There has been much made of the future of Claims and the place of people and technology within it; at the insuratech company Lemonade claims management is apparently entirely run through an app. In a world that’s increasingly tech reliant and online, are people still going to have a place in the claims process?
Going by the latest Gracechurch results it would seem so; the key drivers of claims service satisfaction included technology, but also listed communication, speed of service, experience of staff and relationships. Therefore it seems the future of claims will still be reliant on claims staff’s ability to deliver exceptional service, in conjunction with how they leverage technology in the claims process.
Some examples of this are using satellite imagery to quickly review property damage for claims in politically unstable areas, or the use of drone in the air and underwater to access unstable sites such as sunken ships, earthquake hit areas, fire or chemical spills. This will increase efficiency in resolving claims for the customer, while also lowering costs through reducing the adjuster’s time spent on a loss and associated travel costs.
As seen with Lemonade, in the future it is likely that using tech to validate claims up to a certain financial threshold will be common. This will reduce turnaround time from days to hours, and will also allow experienced adjusters to use their time more effectively.
However with innovation comes complications; an increase of technology is causing more ambiguous risks, such as the use of driverless HGVs to transport goods, wearable technology to make health decisions and the use of AI. In cases such as these it is unclear where the risk would lie and how it could be covered. Therefore, as risks become increasingly complicated due to technology and cyber usage, human expertise and innovation will be at the forefront of handling claims when things go wrong.
Either way, technology has and will continue to revolutionise how things are done within claims, and it seems the future will be combining human expertise with the benefits of these new technologies to offer innovative and excellent service. This is why we were proud to receive the Gracechurch Consulting Outstanding Quality Marque for Mid-Market Claims Service, and to score particularly highly in accessibility, communication and technical expertise.
Jessica Onyett, Claims Adjuster