Risk pool members require innovative strategies for both winning new clients and retaining existing accounts. These initiatives typically involve service quality improvements (as well as other methods for boosting customer satisfaction) and can be more easily achieved through the implementation of core administration. A claims and policy management solution allows firms to expand their customer base while reducing churn, even in the presence of increasing competition and rising premiums.
In this article, we’ll explore how claims management software can help risk pool members win new accounts and retain existing clients—all while improving their insurance service offerings and quality levels.
A Complex Insurance Landscape
The 2023 Independent Insurance Agent Survey revealed that insurance professionals are overcoming ongoing business climate challenges to serve clients and grow their customer bases. That said, the tough economic conditions have had a material impact on operations; per the report, over 33% of the survey respondents said their clients have decreased coverage to save money. Another survey revealed that poor customer experience was the main cause of insurance customer turnover. Pool members who implement a policy and claims management platform can rest assured that their data is accurate and up to date, resulting in the best client decisions and improved levels of customer satisfaction.
Policy and claims management software can automatically alert clients and collect renewal information on behalf of agents and representatives. Once a pool member’s data is collected and consolidated in an insurance renewal administration software platform, all relevant parties—risk pool member specialists, insurance agents, underwriters, customer service representatives, and more—can access the same data on a shared platform for a more streamlined and responsive renewal workflow.
Improved Communication and Collaboration
Communication and collaboration are critical elements for risk pool operational resilience; to this end, risk pool members require claims management software to improve coordination and ensure that all stakeholders are aligned vis-a-vis claims and policy information. This also means aligning with policyholders' latest expectations and requirements; for example, more insurance customers in this post-pandemic era prefer the convenience of digital communications. As the insurance competitive landscape continues to evolve in complexity, risk pool members can better position themselves to face these challenges and uncertainties by adopting a claims management platform.
Achieving Operational Efficiency and Compliance
Risk pool members are faced with the dual challenge of acquiring new customers while improving retention rates. Both of these efforts require high levels of operational efficiency and customer/market responsiveness, and automated claims and policy management platforms achieve these levels by automating the many repetitive manual processes and workflows. This in turn allows firms to better scale with demand, mitigate the rising costs of premiums, and simplify the claims management process to improve the customer experience. With visibility across all parties, insurance players can focus on improving customer experience and preventing churn in your company by focusing and trusting the data right in front of them.
Staying responsive to clients also requires keeping up-to-date with compliance regulations. Pool members often face challenges with meeting claims handling requirements across various lines of business, from the processing of property and casualty insurance cases to healthcare claims. Insurance pool professionals must continuously address issues related to claims handling requirements per their applicable lines of business.
According to the Insurance Regulatory Examiner Society, the identification of the often-times state-specific and line-specific include:
- Claims disclosure requirements
- Processing timeframes
- Fraud warning notices
- Settlement options,
- Coverages details
- Benefits requirements
These are just a few considerations that pool members keep top-of-mind when it comes to notifications and communications, as regulatory changes regularly impact one’s claims processing systems. Additionally, various compliance touchpoints within specific claims have the potential for errors (e.g., compliance, procedural, or others) before claims are resolved. A claims management platform can help risk pool members automatically meet local/state and line-specific with an integrated compliance module legislation.
Reducing Customer Churn for Risk Pools
Proper information accessibility, risk visibility, and timely service delivery are crucial elements of customer churn reduction that risk pool members can leverage with a claims management platform. Traditional methods of keeping track of claims (e.g., spreadsheets, email) more often result in data integrity issues, errors due to members’ manual data entry efforts, and late claims reports with missing, crucial information. Information integrity issues also emerge when data pipelines are improperly created—often on an ad-hoc basis—and may involve manual processes like bringing in multiple claims spreadsheets by hand.
A claim management software platform automates claims management and incident reporting, resulting in reduced errors and immediate service/feedback to the insured. And because manual processes used for data collection and input activity are replaced by automation that allow for continuous access to accurate, timely, and complete data, risk pool members are more likely to renew with an optimal customer experience.
In short, a core administration solution, including policy and claims, can help risk pool members streamline their insurance processes while creating new opportunities to delight customers during the renewal process. Contact Ventiv today to find out how policy and claims management software can help your risk pool win more customers and retain/grow the accounts they already have.
