Acuity Insurance announced it has successfully launched automated billing chat capability (billing bot) using an artificial intelligence (AI) service. During regular business hours, a customer can start an automated chat at acuity.com. The billing bot is initially designed to handle simple and common queries, allowing Acuity’s billing representatives to focus on more complex inquiries.

“Acuity is constantly innovating and exploring new technologies to improve efficiencies and better meet customer needs,” said Ben Salzmann, Acuity President and CEO. “Our use of artificial intelligence is designed to streamline simple requests while giving customers fast access to our customer service team for interactions that require a human touch.”

Acuity completed the initial launch for billing inquiries in November 2017. Once customers are logged in to their account at acuity.com, they can choose to initiate a chat session. The bot will answer straightforward inquiries, such as questions about payment due dates, amounts due, or how to set up electronic funds transfer (EFT).

Any inquiries that cannot be handled by the billing bot are automatically transferred to a billing representative. All of the AI-enabled conversations were created collaboratively with Acuity’s billing department so the system will respond exactly how a billing representative would to give customers a seamless experience whether they are talking to the bot or a human. Customers can also opt out of the system at any time to chat with a representative.

“We are focused on giving our customers a true omni-channel experience, allowing them to communicate with Acuity through whatever channel they prefer,” said Stacey Haskett, Manager - Business Systems, Acuity. “The project team is very excited about this initial deliverable and will continue to roll out incremental enhancements to the bot in the coming months.”