The art of mixing human interaction and technology
Claims transformation should go beyond technological innovation to develop ‘exponential’ skills and teams.
Editor’s note: This article is part one of a two-part story. Part two will appear on PropertyCasualty360 tomorrow.
Insurers are rapidly integrating advanced technologies and new data sources to facilitate an increasing share of claims. Yet many are not yet enhancing the capabilities and broadening the roles of their claims professionals to exponential levels so they may reap the full benefits of such transformations, particularly in maintaining personal engagement with customers at the moments that matter most.
That sums up perhaps the biggest takeaway from a series of in-depth interviews with chief claims officers representing a dozen large- and medium-sized personal and commercial lines carriers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, conducted by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services.
Today’s tech-savvy claimants are increasingly seeking greater convenience, faster turnaround time and more self-service options — expectations that insurers are attempting to meet with mobile apps, virtual appraisals, and straight-through processing, among other innovations. Digitization initiatives were greatly accelerated during the pandemic, when face-to-face interactions with colleagues and claimants had to be limited or eliminated. Yet these enabling technologies — designed to improve customer experience as well as free up staff from routine tasks — also should be prompting more fundamental changes in the day-to-day work and responsibilities of claims adjusters, managers and fraud investigators.
For example, many professionals could be repurposed to higher-level data analysis, such as managing portfolios of risk rather than individual claims. Others could focus more on coverage trends analysis, fraud detection and dispute resolution. And rather than devoting all their attention to settling losses after the fact, a claims contingent might work more closely with underwriting colleagues who are integrating many of the same emerging technologies and data sources. Some might even leverage their forensic expertise more proactively to support loss control services. One auto insurer CCO interviewed has aligned the company’s risk engineering and claims departments to create a continuum to keep losses from happening in the first place.
The crucial role of human interaction in the digital claims journey
As more technology comes online, a natural follow-up question that’s likely front of mind for many in claims is whether automation will make them redundant? The answer will depend on whether each individual can adapt so they keep adding value to the carrier and the customer’s claims experience. As technology transformations proceed, traditional staff activities such as data collection and verification, loss estimation and claims settlement for simpler claims will increasingly take somewhat of a back seat. But this doesn’t necessarily mean claims professionals will play second fiddle to emerging technology — quite the contrary. Those armed with all these emerging tools should be able to accelerate the evolution of automation and analytics solutions as well as the pace of claims settlement. However, claims leaders interviewed also repeatedly emphasized the importance of maintaining personal engagement when clients need it, which could be a differentiator in an increasingly automated, self-service world. Hence insurers should strive to create a flexible digital experience that capitalizes on the many benefits of basic automation and more advanced artificial intelligence, while allowing live adjusters and claims managers to seamlessly step in if and when their support is needed. In the end, claims professionals are very likely to remain the heart of their function at most carriers, only in different ways than before. That’s why it is important to upgrade their skillsets and broaden their horizons to “exponential” levels (see sidebar) so they may complement automated systems, take advantage of more advanced technologies, and continue to add value for their employers and customers.
Sidebar: What exactly is an ‘exponential’ claims professional?
Advanced technologies and new data sources should increasingly supplement and augment (but not necessarily replace) adjusters, managers, fraud investigators, and other claims professionals. These advances should relieve them from many labor-intensive yet lower-value tasks, while arming them with tools to speed up case resolutions and payments. This should also improve outcomes and ultimately raise customer satisfaction. Exponential claims departments and professionals should therefore have the:
- Training and skills to manage and audit automated results on a case and portfolio level.
- Judgment to quickly determine which tools and data might best serve a particular claim.
- Flexibility to strike a balance between automation and the ongoing need for human engagement.
- Opportunity to offer value-added services internally and externally.
This piece is published with permission from Deloitte. See www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about Deloitte’s global network of member firms. (For more details about the challenges facing insurance company chief claims officers in implementing transformations and suggestions on how they might be overcome, see Deloitte’s full report, “Preserving the human touch in insurance claims transformations: How exponential claims professionals can balance automation and personalized customer service.”)