Assessing the State of Claims

A variety of factors have converged to put a bigger emphasis on the claims process for property/casualty insurers.

A new report from Boston-based Aite Group notes that industry-wide premium contraction caused by a prolonged, increased industry consolidation and competition, dramatically and the emergence of the customer‐centric paradigm have all played a part in moving claims to the forefront. Based on Q1 and Q2 2011 Aite Group interviews with 35 stakeholders in the P&C insurance and information technology industries, the report also examines the role of technology is playing to transform the claims process.

Stephen Applebaum, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of the report, notes that since 2000, a deluge of powerful, and cost-effective claims management systems (CMS) have arrived on the market, adding that these new systems demonstrate a number of tangible business benefits, including lower claims costs and expenses, higher efficiency, improved regulatory compliance and higher customer satisfaction.

“Claims transformation is no longer exclusive to a few selected innovators or companies that can afford the necessary investment; it has quite simply become a table stake required just to remain in the game,” he says, noting that claims service quality is increasingly prominent in P&C carrier consumer marketing and advertising campaigns.

However, the report notes that the claims process is complex and barriers to claims transformation are real. Foremost among the barriers are legacy technology platforms that impede integration with internal and external systems, waste and misallocate internal resources, slow claims processing, and degrade customer service.

To achieve true claims transformation, Applebaum says carriers need to invest in technologies that help them align the best possible resources with the right claim at the right time. “The most successful property/casualty carriers will be those that can best leverage new claims technologies and implement continuous claims process innovations,” he says.