5 best practice tips to get prepared for the influx of claims
Many insurers are still recovering from the multiple flood events of last season and more storms are expected. Here is what you can do to make sure your business is ready for more storms:
1. Claim lodgement – make sure you have either a dedicated number or an online lodgement for Cat claims only. If you have a dedicated team, this process will help them to deal with the incoming volume faster and more efficiently. Pre-configure the questions to make lodgement as simple as possible for the customer (e.g., use specific postcodes, causes of loss etc) and check for potential fraud and other risk factors that typically get neglected when the volumes spike.
2. Supply chains & triage – check agreements with your suppliers, especially emergency services. If you work with brokers, you can provide them with an authority to allocate local emergency services directly or speed up the triage and automate allocation of preferred suppliers. One thing to watch for is timelines and proactive customer communication. If suppliers can’t attend the site on time, you need to be proactive in communicating the expectations with the customers. The regulation does not provide any exceptions in service quality and timeliness for Cat events, so basic rules of 20 days updates remains. You can get a quick compliance health check report here.
3. Staff training – train different parts of your organisation to deal with extra claims volumes on time. Have a few scenarios for the number of people you will need to draw in from different parts of the business and provide necessary training for them. Make sure that all “reserve” people have access to the claims system and are adequately trained on the basics of claims handling and compliance.
4. Fast track or simplified process for simple claims. Typically during a catastrophe event smaller non-urgent claims get neglected and can become sources of customer dissatisfaction or regulatory breaches later. Thus it is important to keep working on those claims and simplify the process as much as possible to process them faster. You can listen to this insightful podcast to better understand where your business could be breaching new regulations in this area.
5. Centralised oversight – use real time data and dashboards if possible to identify any delays in service, complaints or potential breaches and address them proactively. Old school Excel spreadsheets once a month will not do the job of effective oversight. Managing the staff and controlling high priority claims, while keeping track of regulatory compliance, is essential on a daily basis to make sure no claim gets out of control or a systemic issue is missed.