What if there was a total end-to-end P&C solution for policy, claims and billing?
Mar. 5, 2013 – Historically, Property and Casualty insurers have viewed and managed investments in core business admin systems (policy, claims and billing) capabilities separate from outbound communication systems and processes.
Over time this has created a critical gap between policy, claims and billing activities and the customer communications that complete these processes.
As a result, policies, claims correspondence and premium bills are often produced in isolation from the relevant transactions.
The resulting gap drives up costs because of the high degree of manual effort needed to produce outbound communications.
It reduces the carrier’s ability to take advantage of multiple online and offline channels.
And – just as damaging in the long-term – it creates an impersonal and frustrating customer experience which can impact customer loyalty.
In an industry where new customer acquisition costs average 17.5% of gross written premiums, increasing loyalty and customer retention rates can be a significant competitive advantage.
In fact, according to a Gartner survey of IT leaders in North America, customer retention is the top priority among property and casualty (P&C) insurers in 2012. This was ranked more important than customer acquisition and growing relationships with existing customers.
As an example of the growing communication expectation gap, consider the impact poor claims experience can have on customer satisfaction (and ultimately revenue). In a recent J.D. Power and Associates customer survey, highly satisfied customers are very likely to renew and very willing to refer. The same cannot be said for customers reporting a medium level of satisfaction.
The survey noted that “when claimants were asked what insurers could improve in the claims process, they most frequently cited communication.” In fact, the survey pointed out the lowest rated customer attribute relating to an auto repair claim was “claim professional kept me informed of claim progress.”
Clearly the gap between what customers expect and what they are getting with regards to communication is due in large part to the fact that the way customers and agents now communicate has changed rapidly and almost overnight.
Read the complete solution brief now.
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SOURCE: Thunderhead.com
