The new normal for claims
Insurers and their customers want the same thing: faster claims, self-service/automation and customer satisfaction.
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way nearly everything, everywhere, is operating, and the insurance industry is particularly impacted, especially for claims processing. The industry was obligated to make quick changes, from employees working from home to rapidly increasing the virtual claims handling option to promote social distancing. Given the early feedback on the success of these changes, my bet is that virtual claims handling will quickly become the rule, not the exception.
As we reflect on 2020, I believe the industry will view our COVID-19 claims response as the tipping point for virtual claims handling, and the accelerator for overall claims automation. Since adjusters have significantly reduced travel to perform on-site inspections for claims, it’s never been more important for insurers to rely on data, analytics and customer-submitted photos to process and pay auto claims quickly and accurately. LexisNexis Risk Solutions conducted a study on the future of claims before the pandemic, and the research revealed that carriers were already embracing the value of virtual claims options, with 95% using or considering virtual claims processes. Touchless claims processing was also growing in popularity, with 79% of carriers surveyed stating they are considering or open to the idea.
So why hasn’t the industry gone fully virtual yet? On the carrier side, the reluctance seems to be driven by the concern that automation could introduce more errors and a higher risk of fraud into the non-complex claims process. Consumers have expressed similar fears in the lack of human oversight to check the accuracy and that potential glitches could negatively affect their claim, but these fears are led by customers who have not gone through the process of a virtual claim. The good news from the study is that carriers already using claims automation report a reduction in touches, faster cycle times, increased employee productivity, lower loss adjustment expense and higher customer satisfaction.
Based on our research, I believe claims automation across our industry will be put into overdrive as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the perfect storm: insurance carriers need to leverage technology and automation now more than ever, with travel, meetings and in-person claims analysis rendered nearly impossible. And consumers are now doing Zoom calls at home, ordering their food online and having virtual doctor’s appointments from their phones. Technology is being embraced at both ends of the spectrum and more widely accepted today in our culture.
Insurers and their customers want the same thing: faster claims, self-service/automation and customer satisfaction. Much like other recent innovations that have happened in difficult times — did you know a start-up engineering company in Italy used 3D printers to quickly create the valves used in ventilators? — COVID-19 will push the insurance industry to innovate and embrace automation and automate claims processing. And insurers who don’t will be quickly left behind.
Bill Brower (william.brower@lexisnexisrisk.com) is vice president, claims for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
Related: