More UK consumers are shopping around for insurance this year than in previous years, the CEO of price comparison website Moneysupermarket Peter Duffy said last week. Switching has decreased since UK regulators banned “loyalty penalties”, higher fees for existing customers, but higher living costs have led to the return of customers looking around for cheaper policies.
“We see premium inflation continuing in 2023 and we see consumers continuing to want to make sure they get the best value product,” he said.
A customer’s impression of their insurer is determined by a number of factors, but claims turnaround time is to be among the most important. A rapid resolution creates a positive impression, builds loyalty and increases the chance of customer retention. A slow resolution and a lack of communication will encourage the customer to look for another policy.
Accenture warns that unsatisfactory claims experiences could put as much as $170 billion in renewal premiums at risk worldwide in the next five years, while McKinsey predicts that claims processing will hold the highest significance in the insurance industry by the year 2030.
Claims processing can be faster
Until recently, insurers did not have access to technology that allowed them to process claims quickly. Legacy software is unable to process unstructured data, so claims handlers had no choice but to spend hours sifting through forms, handwritten documents, PDFs, and images to extract the relevant information. Then they would have to check for coverage and initiate payment.
This was acceptable to customers in the past, but today consumers are used to instant purchases, same day deliveries and always-available customer service. A wait of 30 days or longer for a resolution is incongruous with the world they live in. However, the vast amounts of data now available have made manual claims processing more laborious than ever, making resolutions even slower and leaving claim handlers with insufficient time to focus on customer service.
The results for insurers are low Transactional Net Promoter Scores and high customer churn, often to digital challenger brands.
However, technology like ours is enabling insurers to process claims in under a day, and often in real time. We’re empowering intelligent claims decisions by using AI and machine learning to interpret data and remove nuance. The administrative tasks that would take a handler hours or even days can be done in minutes, leaving the handler free to make decisions and support customers.
Read more: Zurich can now resolve property claims within 24 hours using Sprout.ai
How it works
Our natural language processing (NLP) and patented optical character recognition (OCR) technology is optimised for claims. It can rapidly extract all relevant information from any type of document, from PDFs, to images to freeform notes – even if it is in handwritten Japanese.
Natural language processing algorithms immediately contextualise relevant data, then validate it against the policy contracts and schedules to check if the claim is covered under the customer’s specific policy. Limits, excesses, inclusions and exclusions are automatically calculated. Our technology helps validate claims, check for fraud, reduce waste or abuse, and identify outliers.
The benefits of processing claims in under a day
Major insurers are now using our technology to empower rapid, intelligent claims decisions. We have reduced the average time it takes to settle a claim from 30 days down to less than 24 hours. In many cases, settlement is instant.
Higher customer satisfaction and retention
Faster, more accurate claims means higher customer satisfaction. We pride ourselves on directly improving insurers Transactional Net Promoter Scores and client retention. Claims handlers can focus on customer service, rather than collecting and processing claims information, reviewing policy terms, overseeing payments, and updating customer information.
Greater accuracy
Average human accuracy levels are around 80%, but we have achieved 98+% accuracy. This reduces operational costs, waste and leakage from human error is reduced. Fewer claims need to be reopened and there are fewer disputes.
Data can be used to enhance decision making
Our patented technology allows insurers to extract data that can be used to enrich and improve decision making, allowing for greater efficiencies..
Case study: How AdvanceCare is serving more customers, while maintaining an exceptional claims experience with Sprout.ai
AdvanceCare is using our technology to automatically extract relevant data from healthcare invoices. This follows a successful pilot, in which AdvanceCare cut down the claims settlement turnaround time to near real time.
Claims handlers no longer need to spend their time on low-value, repetitive tasks, allowing them to dedicate more quality time to tasks that are more valuable and rewarding, optimising the customer experience.
During the pilot, the work capacity per team member increased, while the work volume was lowered. AdvanceCare is now able to scale up its business by serving more customers, while maintaining an exceptional claims experience.
