Providing the best possible customer experience while moving toward accurate claim resolution is the resounding mantra of claim departments everywhere, and yet a host of impediments often stand in the way of optimizing this vital chain of events.
However, no challenge is insurmountable. Enhancing customer service and refining the entire process—as Michael J. Roche, senior vice president of claims at Allstate Insurance Company, will explain at the upcoming 14th annual ACE America's Claims Event—involves leveraging fresh technologies and strategies. It also means taking a hard look at your claim operations and their relation to the big picture.
Roche will help kick off this year's ACE conference with an informative keynote address titled, “The Customer and the Claims Process.” (The ACE conference is sponsored by Claims Magazine.) Roche contends that insurers can still do a lot to raise the overall bar for customer service. One case in point is the benefits realized by Allstate's multi-year journey to improve the claim customer experience by implementing a new claim technology platform and drastically shifting the organizational mindset. At his ACE presentation, he will talk about what worked for Allstate and how attendees can adopt some of the same thinking to improve their own outcomes.
A natural starting point is examining the external factors impacting customer expectations, which may or may not be off-kilter with necessary protocols and the terms of coverage. One collective gripe in the P&C realm—and perhaps in insurance in general—is the media's unflattering portrayal of the industry, especially in light of post-Katrina claim controversies and litigation. Aside from merely being a nuisance, the bum rap provided by the media can contribute to customer apprehension, which invariably affects the entire claim experience, starting with the initial exchange. Fortunately, customer leeriness can be combated—comfort level enhanced—rather easily if the insurer treats both the customer and the claim with care.
“Policyholder apprehension toward insurers may also be coupled with the fact that most customers experience claims very infrequently,” he said. “This means they don't necessarily know what to expect when they have a claim.”
Also at play is uneasiness related to the event that sparked the claim.
“There are a lot of emotions and embarrassment that can stem from the event or situation that caused the claim in the first place,” Roche added. “For example, an auto accident could have ensued because of a lapse in judgment or a careless mistake.”
But diffusing customer stress and anxiety can be as simple as adopting an empathetic approach from the get-go.
“The claim experience starts on the first call,” Roche said. “Therefore, the claim professional must be empathetic and patient, yet also able to obtain the necessary information to move claim on its path to resolution as quickly as possible.”
Function-Specific Expertise
Claim professionals must also be prepared to concisely explain the process to the customer. Representatives can often forget to do this in striving toward efficiency and quickness, given heavy workloads.
“It is imperative to take time to enhance the customer's experience without compromising the efficiency of processing the claim,” said Roche. “As you explain the sequence and what to expect, most customers are satisfied and appreciative.”
Bolstering customer satisfaction also means, to a large extent, doing business with people when and where they want to do it. In his ACE keynote, Roche will speak to Allstate's successful web presence and relationships with customers.
“We installed a feature last July called self-service,” he said. “It offers customers more options based on how they want to interact with us. We can keep all parties apprised of the progress of a claim as it moves along via e-mail status updates.”
He'll also briefly allude to how Allstate's incremental approach to Next Gen serves as a model for successfully flattening silos in claim processing. The specific focus will be on reducing cycle time and keeping people informed, but Roche will talk about “measurement at the desk level,” as well—referring to customer input to gauge staff performance.
“Allstate has reinvented the claim-handling process to enhance the customer experience, so I'll share insights about some of the drivers behind these changes,” he said. “We have realized an estimated 30-percent reduction in the average time to inspect, resolve, and settle a claim.”
One crucial element is parallel handling, which aligns the person with the appropriate functional expertise with the task(s) at hand, Roche said. “Now everything is electronic, so we can have one to three people working on different aspects of the claim at the same time.”
Glean more insights on improving your claim customer service experience at Roche's presentation, which begins on Tuesday, June 22nd at 4:30 p.m.
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