consuming, cumbersome, and often involve navigating through multiple sources. Advisors often end up delegating these tasks to their assistants or take the path of least resistance to decrease the administrative burden. This manual search process increases the risk of missing critical information, leading to potential inaccuracies in client preparedness, advice, and delayed processes.
Rovr AI offer advisors the time to provide high-quality advisory services to focus on needs analysis and building client relationships. Rovr can help assist in increasing overall productivity and the ability to deliver efficient and accurate client support.
The success of Rovr AI has underscored the potential for AI to help streamline broker interactions, improve the advisor experience, and enhance service delivery. With its proven ability to reduce manual effort, support decision making, and improve user satisfaction, Rovr has laid the groundwork for broader digital acceleration across BMO Insurance.
For full details on Rovr AI, please visit bmorovrai.com.
Disclaimer:Insurer: BMO Life Assurance Company1057E
Footnote 1 details Diabetes among Canadian adults
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