Claims managers are under constant pressure to run a lean claims organization where costs are minimized and customers are satisfied.  On top of their everyday workload, it can be difficult for claims managers to improve—or at least maintain—efficiency goals while continually reaching budget objectives. Taking into account all components of the claims cycle, organizations need to realize that the assignment dispatch process—the steps that occur from first notice of loss (FNOL) through a field inspection assignment—is a likely prospect for streamlining. Dispatching the assignment to the best available resource from the start can mean the difference between a lengthy journey for the claim and reduced settlement time.

Optimizing the dispatch process provides claims managers with the opportunity to not only improve cycle time, but also loss adjustment expense (LAE) and customer satisfaction. An automated dispatch process can improve the customer satisfaction key performance indicator of “kept informed” by providing visibility into the status of the claim.

Since there are many factors that contribute to effectively routing assignments, managers can better realize return on investment (ROI) goals from automating if they carefully analyze their internal workflows first. For this reason, we suggest completing the following five analyses before seeking out dispatch automation:

  • Document and rank business objectives.
  • Audit process failures.
  • Analyze FNOL processes.
  • Measure field appraiser workforce utilization.
  • Determine dispatch organizational structure.

Once claims managers have done a thorough analysis, they can better determine which type of automation tools are ideal to manage the company's dispatch process.

Document and Rank Business Objectives

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