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| Subject: | Wireless Dev: Why The Insurance Industry Is Going Wireless |
| Date: |
07/21/2000 03:13:17 PM |
| From: |
Bryan Morgan |
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From Broadbeam (formerly Nettech Systems):
All industries have their buzzwords: in insurance today, it's clearly
customer service. With consumers scanning the Web to compare prices and
ensure they are competitive, customer service is the one area in which an
insurance company can differentiate its offerings in order to acquire new
customers and retain current ones.
The most visible area within customer service --- and thus the best place to
target improvements -- is in claims filing and settlement. And bragging
rights in this area are dependent on how well and fast a company can settle
a claim as well as the quality of the consumer's experience.
Traditionally, appraisers have worked out of an insurance office, scheduling
visits with claimants by telephone. In recent years, however, this has begun
to change, particularly in auto insurance, where consumers are demanding
faster responses to their damage claims.
By introducing wireless capabilities into the equation, insurance companies
immediately gain the capability to be on the accident scene faster than any
of their non-wireless competitors, settle claims quickly and fairly and
create a "wow" factor for claimants.
Consider what happens after a phone call from a policyholder at an auto
accident scene. With a wireless claims system, the insurance company can
send all pertinent data to the mobile appraiser nearest the accident
carrying a wireless device. The wireless application could transmit such
information as accident location and background information on the claimant
and automobile. Using the same wireless device, the claims agent could
obtain local pricing information for the damaged right front panel as well
as history on the claimant to ensure there is no pattern of accidents -- and
protect the company from possible fraud. In fact, the appraiser could obtain
all the data necessary to settle the claim on the spot. But customer service
doesn't have to stop there. If the claimant had towing and rental insurance,
the appraiser could arrange for the car to be towed to a dealership or local
garage and have a rental car brought out to the claimant at the accident
site.
Sound like science fiction? In fact, ADP Claims Solutions Group, has
networked all of its ADP mobile estimating systems together to enable
insurers to instantly disseminate and receive information from their trading
partners and staff adjusters. The system has also eliminated redundancies
within the internal claims process. The wireless system allows appraisers to
transmit claims information from the field or a drive-through service center
directly to the home office in real time, significantly increasing the level
of customer service. As a bonus, by bypassing traditional modem and phone
line connections to quickly send and receive assignments, estimates, images
and total loss evaluations, appraisers using the system can effectively
reduce their time spent doing paperwork by one hour each work day.
OTHER WIRELESS OPPORTUNITIES
While auto insurance provides the most obvious benefits of wireless use,
there are others. For example, most insurance companies have field offices
that rely on telephone service. But what happens when tornadoes, floods or
hurricanes create tremendous damage and knock out phone service? In such
circumstances, wireless applications can ensure communication between
offices and enable faster service to policyholders. During a disaster, the
ability to transmit wireless also allows the insurance company catastrophe
teams to be on the street with claimants. This allows more claims to be
settled faster and helps the customer to get repair work started
immediately.
Additionally, wireless is spreading throughout mobile workers in the
insurance industry. The ability to access systems remotely is clearly a
place where companies have been able to increase productivity and make their
business processes more efficient. Whether it is e-mail messages or
database access, wireless data allows the home office to be closer to the
field.
>From these examples, it's obvious that wireless applications can improve
customer service while enabling insurance companies to process more claims
faster using fewer people. With mature wireless capabilities available and
hosting services emerging to ease implementations and reduce overall
wireless costs, it's only a matter of time before incorporating wireless
capabilities into insurance systems becomes pervasive in the industry.
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