Duck Creek: how much automation is too much?

Matt Sheridan, senior director, product marketing and strategy at Duck Creek, a Boston-based provider of software as a service (SaaS) enterprise software to the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry, explained: “Carriers want to be both customer-friendly and efficient.

“The challenge is determining the right mix of automation vs manual interaction, and being able to execute the pivot in the claims process at the right time.”

Sheridan will deliver a keynote presentation, “Business to Human: Configuring Claims to Meet Business Strategy”, during the first-ever Claims Innovation Virtual Event organised by Intelligent Insurer. Taking place at 11:20am–11:40am ET on Wednesday, October 28, the session will be moderated by Paul Carroll, editor-in-chief of Insurance Thought Leadership.

Understanding the type of claim, its severity, personal preferences, and other factors all play a role in any automation strategy.

“Customers expect easy, online access and transparency for many transactions and, at the same time, depending on the circumstances, high-touch, personalised services,” said Sheridan.

“At Duck Creek, we understand that balancing these expectations can be challenging for carriers.”

During the keynote presentation, Sheridan plans to provide attendees with a valuable framework to outline claims configuration considerations, while also generating discussions around balancing these expectations.

It's essential that insurance carriers adapt their strategies to include configurations that consider a variety of business-to-human situations—some situations will require empathy and understanding, while others need personalisation and automation, he said.

He added: “Viewers should understand how carriers can approach claims configuration based on strategy and objectives—automation, personalisation, empathy, and accuracy.”

Revolutionising insurance

Sheridan is a staunch advocate of a “test and learn” approach for carriers facing a major shift or change in technology.
“A significant challenge for carriers is having to replace and implement new systems without being able to adapt rapidly once the system is live,” he explained.

Carriers need to determine a range of outcomes, including customer acceptance, success of different scripts, impact on overall customer satisfaction, timelines, estimate accuracy, and employee feedback.

"In the past, understanding effectiveness would take a significant amount of time, manual tracking of many metrics and with limited ability to make changes,” he said.

“Carriers would prefer an evolving approach where they can test new ideas and processes in one business or division, learn what is working and what needs improvement, and then rapidly expand successful configurations to other segments.

“Powered by a low-code, open platform and delivered as SaaS, Duck Creek Claims provides a modern core solution that supports end-to-end claim lifecycles to increase the efficiency of claims operations, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce costs associated with legacy systems,” said Sheridan.

Duck Creek has partnered with P&C carriers worldwide, including Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, AIG, The Hartford and Liberty Mutual. More than 60 carriers have deployed Duck Creek OnDemand (the company’s end-to-end SaaS solution), with 30 of them running their core systems on the on-demand platform.

“The landscape for claims continues to evolve: there are new technologies, new integrations, and new markets served,” said Sheridan.

“We’re in the business of technology, but we also know that technology is a means to a bigger, more hopeful purpose: to incubate the ideas that will make carriers faster, smarter, and stronger, and to revolutionise insurance for the greater good,” he concluded.

The  virtual Claims Innovation conference, which was originally scheduled to be held in Miami, will be held across three days (October 26, 28, and 30) and feature over 30 speakers from across the insurance ecosystem, including personal lines, commercial lines, brokers, and new entrants. More than 1,000 attendees are expected throughout the week.