Businesses incorporate Artificial Intelligence into customer service

TAMPA, Fla. - Amber Beilstein has to stay on top of the care of her 8-year-old dog.

"She has hip dysplasia; she has spinal deterioration, arthritis and liver disease", said Beilstein.

When she has questions, she turns to a vet care on-demand app called Umbrella AI, which uses artificial intelligence.

"The answers that I'm able to get are so quick and accurate versus I'm searching around on the Internet," Beilstein said. "I'm getting all different conflicting answers. Having the option to being able to call a vet through the app or being able to search for vets or search for other answers, just everything's super quick."

The company is one of a growing number of businesses looking to streamline the customer experience through artificial intelligence. Another is the insurance company Kin.

"If the A.I. answers the first question, and then you have another question that's a follow-up related, you can just keep it all in context," said Tyler Clark with Umbrella AI. "So, it's much faster, I think, to get the answer that you're looking for."

"There's a significant expense saving by not having to have, you know, an agency force distributing our product", said Angel Conlin, Kin's chief insurance officer. "We wanted to give customers this ability to just buy online if they don't want to talk to a human agent. When you come in looking for a policy, it's going to have a much more simplified flow. It's a very quick experience. If you want to just buy and write on our website, you can do that in about 10 minutes." 

"Then, if you want to talk to one of our employee agents, you've got that option as well", said Conlin.

She said the AI platform takes care of gathering information about the home.

"At no piece of that process are you having to fill out a 70-question application that asks you about features of your home that you probably don't know anyway, because we've already done that work for you. So, it simplifies the buying process", said Conlin.

For consumers like Beilstein, this new frontier of speedy answers and engagement is helpful to her and her dog.

"A lot of times I'm having issues with her. I just need an answer fast," Beilstein said. "I understand if sometimes you have to go to the vet, obviously, but being able to at least get an idea of what an issue could be, it gives definitely gives me great comfort."