A Win for All: How Automated Insurance Claims Enhance the Customer Journey

EIP Limited is a Business Reporter client.

Many people have gone through the rigmarole of making an insurance claim. Already frustrated by the incident—a burglary, a damaged vehicle, a broken device—that led to them picking up the phone and calling their insurance provider, they then must spend time detailing the incident, passing on their personal details and waiting, sometimes for a lengthy period, to see if the claim is successful. 

Now, insurtech companies such as EIP are leading the way in providing innovative, tech-driven ways to make the customer journey more efficient, simpler and more user-friendly. The core idea driving their vision is that for most claims, the risk of fraud is low, and, therefore, unnecessary checks and questions should be removed from the claims journey to help customers file a claim quickly and easily. 

Automating the claims process

Cutting humans out of the claims equation—or at least significantly reducing their role—might sound like an odd thing for insurance providers to do. After all, who will assess insurance claims? However, EIP has developed technology related specifically to mobile phone damage claims that makes this a logical step. 

Damage claims for mobile phones are increasing, thanks to their wide use and to the larger screens boasted by newer generations of phones. Fifteen years ago, accidental damage accounted for only 30% of claims related to phones; now they account for some 90%, resulting in more calls to insurance providers and more human time spent processing these claims. 

EIP’s Autoclaim technology is designed so that the customer journey that begins after a phone is damaged is much faster and smoother. Autoclaim, as the name suggests, removes the human and automates the entire process. 

So, how does it work? When a phone impacts a hard surface, Autoclaim—part of a tool kit that customers have through their insurance provider’s app—is instantly activated. It sends a signal to EIP’s tech platform to automatically prepare a claim on behalf of the customer, along with all the information they would otherwise need to detail over the phone: the customer’s name and where and when the accident happened—not to mention how the phone has been damaged. Then, the customer just needs to confirm the claim, and where they want their device picked up for repair. 

Frictionless experiences

Customer journeys around insurance claims have historically been laden with friction. But will insurers that adopt automated claims increase profitability? 

Through automation, insurers can process claims more efficiently and greatly reduce the high cost of human labor. Call centers are becoming a thing of the past in many industries that once relied on them, and EIP is showing how this trend can be brought to the insurance industry. 

Seeing into the future

Due to its ability to acquire data, EIP can also integrate proactive services into its offering—pushing beyond insurers’ traditional role as a purely reactive service. As more data is collected around phone damage and theft, customers can be warned of the places and times when the safety and security of their mobile phones might be compromised. 

This technology is still being refined, but it would mean that if a customer enters a high-crime area, EIP’s platform could send a notification to their phone encouraging them to be vigilant. This would be an example of an insurance company challenging their industry’s mixed reputation and showing that they do have the customer’s interest in mind.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the customer journey with technology like Autoclaim is that it doesn’t really feel like insurance. Soon, gone will be the days when “insurance claims” conjured long waits on the phone and hard negotiating with a call center representative. Now, claims can happen with minimal work required by the claimant. 

In insurance, it’s rare when everybody truly wins, but the model developed by EIP could make that happen.

To find out more about EIP, email hello@eip.tech or visit eip.tech.

This article originally appeared in Business Reporter.

Image: iStock id885306784