Bot Invasion and ‘Prevention as a Service’ Model Emerging for Insurers

This article is part of Carrier Management’s series on the Future of Insurance.

Rebecca Wheeling Purcell, CEO and Founder, Schedule It, reviews automation trends impacting the claims function of the insurance industry and the role of insurers generally, which she sees moving more toward loss prevention than claims payouts.

Rebecca Wheeling Purcell, Schedule It

Rebecca Wheeling Purcell is CEO and Co-Founder, Schedule It, which provides software for insurance adjusters to map, route and schedule their claims along with on-hand personal scheduling assistants to make the calls for adjusters when claim volume peaks. https://www.scheduleit.io/

Wheeling spent years earning a reputation for delivering great results as an independent insurance claims adjuster—and the volume followed. After unsuccessfully trying many solutions to manage her claim load more efficiently, she decided to create one herself. Wheeling’s vision was to train scheduling assistants to handle all the administrative tasks involved in daily mapping, calling and scheduling, allowing adjusters to focus on their work as adjusters and continue growing their claims volume.

Schedule It combines proprietary technology and an expertly trained scheduling team, helping adjusters close claims faster and offering carriers and independent adjusting firms more visibility into claims.

Q: What major changes do you see on the horizon for the property/casualty insurance industry in the next 10 years?

Purcell (Schedule It): In the near term, small and midsize insurance carriers will emphasize customer experience across all technology initiatives and product development efforts so as not to lose customers to larger carriers with more geographic reach and bigger marketing budgets. As part of the positive customer experience push, automated communications to policyholders will become standard for all insurance carriers instead of only the top-tier players. Additionally, policyholder and claimant participation in the claim process will continue to increase, with smart carriers offering premium discounts based on participation.

Technology will also play a significant role in the near term with advances such as IoT devices decreasing water damage claims, for example, and helping carriers move toward mitigation of more risk.

“Going forward, automation will invade the insurance industry, with bots taking over many customer service functions, handling simple underwriting inspections and empowering more self-service claims.”

Looking further out, five years or more, there will be less “boots on the ground” as more aspects of the claim process become automated or streamlined, such as routing of claims to available adjusters. The increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) combined with analytics utilizing data that carriers already have in-house will also have a significant impact on customer experience and streamlining the claim process.

Going forward, automation will invade the insurance industry, with bots taking over many customer service functions, handling simple underwriting inspections and empowering more self-service claims.

Risks insured by insurance carriers will be drastically different in the next decade. Carriers are already beginning to ask what happens when driverless cars prevent accidents and smart homes notify policyholders or service providers about potential problems before they happen. It’s a move toward proactive prevention as a service instead of the traditional model in which carriers provide products that prescribe action after a loss.

“Policyholder and claimant participation in the claim process will continue to increase, with smart carriers offering premium discounts based on participation.”

In the future, insurance coverage becomes more forward-thinking. Policyholders will need to insure robots, DNA and trips to outer space, for example. Perhaps in the future insurance will be available for unborn children or grandchildren, or for marriage before one is even married? The future of insurance is as visionary as the future of technology. The Einsteins of this generation are driving the risk management of the future.

In 20-25 years or more, this time in history will be looked upon as even more exciting and tumultuous than the first Industrial Revolution. Together, we are changing the world.

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