Lockdown intensifies interest in AI-powered, touchless insurance

The impact of COVID-19 has significantly accelerated a shift that was already taking place within the re/insurance industry towards fewer points of human contact in the customer journey and claims handling process.

For Tractable, a company whose technology streamlines motor claims handling, the lockdown has intensified interest in its AI system, which assesses car damage in real time using photographs provided by the policyholder or assessor. At the first notice of loss, instead of waiting for a human being to carry out a claims assessment, a customer now can provide images to their insurer and have a decision on a claim returned within minutes.

Tractable has only been live with customers since late 2016, but its solution has already been embraced by leading insurers in all the major global regions – including Tokio Marine, the largest auto insurer in Japan, and Covéa, the biggest in France - quickly taking it from disruptor to mainstream.

“We are currently working with some of the world’s largest insurers across 13 countries,” says Jan Möhlmann, Tractable’s business and product development director. “In the very beginning people were reluctant to be the first movers because it was a new technology but now people see that our solution is in use by the major players and widely adopted by the damage collision ecosystem, and it helps that there is a solid track record.”

The arrival of COVID-19 made Tractable’s solution not only desirable but also a far safer option for all concerned.

“We’ve seen the underlying trend towards more digitalisation accelerate,” says Möhlmann. “Appraisers and body shops want to provide a touchless experience with less human interaction - it’s high on the agenda.”

This is why Tractable has decided to sponsor an Intelligent Insurer webinar on the topic on August 20, titled From Seamless to Touchless: Reduce Manual Touchpoints to Resolve Customer Pain Points.

“Digitisation has been a hot topic for some time, even before COVID-19,” says Möhlmann. “One reason for this is that the customer is getting used to living and working digitally, so they expect to interact with their insurers digitally too. Also, customers want immediate responses from their insurers. Traditionally it could take weeks – processes were very tedious, with lots of manual involvement, but with our solutions you get immediacy which decreases uncertainty and enables insurers to get back to policyholders more quickly.”

Besides cutting the estimation process down to a matter of minutes, Tractable’s AI also has uses all the way through the claims process.

“A lot of our customers use it to understand what their repairers are doing and to review and check those processes and repairs,” says Möhlmann. “Our AI is able to provide data in a structured format that enables better management of processes internally and externally, making insurers much better at data-driven decisions.”

Looking to the future, he sees potential for further digitisation of processes that are currently manual and time-consuming: for example, car hire companies could use Tractable’s AI to assess cars for damage before and after they are hired.

Jan Möhlmann will be joined by Zurich, AXA and LV= in our upcoming webinar, “Seamless to Touchless: Reduce Manual Touchpoints to Resolve Customer Pain Points”, live online August 20 at 3pm BST/10am EST. Register for this complimentary webinar to get to grips with touchless claims and you’ll reap the benefits in terms of an improved customer experience, reduced loss adjustment expenses and faster cycle times.

Jan will be joined these leading industry speakers:

- Cyril Steffen, Chief Claims Officer-European Markets, AXA
- Mike Hall, Director of Property and Liability Claims, LV=
- Paul Dixon, Head of Claims Proposition and Market Insight, Zurich
- Liz Ryan, Head of Claims Performance & Insights, Zurich
- Claire Churchard, Deputy Editor, Intelligent Insurer (Moderator)

Click  here to register now.