While greater use of technology will reduce the administrative burden and cost of claims, there will still be a strong need for people, delivering the creativity of approach and power of empathy so vital to the role of an adjuster.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the ‘future of insurance claims’ at the Crawford Technical Claims Forum in London, a panel of senior figures from across Crawford considered what constituted a positive claims experience, how that experience might evolve moving forward and what customers can expect from a well-managed claim.
In his opening comments, Glenn Thornton, head of Major Loss, UK & Ireland, outlined some of the primary factors driving innovation in the claims process. These included the push for improved customer service, growing demand for higher quality claims outcomes, the need to limit claims indemnity spend and the focus on keeping overall costs under control.
“Often these factors are interlinked,” he told attendees, but went on to highlight the fact that, “while there is a need to look at how we can process claims more efficiently and at a lower cost, it is critical to ensure that this is not at the expense of customer satisfaction.”
In striving to get that balance right, the industry has made significant advances in developing new tools to assist adjusters – spanning everything from data capture and processing to automated pricing and loss estimation, the panel said.
Greg Smith, president, Canada, said Crawford and the wider industry have taken “quantum leaps” not only in terms of the tools being put into adjusters’ hands, but also in the value those tools deliver.
Douglas Dick, assistant vice president and technical lead, Crawford Global Technical Services, also emphasised the need for improved connectivity in the insurance ecosystem, ensuring claims specialists are aligned with underwriting and broking partners and fully understand the distribution chain and key pressure points in the claims environment.
The panel highlighted how the claims journey is becoming an increasingly data-enabled process and touched upon the immense potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform insurance claims and data use. However, the cornerstone of any AI application will be the quality of the data itself, according to Smith.
“We need data that's robust, precise and plentiful in order for these AI tools to reach their full potential and really drive a positive customer experience and a good claims outcome. As loss adjusters we're on the front line of data collection - we're stewards of the data,”
Smith said.
Better data use will also enable the claims sector and the wider insurance industry to identity risk and potential latent defects far more easily and take steps to reduce the impact of potential losses.
But while the technical triage process is becoming ever more important for determining whether initial loss assessment can be carried out virtually or requires deployment of a loss adjuster, for major insurable events the human touch is still key.
“These are life-defining traumatic events, where you need the empathy, reassurance and understanding that you get from face-to-face contact. I think that need will always be there,” said Glenn Thornton.
The sector also needs to ensure that developments in technology and processes keep pace with changing customer needs. As Dick noted, while Crawford has talented adjusting employees who can solve complex problems, it needs to ensure its employees are empowered to make decisions and execute on technological advances.
“A huge part of how we can keep pace as both an organization and as an industry is through that empowerment, but it starts with hearing the voice of the client, and really understanding their needs,” he said.
Dick said deploying technology to ease the administrative burden of claims will empower Crawford’s employees to be more creative and think more strategically and will free up adjusters to have a greater impact on the lifecycle of the claim, and thus close the tail quicker.
While the panel expected that AI will be utilized more widely in the next few years, they reiterated the continuing need for human interaction, both to review the accuracy of AI implementation, and to keep sight of the personal element at the heart of every claim.
“Any experienced adjuster knows that you're not going to achieve the right outcome and the right result [for the client] without empathy,” Smith concluded.
