Technology wins must be balanced with positive client experience, say execs at insurers Beazley and LV=

Technology is giving a competitive edge to insurers in the form of faster claims settlements, but this must not come at the expense of a positive client experience, according to claims leaders from Beazley and LV=.

Customer experience is crucial for the future success of insurers, said Antony Hobkinson, group head of claims at Beazley, and Martin Milliner, director of general insurance claims at LV=, as they spoke at a panel discussion in EC3 last night.

Highlighting the advantages of technology, Michał Trochimczuk, managing partner at Sollers Consulting and panel chair, said that Chinese insurer Ping An is able to settle 70 percent of all claims within one day, adding: “It's technology that puts companies like Ping An and Lemonade ahead of established companies.”

However, Antony Hobkinson, group head of claims at Beazley, said insurers should rebalance their focus if they want to be successful in the longer term.

"In the claims world there is a huge focus today on technology, but in my view, there is too much emphasis on process efficiency and not enough on improving the whole customer experience," he said.

The panel chair highlighted the broad consensus in the industry that claims processing should be transformed into a competitive advantage.

Hobkinson said: “Insurers who use technology as an enabler rather than a substitute for human interaction will continue to stand out from the crowd. The insureds might not remember all the details of a claim they had but they will remember what it felt like and whether they really felt supported by their insurer through what can be a traumatic period."

Martin Milliner, director of general insurance claims at LV=, also emphasised the importance of human interaction in the claims handling process.

“The holy grail for insurance claims is to create a customer experience that is a perfect blend of an empathetic human response at the moment of truth, coupled with effortless and seamless highly automated AI-inspired processes that control claims costs,” he said.

The panel also discussed the benefits of machine learning, agreeing that it has already given insurers reductions in real time when handling claims.

But rather than using machine learning to do the basic, easy work, Hobkinson argued that this tech was better placed to tackle more complex insurance work.

He also pointed to the potential of quantum computing and the deep learning it could offer insurers, adding “there are more interesting things to come”.

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