by Troy Stewart, President & COO at Brush Claims

The claims process is one of the most critical experiences a policyholder will have with an insurance company. Five to six percent of insured homeowners file claims each year, with wind, hail and water damage claims making up the majority of these. With the right processes in place, insurance companies can begin to predict the outcomes of these types of claims, by implementing simple business logic such as ‘if this, then that’ methodology to better triage, streamline and communicate claims expectations to all stakeholders involved.

In order to stay competitive and provide exceptional customer service, companies must embrace innovation to optimize their claims process. In this blog post, we will explore four innovative ways to enhance your claims process and streamline operations for improved efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Integrate a Seamless Digital Platform for Consumers

In today’s fast-paced world, customers expect convenience and accessibility. This is especially true when it comes to filing claims, as oftentimes, they can be riddled with inefficiencies, delays and errors that can lead to policyholder dissatisfaction and increased operational costs. Insurtech solutions can substantially enhance the customer experience as well as the employee experience, from first notice of loss through to claims settlement. Automated claims processing solutions that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning can enhance the claims process even more, significantly reducing manual efforts and streamlining routine tasks to allow employees to focus on what matters most: getting the policyholder what they need.

Leverage Data to Expedite the Claims Process

Valuable insights, improved decision-making and streamlined operations are all to be gained by leveraging data to expedite the claims process. Data analytics and predictive modeling techniques can identify patterns and trends to help adjusters estimate claim costs, enabling faster and more accurate reserving and claim settlements. By leveraging this data, claims teams can then create processes around each decision and roadmap the current and future states of that process. Doing such allows insurance companies to assess situations promptly and make quicker decisions, giving claims teams the necessary agility for continuous improvement.

Streamline Field Response to Increase Overall Efficiency

Streamlining field response in the claims process is critical to improving customer satisfaction, reducing operational costs and increasing overall efficiency. Communication and expectation management is key when connecting your field response with policyholders and can facilitate quick decision-making, prompt approvals, and better coordination between field and desk personnel. Data can also play an important role in field response, as automated data collection eliminates the need for manual paperwork, reduces errors and allows adjusters to access data immediately, ensuring a streamlined response and allowing policyholders to get back to normal as quickly as possible.

Source External Data to Drive Proactive Response

By leveraging various data sources and technologies, claims teams can gain valuable insights and make well-informed decisions, leading to faster and more accurate claims assessments. Insurance companies can utilize weather and natural disaster data, industry databases and third-party reports, and much more to enhance the claims process while strengthening their position in the market. As with any external platform or technology, insurance providers need to be highly cognizant of inherent security risks to ensure compliance and measures are in place to protect proprietary data and PII.

With the implementation of new technologies, it can be a challenge transitioning legacy systems and/or processes out, however the benefit far outweighs the risk in order to innovate. Insurance is not a one-size-fits-all solution; insurance companies must realize that every individual is not the same and does not desire the same process or form of communication. By having diverse claims response capabilities, insurance companies can personalize and customize each experience and create a meaningful and positive impact with policyholders during times of need.

By providing a user-friendly and streamlined solution, like Brush Claims’ Hubvia, policyholders can conveniently initiate claims submissions, upload images or videos of damages, and track the progress of their claims in real-time.

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