The insurance sector of tomorrow
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A pioneer of AI-powered insurance WRIT TEN BY
L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY
A LE X PAGE
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With its pioneering use of artificial intelligence and big data, Sunshine Insurance Group is disrupting the insurance sector in China
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rtificial intelligence (AI) may be in its infancy but it’s set to radically transform the way we do business. As the cutting-edge technology gains
more traction, it could be argued that no industry is more ripe for disruption than the data-rich insurance
sector where everything from customer service to claims processing has the potential to be enhanced. A recent study from Tata Consultancy Services reported that the insurance sector has invested $124mn in AI compared to an average of $70mn invested by other industries. In China, Sunshine Insurance Group has emerged as a gleaming example of how insurance firms should ready themselves for this seismic shift.
BIO
Zhenbin Xu is a seasoned technology leader with world class experiences building highly secure, reliable software and internet-scale services powered by big data, AI and machine learning, for over a billion users. Starting his career with a successful tele-communication startup company in China for one year, Xu joined a software startup on the US East Coast for one year, then moved to the West Coast to join Microsoft in 1998. He worked there for 19 years, with a few years in between working for Microsoft’s Search Technology Centre Asia in China, before joining Sunshine Insurance Group in Beijing in early 2018 to oversee its Big Data and AI strategy and implementation. Reporting to Sunshine Group’s CEO, he also spearheads the group’s longterm technology transformation strategy. Zhenbin has a unique combination of business acumen with technology breadth and depth, a deep understanding of both US and Chinese industry as well as culture, and a startup mentality. He has deep expertise in browser development and web technology, having been a key technical leader for Microsoft’s IE core team and formation of HTML 5 Standard. He worked with Microsoft’s prestigious new Operating System (code name Midori) team for three years incubating future general OS and technologies. In the last few years Xu has held Engineering Leadership roles on Bing Search Engine, Bing Ads and Microsoft Cortana. Key achievements include the founding of Microsoft Internet Security Center Asia and the creation of a security product with 265M installation, 60M DAU within 6 months of release; invention of technology/strategy that generated hundreds of millions of revenue for Bing; delivery of a brand new ad platform/product within one year with committed revenue of $1bn+; incubation of Microsoft Mobile Edge browsers; and development of Cortana Smart Speaker Invoke.
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One person at the helm of Sunshine
paradigm shift, Sunshine
Group’s AI strategy is Zhenbin Xu,
Insurance Group has delved
President’s Office and Chief AI
deep into what AI could offer
Scientist at Sunshine Insurance
the industry.
Group. “The way I look at it, we are at
Xu’s objective is a far-reach-
a transition in time in terms of
ing one: he has worked diligently
technology,” Xu explains. “If we
to transform the company into
define an era by its technology then I
a technology-driven one –
would say we have been through the
enhancing the firm’s culture,
PC internet time, then we went
management and business
through the mobile internet time.
model – and he has also helped
Now we are entering what I call the AI
to drive the insurance group’s AI
or ubiquitous computer era, whereby
and data strategy. Blending both
more and more smart devices are
a people-oriented and technolo-
entering people’s lives, and AI could
gy-driven approach, Xu believes
be applied to them.” Recognising this
that Sunshine Insurance Group
Click to watch: ‘Sunshine Insurance Group - Company overview’
is leaving its mark on the sector. “One of the unique aspects of Sunshine Insurance Group is its strong work culture and vision,” says Xu. “We want to create a financial group that fulfills customers’ multiple needs around financial security and protection. That’s one of the reasons why today Sunshine Insurance Group is extending outside of the core business – insurance is our core business but we also have an internet finance and healthcare function.” “We are also a very technology-driven company. Sunshine Insurance
“ If we define an era by its technology then I would say we have been through the PC internet time, then we went through the mobile internet time. Now we are entering what I call the AI or ubiquitous computer era” — Zhenbin Xu, President’s Office and Chief AI Scientist at Sunshine Insurance Group
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Group is one of the top insurance
Group is frequently cited as a China
companies in China and compared to our
Top 500 Enterprise and a China Top
peers we are very technology focused
100 Service Company by China Enter-
and agile. Today there are more smart
prise Directors Association (CEDA).
devices and entry points for people to
Three years after the establishment of
interact, it is still unclear how insurance
its property and casualty company,
companies should adapt to this transition
Sunshine Property and Casualty
– this has presented an opportunity for
Insurance Co. Ltd, it has also surpassed
Sunshine whereby we can invest in AI
71 competitors to become one of the top
with a distinct strategy and product to
eight insurance companies in the region.
best serve customers. We see it as
Delving into the growing field of AI, Xu
a chance to become a market leader.”
is excited for what the future holds.
It seems that this distinctive approach is
Today Sunshine Insurance Group is
paying off: today, Sunshine Insurance
exploring the use of virtual agents,
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WE FOCUS ON AI Zhongke Guoli Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. is the industrialization main body of the intelligent information research results of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is an artificial intelligence high-tech company that provides intelligent operation solutions, and promotes the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ intelligent semantics, knowledge management, intelligent search, and natural language leadership. The application of technology scenes is grounded.
WWW.KNOWLOGY.CN 1805, Twin tower-A, Jing twelve road, Ding Mao, Zhenjiang, Jiansu Province
“ In the future, our goal is to become the best adapter of the AI technology” — Zhenbin Xu, President’s Office and Chief AI Scientist at Sunshine Insurance Group
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voice technologies, image technologies, video technologies, smart devices and natural language processing (NLP) – and this is just the start. “There are a lot of touch points within our operation where we interact with customers,” Xu adds. “For all the cross points, if you can leverage AI technology, through voice and emotion recognition, face recognition, liveness detection, micro expression analysis, optical character recognition, natural 10
language understanding, knowl-
Click to watch: ‘Sunshine Insuran Group Campus’
edge graph and image-based damage assessment, then we can
the workforce and promoting more
improve the customer experience
data-driven projects.
and speed up the entire process.
“We think big data will also allow
Customers today expect faster
us to provide more differentiated
services, more reliable services and
products to our customers,”
more natural ways to interact with
comments Xu. “For example, in terms
our services. Nowadays we can use
of product pricing, big data definitely
AI technology to achieve that.”
helps us give a more accurate
Leveraging the vast amount of data
service and, in a lot of cases, a much
at its fingertips, Sunshine Insur-
better price to our customers.”
ance Group has also embarked
Xu points out that AI and big data
on a pioneering ‘Data Sunshine’
could also help to fight against one of
strategy to aid the company’s
the costliest elements of the insur-
transition to a more data-driven
ance industry: fraud. By preventing
enterprise. This involved educating
and detecting fraud this will help to
nce 11 reduce the premium for the compa-
Situated in Weifang City in east
ny’s customers, as overhead costs
China’s Shandong province,
will be reduced. On top of this, the
Sunshine Union Hospital stands as
firm is also tapping into other
the country’s first hospital founded
emerging technologies like block-
by an insurance group. Additionally,
chain and usage-based insurance
in its short history, it has also
(UBI) to stay ahead of the curve.
passed the highest standard of
Sunshine Insurance Group has
international medical services and
already proven itself to be a pioneer
management (the Joint Commission
of new technology although interest-
International Accreditation Stand-
ingly, the firm is also exploring new
ards for Hospitals, 6th edition).
sectors and avenues for disruption.
“With our hospital, I believe we
Take for example its latest foray into
tried to achieve two things: firstly,
the healthcare sector with the
we tried to figure out how to combine
company’s own hospital.
insurance with medical treatment. w w w. s i n o s i g . c o m
For example, if you do a health exam at
talent in the sector, recognising that
the hospital you can have the data
these people not only need to be well
available to the insurance part of the
versed in insurance operations, they
business electronically to speed up
also need to be technology-savvy
underwriting and reduce premium.
individuals so that Sunshine Insurance
“Secondly, we also aimed to build
Group can grow its own technology
a first-class hospital using smart AI technologies. It is a technology-rich
“Today many firms rely on outside
facility: we are exploring the latest
companies to provide a technology
AI-enabled digital services and tools to
product for them; the past model
improve the efficiency and the customer
doesn’t work well in this new AI era,”
friendliness of all hospital operations.”
Xu says. “We have to start to consider
With such a far-reaching remit, Xu 12
capabilities internally.
how we can develop our own big data
notes that the firm has worked
and AI capabilities. We need data
diligently to attract and retain the best
scientists. We need AI scientists. We
need the ability to even produce our
our customer experience and
own AI product. That is quite a change:
become a market leader. We’re not
it requires a special company culture,”
just thinking about how we can have
he adds. “Culture is very important
better profits – what my team brings
because without the right culture you
to the company is ‘value innovation’.
cannot hire the right technology talent.”
We’re not thinking about what our
Sunshine Insurance Group has
peers are doing in the Chinese
come leaps and bounds since it was
insurance industry. We’re thinking
first founded over a decade ago. Now,
about where society is moving to,
Xu believes the firm is upending the
how our consumers are changing
insurance sector by becoming an
and how we can serve our customers
early adopter of AI.
with best value and quality of service,
“In the future, our goal is to become
and basing our strategy on that.”
the best adapter of AI technology,” he says. “It is truly helping us to improve
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