A BAL ANCING AC T
Claims management
if they take into account underlying business
challenges and the needs of staff, carriers can
leverage a bevy of new technologies to manage
claims more efficiently and more effectively.
As the most involved of insurAnce
processes, claims can both benefit from and
resist technological innovation.
With claim costs making up the vast bulk
of disbursements, and legacy claims technology showing its age, the need for carriers to
seek out new solutions to improve their management of claims is acute. in short, to compete, carriers have to get a handle on claims
costs while keeping various partners in the
process happy and keeping an emphasis on
customer service.
Yet, bringing any new technology to the
claims process, be it a new mobility device for
the field adjuster or implementing an entirely
new claims system, is fraught with challenges.
especially when deploying a state-the-of art
claims system, carriers need to bear in mind
that it is a business problem they are looking
to solve and not a technology one.
Garth crow, vP of claims at sarasota, fla.-based fcci insurance Group, says his company sought a modern claims system to
supplant a menagerie of legacy systems. in
2008, the company opted for the claimcenter product from san mateo, calif.-based
Guidewire software inc., and has been implementing it by line of business. “We had
four or five claims systems that all did different things, and our goal was to get them
into one system,” he says. “in order to figure out what product to buy, we took a look
at our workflow and process.”
mODeRn sYstems
so what should carriers expect in a modern
claims system? At the minimum, a solution
should offer increased visibility into the process throughout the claim lifecycle from first
notice of loss to settlement, experts say.they
