Author: Mark Hadaway

Customer retention is the not-so-hidden war taking place within the insurance sector and as technology advances, creating more opportunity for differentiation in the claims journey and customer satisfaction, the battle is only going to intensify.

In this contributed article, Paul Wishman, EIS Program Director, who has a proven track record of improving performance through innovation, discusses the value of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in gaining the competitive advantage. 

“Our acquisition of Metromile’s Enterprise Business Solutions coincided with a recent report from Accenture and a spate of LinkedIn posts from some within the insurance industry that highlighted the friction that still exists within the claims experiences – and served as a timely reminder that customer experience is the area where the greatest opportunities exist.

To help encapsulate the scale of concern, Accenture found that 31% of claimants were not fully satisfied with their home and auto insurance claims-handling experiences over the past two years. Among the top concerns were settlement speed (cited by 60%), followed by issues with the closing process (cited by 45%).

Not surprisingly, dissatisfaction with the claims experience is a primary reason customers switch insurers. According to the report, 30% of dissatisfied claimants said they had changed carriers in the past two years, and an additional 47% said they were considering it. 

Overall, unhappy consumers could represent as much as $34bn in premiums annually and as much as $170bn over the next five years.

AI

However, AI and a range of other technology solutions can now improve the claims customer experience. 

Accenture found that 79% of claims executives that were surveyed believe automation, AI, and data analytics can add value across the entire claims value chain, from flagging fraudulent claims to damage assessment and loss estimation, reserving, adjusting, processing optimisation, and subrogation.

Further, Accenture found that 65% of insurers plan to invest $10m or more in these technologies over the next three years, which spells bad news for technology laggards.

From my own experience, I can attest that AI can replace rules-based applications, which frequently require manual interventions, and introduce enormous efficiencies. 

And it makes sense to leverage AI for decision-making across the claims value chain too.

Plus, insurance carriers are inundated with structured and unstructured data. By leveraging AI and cloud-native technologies, carriers can better ingest and analyse data, making quicker and better decisions while at the same time minimising overheads and, most importantly, offering claimants an improved customer experience.

Technology

While the Accenture report focuses primarily on the impact AI can have on improving claims, many other complementary technologies also can help insurers align with the claims value chain and make sure they’re responsive to customer needs.

These opportunities include harnessing the right ecosystem of technologies to make it easier to collaborate with essential partners across the value chain, including third-party administrators, enabling more straight-through processing that liberates adjustors to focus their efforts on more complex incidents.

All of this can help improve the customer experience as well as overall satisfaction. 

But as customers increasingly seek insurance providers that offer the best service, a carrier’s interest in improving the claims experience is also a matter of healthy self-interest, and I look forward to continuing to solve root problems and demonstrate enhancements across claims operations and the customer experience.”

Less than a month remains until the innovative ClaimsTech Live event takes place at Village Underground, Shoreditch on 15 September.

Themed ‘Show me happy customers (and the money!)’, the fully immersive ILC event is being widely supported by the insurance industry, with Aviva, Collingwood, ERS, LV and Marshmallow among the major insurers taking part.

ClaimsTech Live 2022 will showcase the latest in product development through a number of cutting-edge demonstrations, while attendees will also hear key people within the sector share their experiences and insights into the trends and technologies shaping the claims space through a number of peer-to-peer interviews.

Supported by Headline Sponsor Sightcall, Gold Sponsors Solera Audatex, CoreLogic, Digilog, DWF360, LexisNexis, and Verisk and Silver Sponsor Synergy, ClaimsTech Live 2022 is the latest in a full calendar of digital and physical events taking place throughout the year. 

This includes two digital events – the first took place in June and can be seen here – as well an ongoing series of interviews with ClaimsTech partners.

To secure a ticket or support the event please email ILC Sales Executive Jon Hutchinson jon@iloveclaims.com or ILC Head of Events Rachael Hunt rachael@iloveclaims.com.

The UK government has unveiled plans which could see self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2025, with some automated vehicles on motorways as early as next year.

Backed by an investment of £100m, it is creating new legislation to accelerate the roll out of automated vehicles which it believes could create 38,000 new jobs and add £42bn to the UK economy. 

Of the £100m investment, £34m will be dedicated to research to enhance safety with a further £20m to kick-start self-driving projects and services, such as airport shuttle pods and home deliveries.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said, “The benefits of self-driving vehicles have the potential to be huge. Not only can they improve people’s access to education and other vital services, but the industry itself can create tens of thousands of job opportunities throughout the country. Most importantly, they’re expected to make our roads safer by reducing the dangers of driver error in road collisions.

“We want the UK to be at the forefront of developing and using this fantastic technology, and that is why we are investing millions in vital research into safety and setting the legislation to ensure we gain the full benefits that this technology promises.”

AA President Edmund King said, “The automotive world is changing rapidly and so the government is right to embrace the positive changes offered by this new technology and back it by funding research and putting forward legislation. Assisted driving systems, for example, autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control, are already helping millions of drivers stay safe on the roads.It is still quite a big leap from assisted driving, where the driver is still in control, to self-driving, where the car takes control. However, the ultimate prize, in terms of saving thousands of lives and improving the mobility of the elderly and the less mobile, is well worth pursuing.”