From brokers to insurers,
the industry consensus seems to be that in 2018 we will see an increasingly complex landscape of risks. But how will the claims space be affected?
Insurance Business asked global claims management giant Crawford & Company about the trends that will have an impact on the space next year, and its focus as a business for the coming 12 months.
One of the key trends that will shape not just 2018, but potentially years to come, is the changing nature of risk – which could well be evolving even faster than we realise – according to Clive Nicholls, CEO of Crawford UK & Ireland.
“By and large, in the general insurance sector, I suspect we will continue to see volume go down, but I think we will continue to see severity go up,” Nicholls said.
A range of macro factors, from the potential impact of Brexit, to the cost of building materials and the impact of technology on businesses and even within the home, are all driving an increase in complexity when it comes to risk.
“While there is, broadly speaking, better risk management both in businesses and domestically, I still think that claims will happen – but when they do happen, they are likely to be more costly than they were,” commented Nicholls.
The trend for technology, however, is also presenting businesses with a vital opportunity to improve and gain insights, according to Nicholls.
“By utilising technology we can increasingly do a number of things. We are more readily connected and intertwined. But that also means we are able to respond quicker, and to respond in more detail than we ever were before. We will therefore be able to do more claims from a desk, but we will also increasingly need specialist skills to deal with the more complex upper-end of the claims world,” the CEO explained.
As a business, in 2018 Crawford has its own plans for harnessing technology, focusing heavily on collecting and analysing data.
“An ability to measure means that you can analyse to greater depth, and that then will start to fuel automated intelligence and the likes, so that you have more predictable outcomes,” Nicholls commented.
He added: “We also want to strengthen all of our global service lines, to make sure that we have better strength and depth – and not just in the UK. The principal change in focus is for us to maximise that globally.”
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