Insurers failing to invest in claims management - Ernst & Young

An Ernst & Young survey of claims and IT professionals across Europe found growth by acquisition has created significant legacy issues for insurers; problems with data management and integration with third party suppliers remain considerable barriers to getting customer interaction on claims right.

Increased customer satisfaction was rated one of the top three drivers for investing in claims-management technology by the insurers surveyed.

Forty percent of the respondents across Europe and 65% of UK respondents from the industry rated the need for speed and efficiency as one of the main factors driving change in claims management.

However, despite their awareness of the need to adapt, only a quarter of respondents selected customer claims management as an area they are currently prioritizing.

Imran Ahmed, EMEIA Claims Advisory Leader at Ernst & Young, commented: "Insurers have failed to plan for twenty-first century consumers who want to manage their claims online and track progress of their claims using their phones.

"As an industry that is facing increasing competition from non-financial-services providers, who have already put strong multi-channel customer-service systems in place, it is important that insurers seek to understand why they have not been able to align the changes to their claims-management processes with the expectations of the smart-phone generation.

"While insurers are undoubtedly facing budget constraints, continuing to fail to address their outdated systems will cost them much more in the long term."

Improved data management was ranked as the overall factor that would most increase the efficiency and effectiveness of insurer's claims-processing functions.

Those firms that have recently invested in claims-management solutions rank the need for improved data management more highly than those who have not yet started to work in this area.