Blazing a trail of innovation

Today’s insurers aren’t often recognized for the hours spent developing solutions that improve the claims process. When you do create such a solution, it is more than likely a game-changer and may contribute to increased policyholder satisfaction.

Claims Magazine created The Trailblazer Award to acknowledge such technological advancements. The award recognizes insurance claims or carrier organizations that make significant, progressive contributions to the claims industry through products or innovations that effectively improve the claims process for insurers and policyholders alike.

Although it might sound like a huge feat, California-based Generali Global Assistance took on the challenge, succeeded, and is 2018’s Trailblazer Award recipient.

Recognizing the problem at hand

The leadership at Generali Global Assistance understood that their claims submission process with one of its largest partners needed to be updated. Generali’s partner, Justfly, received exponential growth in Generali Travel Insurance sales.

As a result, the company witnessed a rise in claims and higher-than-usual call volumes. These factors created a new set of stressors for claims adjusters. Generali quickly realized that it was time to implement a plan that reduced claims turnaround time, increased customer satisfaction and eliminated its backlog of claims.

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Method behind the madness

Motivated primarily by customer satisfaction, Generali’s team began working on a solution to speed up the claims process for Justfly. This meant, launching a new eClaims portal designed for Justfly as well as its brands.

After developing a new eClaims portal, policyholders were able to access the following features under a single platform:

• Begin a new claim/add information and supporting documents to an existing claim.
• Download their description of coverage/policy.
• Track the status of claims online.

Two of the biggest hurdles policyholders face during the claims process are communication and ensuring all necessary documents are in a centralized location. This step in the claims process is paramount. If files are lost, this may mean longer adjudication times and an increase in dissatisfied customers.

It is important for both the carrier and the insured to be able to access all critical documentation when they have questions or simply need them for reference.

Generali’s new eClaims portal lets policyholders communicate with claims representatives, access frequently asked questions, read step-by-step instructions on how to submit a claim, and ensures that customers have all of the documentation needed to submit their claim. Customers can even submit and access claims documents 24/7.

In the end, Generali solved one of the most pressing issues that occur during the typically tedious claims process — manual information gathering and processing. This alone speeds up adjudication, significantly.

After implementing its eClaims portal, Generali reported that 33% of all claims received came via its eClaims portal. Today, Generali has reduced the amount of unnecessary calls it receives and focuses on providing help to more complex problems over the phone.

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Happy partners & satisfied policyholders

After Generali’s eClaims portal rolled out with Justfly — all parties involved were satisfied with the results of the new eClaims system. Generali’s partners at Justfly said:

“The new claims website has been very positively received by our customers as it offers them an intuitive online approach, which has contributed to a more enjoyable customer experience. We look forward to continuing to build on the operational efficiencies provided by the eClaims platform that provides an end to end digital experience to eliminate phone calls and serve customers with greater velocity.”

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Looking toward the future

The claims process is constantly evolving, especially as insurers see a rise in a variety of claims over time. Going fully digital seems to be the way of future claims. At this rate, two things are certain: the insurance industry will continue to grow and will adapt to the many new technologies proven to increase efficiency.

Generali is one shining example of how an insurer can provide top-notch service, all the while, increasing customer satisfaction, and claims adjudication times. As more and more insurers take to technology for the claims process, the many innovations that arise as a result will serve as a learning experience on what and what not to do.

“We’re very proud of the initial success of our eClaims Portal which has received positive feedback from customers in both its ease of use and efficiency,” said Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance. “We are committed to enhancing our products and services through innovation, constantly striving to improve for our partners and their customers. We look forward to building on our innovations to claims in the months to come.”

Generali does plan to make its eClaims portal available to its entire partner base in the near future. The hope is to provide more value to its partners and customers.

Moshe Beauford (moshebeauford@gmail.com) is a freelance journalist, copywriter and blogger. Beauford’s work has appeared in publications such as GeekTime Israel, PasteMagazine, Times of Israel, Property Casualty 360 and Claims.