"Businesses that invest in the digital tools required to empower customers and their growing desire for more autonomy will thrive"
Source - Raconteur Special Report from @theTimes March 29th 2017
BUT- Delivering the promise of speed, ease and personalised service usually means meeting conflicting goals. Take the Insurance Industry.
You can speed up the settlement of claims easily but act too fast and you may well accept fraudulent claims. Happy customers but including fraudulent ones.
Hoping for AI and machine learning to identify and restrict fraud? That is entirely dependent on having ALL the data to see the patterns and probability of fraud. Yet up to 90% of an insurance company's data is inaccessible. It is hidden in emails, free text, photos etc. Incomplete data and AI is powerless.
There are solutions however that combine the power of customer engagement, augment the knowledge and intuition of case handlers & fraud investigators and digitally transform the complete loop of insurance claims management and settlement.
Just last week Allianz described its new video streaming service See " ALLIANZ LAUNCHES LIVE VIDEO STREAMING PLATFORM FOR CUSTOMER CLAIMS". Allianz states
"When a customer notifies a claim, an Allianz Site View link can be sent to them via SMS or email. The customer can then choose to upload images, documents, video clips or start a live video feed, at a time which is convenient for them.
During the pilot, the speed of this technology enabled Allianz to settle a number of claims more quickly and the new service resulted in a high Net Promoter Score."
But how would an insurance company avoid the challenge of passing fraudulent claims?
The Allianz innovation provides a first line defence. Asking a customer to provide photo and live video evidence immediately deters fraudsters. 360Globalnet claims that up to 30% of claimants walk-away at this stage.
That still leaves a number of claims in which potential fraud is hidden by skilled fraudsters that know how to play the system.
Fraud investigators have a "nose" for suspicious claims but are limited by time in applying this across all claims. The 360Globalnet digital platform includes 360Retrieve which lets them search across all data (from structured to unstructured) to use that nose. Take a claim for a car (with driver and four occupants) into which another car reversed causing alleged injuries on the forecourt of the Asda Petrol Station in Tysley, Birmingham at 01.00. Were there any more claims around that time - use fuzzy logic and lo and behold yes three such claims between 11.59 and 04.00 at the same forecourt and all with four occupants Please note; this is a fictional picture and I'm sure all Asda forecourts are safe places at which to purchase fuel!
Or take another example when the insurer is assessing liability and asks a third party investigator to visit a property to interview a claimant. Were there any visits to that property in the last 12 months? Usually data that is hidden but the 360Globalnet online platform will "sniff it out".
Deploying these new digital tools insurers can achieve
- faster settlement of claims
- at reduced operating costs
- whilst also reducing fraud
- a triple whammy of digital transformation success for customer and insurer
As Raconteur states:-
"Whatever your industry, wherever your market, businesses willing to invest in digital tools to match customers’ growing desire for more autonomy will thrive. The pendulum of influence is swinging back towards the customer".
“Take back control” was the mantra that won the referendum for those wanting to take Britain out of the EU last June. As a slogan it brims with appeal. Its potency is its promise. Signs of delivery on that particular promise are still unclear at best. Businesses that make a similar promise to demanding, digitally ambitious customers wanting more autonomy will lead the next era of commerce. Unlike politicians though, companies must deliver or die. Customer satisfaction often boils down to key elements such as speed, ease and personalised service.
