Is the dedicated system a panacea for insurance business?
After implementing a few different, bespoke solutions for the Insurance, we asked ourselves: is the claim handling process among different companies similar in any way?
In our experience, it is so.
A dedicated solution
Of course, the devil is always in the details which are based on the character of a particular company and are often unique.
However, the following elements are usually common:
- Receiving a notification and its authorisation by the staff (including verification of rights to a particular claim)
- Selecting a particular execution procedure depending on the insurer
- Handling the claims in different departments (e.g. providing hotel accommodation, inspections, settlements with subcontractors, documentation, etc.)
- Orders for third parties, order processing, settlements
- Communication with the insurer and settlements
Processes management
Managing these processes requires coordination between many departments or third-parties as well as continuous communication with insurers/entities/customers.
It doesn’t get any easier after taking into account that large entities dealing with claim handling often cooperate with many insurers and subcontractors. In addition, each of them has slightly different policies and procedures. The entire process seems complicated, and it is undoubtedly subject to many errors that can occur at any stage of managing the notification. Can you imagine a company efficiently completing these processes without using technology? Actually, it is impossible because the number of steps taken, their complexity, the requirement to meet deadlines impose the need for supporting IT systems.
How can you get efficient technological support? One way might be to create and implement a dedicated solution that supports all processes in the company.
Each stage has great potential in terms of automation (the digital revolution often begins exactly at this point), but we can talk about an actual optimisation only after connecting the aforesaid elements.
Receiving a notification and its authorisation by the staff
Even at the stage of receiving a phone call by the consultant, you can introduce at least several process optimisations through integration with other systems. The VoIP switchboard which constitutes a part of the system allows for displaying a phone number on the consultant’s screen. What is more, the phone number is linked with the insurance policy data that has been imported into the system. Thanks to this, the consultant can view the screen to find out who is calling, what policies they have what notifications they have recently submitted. The appropriate analysis of the policy provisions enables the system to extract the services to which the caller is entitled, and as a consequence, reduce the probability of the consultant’s error or obtaining a particular benefit under false pretences by the caller. This can significantly reduce the time needed for customer authentication.
Selecting a particular execution procedure depending on the insurer
Similarly to the situation described in the introduction, the claim handling processes differ in terms of details among various insurers. What is more, the insurer can introduce additional regulations or require certain actions (e.g. monitoring the reaction time at each stage of handling the claim).
The opportunity to use a predefined (but dynamically configurable) script which can be assigned to a given context (e.g. the type of damage or insurer) once moe reduces the number of errors and shortens the delivery time. From now on, the consultant and other company employees will be “led by the hand” – the system will ask for particular actions at specific times. If necessary, it will remind you about upcoming deadlines. A good example of this can be dynamic forms which suggest what data should be collected during the first call. Thanks to this, the consultant doesn’t have to call the customer again.
Configurability of these scenarios opens up new possibilities for adding or updating the existing procedures in relation to the changing requirements.
Handling the claim in different departments
The claim handling procedure involves many different people (e.g. inspectors, tow truck drivers, financial specialists, etc.). Due to the fact that the consultant has collected all the data demanded by the insurer, such people can focus only on doing their job. The entire documentation, telephone calls, e-mails and photos are automatically added to the description of a given case, so the employees can view the full history at any time.
The ticket system enables the company management to track the current status of cases, the number of finished ones as well as those with an upcoming deadline without any problems.
Orders for third parties, order processing, settlements
The claim handling process often involves a lot of additional entities (e.g. tow truck drivers, inspectors, electricians, etc.). The B2B processes taking place between your company and those entities are not so easy either. They are usually typical of certain subcontractors (e.g. a dedicated price list).
However, it is worth to take a step back – before settling anything, you should choose the optimal subcontractor for a given context. Let’s have a look at the example of choosing the right tow truck drivers: thanks to a mobile application, you are able to track their location in real-time. Providing the information on the drivers’ rates and current reputation (e.g. the average service time) as well means that you can choose the best person at a particular moment.
The selected subcontractor receives a notification on their cell phone. If they accept the order, then they need to confirm each and every step. In addition, the application monitors the time between steps. It gives the possibility to analyse the average service time, the time from confirming the order to arrive at a destination, etc. After the service is completed, the application automatically generates invoices in line with the subcontractor’s price list.
Communication with the insurer and settlements
Due to the fact that all processes are connected in one system, the aggregation of all the documents to be presented to the insurer is very simple. Complementing this with a secure channel of communication with the insurer gives you a fully automated way of handling claims
Reporting
The aforesaid analysis of the average service time is only the beginning of possibilities that open up when using a dedicated system. You can also learn:
- Which of your partners is the most profitable?
- In which region should you expand the list of available tow truck drivers
- With whom can you renegotiate your contracts?
A common database gives you many possibilities. These include the creation of a new report showing the exact data that you currently need to make business decisions.
Conclusion
A good system is one that can optimise the company processes, does not allow users to make errors, is safe, and last but not least, can help you focus on completing your tasks instead of manually repeating the same activities. Our experience shows that the introduction of a dedicated solution leads to increased employee productivity even by 15%. On the other hand, the average service time reduces by 10%. Given the scale of the company and the number of handled claims, you cannot ignore these indicators – they become tangible savings and provide the potential of scaling the organisation.
Our experience shows that the introduction of a dedicated solution leads to increased employee productivity even by 15%.
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