Raising The Bar: Exponential Claims Professionals

As insurers let enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence handle an increasing share of claims, companies should enhance the capabilities and broaden the roles of claims professionals to reap the benefits of advanced tools while maintaining personal engagement at moments that matter.

Claims is by far a property and casualty insurer’s biggest cost component, as paid losses combined with investigative and settlement expenses accounted for around 70% of US premiums collected in 2020.

The pressure is always on to augment claims processing with new technologies and data sources that can increase efficiency, productivity, and accuracy, since every dollar saved goes straight to the bottom line.

This transformation was greatly accelerated during the pandemic as necessity became the mother of reinvention, prompting implementation of widespread digital and virtual claims handling practically overnight.

However, interviews with chief claims officers (CCOs) from a dozen large and midsized personal and commercial lines carriers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom found most walking a tightrope between the drive to divert more claims to automated systems and the overriding need to maintain a human touch at the moment that matters most to policyholders.