From world wars to natural disasters, most global struggles in our history drive technological advances. COVID-19 is no different, with the impact accelerating technology transition more than any other event in the insurance sector's history.
Veronica Grigg, president, Asia, commented
鈥淐ompanies are looking at how best to integrate technology into internal processes and how they interact with clients to achieve the efficiency, cost reductions and performance enhancements that they have long acknowledged are possible.鈥�
Thanks to our huge investment in technology across claims and data management infrastructure in recent years 鈥� being ahead of the curve truly paid dividends during the pandemic. In fact, thanks to the range of remote claims handling capabilities at our disposal, there was no disruption to client services despite 90% of our employees making the shift to working from home.
With the ability to allow customers to report and document claims, YouGoLook 鈥� our assisted self-service application puts customers in charge of the claim submission. This process is also underpinned by an intelligent triage system. Claims are instantly evaluated and routed through the most appropriate channels thanks to robotic process automation. Larger complex risks are handled directly by specialist adjusting teams, while non-complex losses are processed swiftly with limited human intervention.
Pat Van Bakel, president, Canada, comments: 鈥�Remote and desk-based adjusting has become the default position during the pandemic and in my view, the adoption of digital technology has progressed nearly a decade in only a few months.鈥�
The innovation doesn鈥檛 end there. At loss sites, we鈥檝e introduced virtual technology to generate 360-degree views of the claim. With the ability to be viewed remotely, these images allow loss adjusters and insurers a virtual site walkthrough to speed up the claims process. Video collaboration tools also enhance effective claims resolution by allowing adjusting teams to converse in real-time with insurers and policyholders alike.
Pat Van Bakel summarises:
鈥�We have such a range of different response solutions integrated into our operating model, so rather than having a single way to manage claims and describing it as 鈥榖est practice鈥�, we offer the full spectrum of options from straight-through process to hands-on expert adjusting for the complex scenarios, that gives us the flexibility and agility to always deliver the most appropriate claims response in every individual circumstance.鈥�
To read in more detail how COVID-19 has accelerated a technology transition and how the pandemic will change the insurance sector download our detailed report called .
