This time last year, the future of claims was looking increasingly automated. However, we never could have imagined what 2020 would have in store and how it would force everyone around the world to live and become 'virtual'. Insurance and claims are no different. According to the LexisNexis 2019 Future of Claims Report, 95% of auto insurance carriers surveyed were already using or considering using virtual claims processes and 79% were considering or open to the idea of touchless claims. So while the insurance industry was already on its way to fully automating claims pre-pandemic, COVID-19 drastically increased the sense of urgency for insurers to quickly automate claims.

The industry has known it needs to move in the direction of greatly accelerating the use of virtual claims, but before 2020 only small steps had been taken to get there. Then COVID-19 happened, and because of the pandemic, insurers quickly realized they needed to transform and move at lightning speed to get each step of their claims process to function smoothly while virtual. This awakening has already proven to be successful and now is the time for insurers to develop and refine their strategic roadmap to complete the digital transformation for claims handling.