Choosing a New Claims System?

Few carriers are doing nothing when it comes to claims. Year after year, we continue to see significant activity as carriers replace or enhance their claims solutions. The reasons for such activity are plentiful. Claims systems are aging which means that they are expensive to maintain. Older systems generally are much less flexible than modern systems with robust configuration environments. Business rules are regularly embedded in code, which reduces a carrier’s agility in making changes rapidly. They often are decoupled from policy or customer systems so accessing and aggregating data across these systems can be difficult. They were initially designed to focus on managing the financial aspects of claims not the customer service aspects of claims. It’s also getting harder to find resources that can or want to work on older technology. Meanwhile, carriers replacing core claims admin systems are trying to achieve multiple goals. Insurers’ corporate objectives fall into three broad categories:

• Getting bigger by growing the top line. A policyholder who feels that a claim was handled quickly and fairly is a policyholder who is much more likely to renew.
• Getting leaner through higher productivity and expense control. When specific tasks (such as accessing external data or generating forms and correspondence) are automated, an adjuster’s time is focused on the remaining tasks and decisions.
• Getting smarter by adjusting claims more accurately. Through workflow and rules, a new core claims system gives claims adjusters much improved tools to make the right decisions and take the right actions.

Selecting and implementing a new core claim system can contribute to the achievement of all three corporate objectives. Donald Light and I have just published a report that profiles the available claims solutions in North America. The report provides an overview of the different basic, advanced and technical features a carrier can evaluate. It also provides detailed profiles of the different vendors. Some of the vendors qualified for a more in depth profile that includes customer reference checks and our opinion of the solution. If you’re thinking about beginning a claims replacement, check out the report here. It’s a great place to start your research process. Then give us a call. We will be happy to chat in more detail about any of the solutions and help you as you move through your selection process.