Delivering Superior Customer Services Demands Changing with the Times
Customer experience is at the core of what we do at NovaData. It’s critical to any business; and property claims handling is no exception. As the world evolves, so do customer expectations in all facets of business, including the insurance industry. No industry or business is left unimpacted by progress or change. Not being flexible or open to change can be detrimental to a company’s future based on the negative impact to customer experience while the impact of innovation and implementation of technology has only greatly intensified in recent years.
Deloitte’s 2023 Insurance Outlook states that today’s insurance companies must become “increasingly agile, innovative, and customer-centric” to be successful. This includes a greater focus on innovation and efficiency via technology according to the report which focuses on long-term competitiveness.
Technology is Playing a Deeper Role
The rapidly growing sector of Artificial Intelligence has also reached the insurance industry and NovaData is thrilled to bring it to our clients via our patent pending Rest-Assured™ platform – an automated restoration bill auditing software.
Countless insurance thought leaders have professed the need for increased efficiency and effectiveness within our business. Recent research from McKinsey, entitled “How top tech trends will transform insurance”, highlights that AI will have a major impact on both personal and commercial property – amongst other lines of business.
Our customers are comfortable with innovative technologies improving virtually all aspects of their daily lives. Smart phones, the internet, and TV streaming have improved all our lives in various ways. We no longer work the way we once did. Nothing highlights this better than the tremendous shift the workplace has made in the last three years due to Covid 19 forcing many of us to work remotely without much (if any) preparation. Who would have expected that essentially overnight, we could alter the way we work due to technology? Our clients now expect this type of swift innovation to be applied to their business in insurance as well – and ultimately improve invoice audits.
NovaData Uses Leading-Edge AI to Bring Intelligent Automation to Customer Service
NovaData Solutions helps facilitate that process for innovative thought leaders by working with partners in the independent adjusting and consulting communities to bring faster, unbiased, and cost-effective solutions for restoration bill auditing to our mutual clients – insureds and insurers alike. This allows these vendors to focus on more value-add activities outside of manual data entry and review. Our platform reviews each and every bill – regardless of size or complexity – in the same consistent manner every single time.
Automation Can Reduce Cost for Vendors and Customers Alike
With our AI, each invoice – a $1K bill or a $5M bill, is reviewed consistently so this cumbersome manual process can be taken off the plates of those trying to adjust the claim properly and efficiently for insurers and insureds. More than 50% of our audits are turned around in less than 24 hours – including a desk check we perform. If we look at the restoration costs as indemnity and the NovaData fee as expense – our expense ratio is less than 1% for in-network clients. Something that would be unfathomable without AI and technological advancements in general.
Technology-Drive Automation Brings Service Consistency to Boost Customer Confidence Levels
Customer experience in the insurance world ultimately leads us to the property owner – they require fast and effective ways to “confidently pay” invoices, many of which are large and/or complex. Insurers can help facilitate this partnership with NovaData even prior to a claim occurring which we have already seen with some current clients– if their client has a large deductible or aggregate, the insurer may introduce us directly to their insured to help facilitate this process before a loss turns into a claim. The insurer and insured ultimately will benefit from managing restoration costs fairly and accurately while paying a fraction of what a manual review would be from an expense perspective – and completed extremely quickly – minutes vs hours, weeks or even months.
Insurers are in a position where innovative advancements in claims handling will become increasingly important. Poor results from CAT losses and underwhelming returns on investments have in part led to large premium increases. What if part of these paid claims should not have been paid? What if expenses could have been saved and the claim lifecycle shortened? All of this is possible with AI in the restoration audit.
According to Goldman Sachs “Hurricane Ian is expected to be ~$50bn industry loss, adding to annual global insured catastrophe losses since 2017 of >$110bn, which has increased ~60% versus the prior decade average of ~$70bn. These losses are causing (re)insurers to question the accuracy of catastrophe modelling capabilities and factor in the increasing prevalence of secondary perils such as wildfires and flooding.”
If a loss does not evolve into a claim, property owners do not want to overpay restoration companies or spend more than needed on the restoration portion of their loss preventing them from getting back to business. It is beneficial to all to get this portion paid quickly and confidently and avoid any potential liens or issues. Since the restoration portion of a claim is at the onset – when there may be a tremendous amount of work and effort required, it is comforting to know that restoration costs will be managed accurately, quickly and at a low cost.
Technology Also Boosts Speed Which Allows Customers to Get What They Need, Faster
Extended delays in reviewing and paying restoration invoices will soon be a thing of the past. Rest-Assured’s AI platform provides the right technology at the right time and will undoubtedly bring about positive change for insurers, claims professionals, property owners and restoration companies.
“Excellent customer experience is critical to any business, and property claims handling is no exception. It is very clear that purely manual invoice audit processes are outdated, time-consuming, inefficient, and expensive.” – Anthony Troy, CEO
Technology is Here to Stay as a Customer Service Enabler
It is clear that the use of AI and technology can help facilitate all these requirements outlined (speed, cost, and accuracy) that help improve the customer experience specifically related to property claims. AI won’t replace humans, just like computers didn’t. But it will help us work more effectively and efficiently, leading to increased customer satisfaction – something we are all striving to bring in this competitive environment.
The world inevitably changes and progresses. Nothing has caused more change in recent years than innovation from technology. Just a few years ago we didn’t all have small computers in our pockets at all times. In order to remain competitive and raise the bar to meet increasing customer standards, we must be at the forefront of these innovations in our industry as well. Being a leader in an industry requires this. After all, no one wants to be the former Blockbuster CEO that said, “The dot-com hysteria is completely overblown.” when turning down Netflix.
