Short Message Service (SMS)

Erik Linask (News - Alert)

Customer Relationship Insurance
for Insurance Carriers

By Erik Linask,
Group Editorial Director, Technology Mareting Corp

The basic benefits of IP-based communications are broad and extensible to nearly all industries (cost-savings, operational efficiency, enhanced customer service, etc.). But, each particular vertical market has its own nuances and specific requirements that must be accommodated in order to win the maximum benefit from communications investments.

Therefore – and this is what many communications solutions vendors have begun to understand – it is imperative that products can be adapted to cater to specific markets in order to provide the greatest value for the users.

Take, for instance, your insurance carrier (or, more likely, a former provider). Undoubtedly, most of you have had less than stellar experiences when putting in claims following a fender bender. In my case, it was a pool bender, when a neighbor’s tree fell onto my pool during a heavy storm a few years ago.

Naturally, I called my insurance company, spoke to an agent, who asked for my details to look up our coverage, and promptly decided I needed to speak to another agent. That agent also asked me for the same information, and informed me that I would have to speak to yet another agent in a different department, who was not in at the time. I left my number and waited… for two days… at which point, I called back, only to find that the individual I now needed to speak to had been on vacation. That’s only the beginning of my saga – recounting the entire ordeal is hardly worth it, since we’ve already identified a clear opportunity for improving a business process and the customer experience.

Many of the issues and delays policyholders experience when filing claims, or just requesting information, can be resolved through the automation of the claim lifecycle, and with the multichannel environment in which we live, it’s important to be able to initiate that automation regardless of the initiating channel.

Consider Interaction Process Automation (IPA), from Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert), an automation software solution that can be customized to the needs of its customers.

For instance, in this case, the initial contact would be logged into a database with a unique case number attached, which would accompany my case from agent to agent, from process to process. The same would hold for a Web-based, e-mail, or IVR inquiry – or any other communication channel. When the first agent transferred me to the second, the information that had already been collected would follow, speeding the process and, importantly, not irritating the customer who previously had to repeat the information.

When the case had to be escalated to a specialist, the data would again follow but, more importantly, rules can be set up to route cases to an alternate agent, since the specialist was unavailable. This not only speeds the process, but eliminates the two days of waiting (not to mention increased agitation) that concluded with the realization that the individual wasn’t even available.

In fact, rules can be set up for the entire process, which define each step in a claim or inquiry process, ensuring cases are routed appropriately to available personnel, even integrating with mobile environments, where supervisors can approve or reject claims with a simple key press on their mobile when an alert or message arrives, or routing to accounting staff for payment. Notifications to policyholders can also be automated, informing them of the status of their case throughout the process, including when a claim has been approved and a check cut and mailed.

With IPA, manual claims processing becomes an outdated activity. In fact, with IPA, insurance firms can not only automate claims processes, but also underwriting procedures, policywriting and distribution, and general administration tasks, allowing agencies to be more efficient and productive, ensure compliance with regulations, and ensure customer satisfaction, resulting in a growing business.

In a vertical market that is as competitive as any, especially given the propensity for switching carriers to find lower rates, increasing customer loyalty must be a priority. Automating as many processes as possible is the ideal way to ensure that policies are followed and that customers are serviced as quickly and effectively as possible, by taking human error out of the equation.

To bring you the latest technologies available to the insurance industry, including up-to-date news and customer success stories, TMC (News - Alert) has recently launched the Insurance Technology site on TMCnet (insurance-technology.tmcnet.com), which will be the one-stop resource for insurance agencies looking for the best ways to leverage technology to enhance their operations and better manage their customer expectations, driving satisfaction and loyalty – and business success.

CIS Magazine Table of Contents