A digital revolution continues to sweep across many industries including auto insurance, historically set in its pre-digital legacy processes. One major motivator that has long been manifesting is the call for better customer experiences in insurance.
77% of insurers said that improving customer and channel experiences was a major driver toward digital transformation. - Celent
This existing goal has become even more important today as consumers desire more speed, efficiency, and instant gratification from their insurers. For one, an often inefficient and outdated process that can prove to be a “make or break” situation is the first interaction after an accident. If it’s not quick, seamless, and memorable from the beginning, policyholders will likely consider switching to another carrier.
"Consumers want help solving their problems – quickly, seamlessly and with help available if they need it. Insurers are looking for efficiency and accuracy and to eliminate the risk of fraud and a bad claims experience." - Ernst & Young
Today, advancements in AI and machine learning-powered technologies are showing insurers how investing in claims technology can directly affect the bottom line. Modernizing the claims process leads to important cost savings and benefits that all insurers should be aware of.
Here are 5 reasons why now is the time for auto insurers to invest in smartphone-centric claims automation solutions - through the right mobility risk intelligence provider.
5 benefits of investing in the right claims automation solution
1. Smartphone centricity: Portability and scalability
The right claims automation solution provider will rely on data collected largely from policyholders’ smartphones.
Sure, hardware solutions that help with collision detection and claims automation do exist, but they haven’t seen as much success because they are:
- more costly to get users to adopt,
- less scalable than smartphone-centric solutions, and,
- unable to predict collisions down to a granular level: specific subsets of insurers’ policyholder base.
Opting for the right smartphone-centric tech partner for claims automation creates a win-win scenario for both insurers and their customers.
Policyholders get to use their channel of choice, the smartphone, to get automatically notified (with a 95% collision detection accuracy) and assisted within 20 seconds after a collision. Meanwhile, insurers get to take advantage of highly portable hardware —smartphones —already being adopted by their policyholders (dodging any extra hardware costs), which helps them scale their solutions with ease.
2. Improving the customer experience: Speed & engagement
With consumer preferences changing at rapid rates (and as policyholders shop around to cut costs), now’s the time to give your customers a reason to stay loyal.
Indeed, insurers need to engage through their policyholders’ channels of choice (including smartphones) and improve traditional processes, making the whole customer experience more enjoyable. As more insurers and their customers embrace digital transformation, many elements of some carriers’ claims cycle remain outdated and inefficient.
25% of insurance operations will be automated by 2025 thanks to AI and machine learning techniques. - McKinsey
Claims automation solutions like Zendrive’s provide policyholders with a frictionless claims process. Automatically detect collisions within seconds, and offer contextualized help in the “moments of truth” following an accident, based on confidence levels.
As for the FNOL? That’s entirely automated, providing critical data to insurers within 20 seconds after a collision for a faster, seamless experience for both customers and their insurers.
3. Improving adjuster efficiency & reducing costs
High loss ratios are still a major concern across the auto insurance industry, especially as social inflation, or all the ways insurers’ claim costs have increased beyond repair, takes its toll.
That’s all amidst the pandemic, which has forced insurers and investors to put a heavier emphasis on improving claims efficiencies and reducing costs, as claims costs rise and profits decrease. Clearly, it’s more important than ever for insurers to find smart ways to save.
A claims automation solution like Zendrive’s allows insurers to analyze claims faster and trigger automated workflows for a rapid claims resolution. This results in faster claims cycles overall, improving adjuster efficiency by requiring minimal human intervention, and in turn reducing loss adjustment expenses (LAE).
4. Relying on accurate data for better claims management
According to Forbes, 84% of CEOs are concerned about the integrity of the data they’re basing decisions on.
Within the insurance space, one important concern that’s top-of-mind is getting more digestible, explainable data to claims handlers to speed up FNOL and claims handling processes.
For one, Zendrive’s solution is powered by data on hundreds of thousands of collisions - the largest collision dataset in the world. Digital FNOLs rely on this accurate data, empowering claims departments with better data points.
Access to large amounts of accurate data also helps adjusters more easily vet claims to focus on high-complexity situations, alleviating their time from low-complexity, low-cost claims that can be streamlined and automated. The right solution will provide data that is vetted, consistent, reliable, and accurate, helping insurers combine it with a human touch when needed.
Claims departments can ultimately let the data be their digital witness, making timely, data-centric decisions to minimize both claims adjustment expenses and fraud.
5. Fighting fraud
Insurance fraud poses major threats to carriers around the world. In fact, fraudulent claims cost US insurers an estimated $308 billion a year, according to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.
Claims automation solutions that rely on massive amounts of reliable, accurate data can open doors for insurers to clear any blind spots between what claimants say and the true facts.
For example, insurers may wonder who was actually driving during a collision. Solutions like Zendrive can help answer that question through driver vs. passenger algorithms, vehicle tagging, and beyond.
Claims automation technology: One size doesn’t fit all
Automating key parts of the claims process, such as FNOL, can provide a multitude of benefits to insurers that positively affect the bottom line.
But in parting, it’s important to note that when it comes to claims, one size doesn’t fit all - every customer and claim is different. Some situations will require more human interaction than others.
By providing access to reliable, accurate smartphone-centric data, solutions like Zendrive’s work hand-in-hand with insurers to help them both better understand and vet claims. Insurers can decide when to automate certain processes (like the FNOL) and when to hand off claims handling to humans, especially in situations where more empathy and support are required.
