The role that claims management functions play in an insurer's long-term strategy has changed dramatically. No longer are claims cost or expense metrics the primary measures of a successful claims organization. The ability to provide a highly consistent and personalized claim service experience is a must for insurance carriers in both high- and low-frequency claims environments. Just watch any given NFL football game to see that the policyholder is king, and that claims service is now an essential cog in their value proposition.

This new operating environment is not without challenges. There are a host of factors that an insurer must address in order to deliver a comprehensive response to policyholders' vast needs. In short, policyholders expect flawless delivery by a uniform, fully integrated provider. To meeting claimants' preferences while ensuring satisfaction and fostering retention, insurance organizations must:

• Not only support policyholders regardless of the difficult times, but also become more focused to turn a negative experience into a positive one.
• Optimize touch points and opportunities throughout the claims process to improve the policyholder experience.
• Understand each policyholder's unique needs and marshal the strength of the total claims value chain in response.
• Guide claims adjusters through the appropriate protocols and considerations crucial to adequately address each policyholder's unique needs.
• Consistently provide the aforementioned service and noticeable value to insureds in a cost-effective, scalable operating environment.

To effectively address these challenges head-on, insurance carriers must align business strategy with business capability, and then create the appropriate supporting resources. A natural and fitting place to start down this path is the claims business process. In order to achieve an optimal outcome for each and every claim, insurers must instate best practices and optimizing the entire claim process. Specifically, there are five key steps that insurers can take here to build a closer, more ideal relationship with policyholders.

1. Change the view of the claims service experience.Adopt a more holistic philosophy about what the claims experience means to your insurance organization as a whole. Instead of viewing claims interactions as mere transactions, carriers should instead view them as opportunities. How do we deliver on our obligations and simultaneously exceed policyholder expectations? How do we change service processes without bringing our organization down to its knees? Insurers need to exploit their total value chain in support of a total claims service experience. This can be accomplished by matching capabilities to a holistic view of service so as to orchestrate the right response for each policyholder.