Not every industry can say its time is now, but for insurers the global COVID-19 pandemic has seen the industry really step up to the plate. The crisis has seen carriers accelerate innovation and partnership plans and adjust to the demands of remote working, all while supporting their millions of customers nationwide and even globally.
Chief Claims Officers from all major insurance carriers in North America came together this summer at the Connected Claims Virtual, a Reuters event. The timing could not have been better. Right in the eye in the pandemic, Chief Claims Officers and senior claims executives shared insights and strategies that are shaping the future of the industry.
At the event Connected Claims collected insights, experiences and strategies from Chief Claims Offers from carriers like Allstate, Texas Mutual, Liberty Mutual, The Hanover, Metlife, Kemper, Prudential and Erie Insurance and created a post-event report. As a sponsor of the report, our VP of Technology, Derek Roberti, also shared his thoughts on how to navigate challenges and turn them into opportunities through innovation with Conversational Automation.
The journey toward being "touchless" was a popular topic. For all the talk of technology, insurance has always been seen as a human-to- human business. The most significant interactions with clients are at times of distress and empathy, having often been seen as important as the skill to anticipate and mitigate risk accurately.
And yet one of the most significant aims for carriers to date is how they can move their business towards a contactless claims environment. For some, it has not necessarily been about accomplishing a 100% truly touchless end-to-end experience, but what is learned in the process of developing one.
One Claims Officer said: “Many companies aspire to touchless claims. They’re in our future but the question remains, how much can we learn and accomplish on the way? Companies that go all-in to full autonomy may lose the benefit from iterating in that level one and two space. Companies smart and humble enough to take on thin slices of the problem can accelerate more quickly.”
Customers are ready for this, Roberti believes. “People care about clarity, efficiency and getting the value they are looking for, quickly. That’s why people love self service. But if people can’t find the information they need, they want to talk to someone, even if it’s 8pm on Saturday. Conversational interfaces give you the best of both worlds – 24/7 availability, instant response and the ability to speak in your own words on whatever channel you want to use.”
Read what other Chief Claims Officers said by downloading the full report.
Related
Reporting an Auto Accident in WhatsApp | Insurance Claims [Video]