There have been some excellent papers published recently (PwC’s Claim to Fame and
Accenture’s Claims at a Crossroads publications are examples), highlighting the current state of play in insurers’ claims operations, and the need to undertake significant transformation in order to remain competitive, or even just survive, in the future insurance world.
Customer Experience
Today’s insurance customer expects transparency, honesty, flexibility and reassurance, in addition to ‘having their claim paid’. It’s no longer good enough to leave them on the receiving end of your claim process, with fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
This means we need to take existing, historically developed claims models and totally rethink them, putting the customer’s experience at the center of everything. The transformation process must begin here, otherwise it’s just another deck-chair shuffle.
People
Then there is the challenge of attracting, retaining and motivating highly skilled claims professionals. It’s a sad reality that we have fewer claims professionals today than a decade ago. In tough financial times, insurers have shed claims staff and offshored claims operations, or outsourced them.
The Accenture survey revealed that claims professionals spend almost half their day on activities that do not impact on the claim outcome.
Imagine what could be achieved if this wasted talent and skill was channelled towards productive claim outcomes!
The future claims professional will work in a highly collaborative and distributed environment that is extended to include valued vendors and suppliers, and the customer. The key to becoming a successful claims professional is to surround yourself with experts. It’s not about having all of the answers yourself; it’s about knowing where to find the expertise.
Insurers who are leading the way in this area encourage close working relationships between claims staff and suppliers, in some cases having embedded staff to foster greater collaboration.
Technology
The pace of change created by new technology, particularly in the claims environment, is outstripping the ability of some insurers to comprehend and understand what this technology can deliver.
Imagine trying to explain the concept of iTunes and iPods to a record store owner 25 years ago and you’ll get some idea of the challenges we face today.
Technology provides the foundation for change, beyond traditional green-screen legacy systems. It offers tremendous opportunities to streamline processes, create mobility and generate future flexibility. Rich claims data can be captured, analysed and shared in real time, significantly reducing claim life cycles, improving claim decisions and generating positive customer experiences.
Importantly, all stakeholders within the claim can have access to claim information, promoting transparency and collaboration in claim outcomes between brokers, loss adjusters, repairers and customers.
What’s needed is a holistic approach to the future claims model that incorporates customer experience, people and technology collectively in a fundamental move away from traditional models and piecemeal improvement programs.
This is a slightly amended version of an article written by Darren Trott. It has been shortened to make it suitable for web publishing.
