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Claims, by their very nature, are reactive. Incidents happen and we lean on the insurer to help us pick up the pieces. But there is a growing shift in the insurance industry towards more proactive, data-driven solutions. At a recent panel discussion on Customer Centricity in Insurance, I, along with panellists from TAL Australia, Blue Zebra Insurance, and Smart Communications explored innovative ways insurers and brokers are using technology to deliver better client outcomes. While we all agreed the Insurance industry has historically been a slow mover on the technology front, major change is underway. By collecting and analysing claims data in a way that is intuitive and meaningful to our clients, we’re now able to identify emerging risks and future trends.
At Honan, we’re harnessing the power of business intelligence (BI) tools and platforms to leverage the considerable claims data we already have on hand. The outcomes for our clients have been considerable, with the following highlights in particular:
Powerful BI tools are giving us the ability to turn volumes of data into impactful visual representations that show our clients their key risks and claims performance. These dashboards are malleable, allowing clients to drill down to a granular level and zoom out to see overall patterns. Our clients can make targeted, strategic changes to risk practices based on their own data.
Forecasting capabilities have long been restricted to actuaries within insurance companies. By understanding our clients’ past growth and claims performance, combined with their future growth targets, we can project future claims performance and the impact to their balance sheet. These insights enable clients to make more informed decisions on budgets, ventures, and their overall insurance program structure.
It is easy to make promises on claims deliverables, but how do our clients know if they, or their insurers are performing? Are we driving down the cost of claims and shortening the claims lifespan? BI tools are giving us the ability to track claims performance in real-time, and make tweaks as required.
In our efforts to innovate, it can be tempting to build or buy new platforms without asking critical questions like “does this improve efficiencies for clients?” and “is it making their jobs easier?” Many of our clients have invested heavily in their existing IT systems. Instead of offering another platform (and another login and password to remember), we are focusing on systems that connect through application programming interfaces (APIs). This means clients’ claims information is in a central location and available on their own platforms, removing administrative burdens and double handling of critical information.
The most exciting part of this shift to real-time data and analytics (apart from the super cool graphs) is that it’s quintessentially client centric. We simply cannot build, refine or deliver these powerful solutions without partnering with our clients: listening to their feedback, customising the platforms to work for them and thoroughly understanding their business model and vision.
For more information on how Honan are delivering innovative claims solutions, feel free to reach out at any time.
Head of Claims
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