Automation can be the missing link to minimizing friction in the online insurance claims process.
In fact, when it comes to making an insurance claim, filling out forms and providing reams of documentation is known to increase friction in the customer journey.
To address the problem, German InsurTech startup INZMO has built an online insurance platform that brings a fully digital user experience to the insurance market, the company’s founder and CEO, Meeri Savolainen, told PYMNTS in an interview.
“It’s no problem to get any insurance product online today [but] the ugly truth comes out in the claims handling, when the customer actually needs the service,” she said, describing how INZMO only sells policies that can be managed entirely online.
For younger generations especially, she said, designing a smooth user interface is critical to creating an appealing insurance product.
“It’s all about the experience — everything younger generations are looking for,” she said, adding that younger consumers are now accustomed to swiping through different products and services in a digital app. As such, they increasingly demand the same convenience from their insurance providers.
But while digital interfaces can go a long way toward improving the customer experience, and are certainly disrupting the global insurance market, Savolainen said that there are still other ways technology can improve the way consumers make insurance claims.
In the next phase of development, she said that INZMO intends to introduce more automation into the claims handling process, adding that “submitting and handling a claim should be as easy as purchasing a policy and it should happen in seconds.”
Claims Automation Technology
As it stands in the industry, Savolainen described how “every customer is being treated basically as a risk to the insurance company,” but said that “this is not how it should work.”
She said that there are technologies available that can mitigate the risk to insurers without introducing unnecessary friction to consumers. For example, in the future, she anticipates that claims could be made by uploading a 30-second video rather than having to submit different documents.
With a video, “it’s possible to understand whether the person is trying to commit fraud or not,” she observed, explaining how the insurance industry can increase customer satisfaction by embracing more interactive claims technologies without sacrificing security.
To get to that point, however, Savolainen said that there are some important steps that regulators can take to foster innovation, adding that InsurTech companies working with personal data encounter significant regulatory friction.
To help ease that regulatory burden, some countries have launched regulatory sandboxes where tech companies can experiment with new ideas in a more flexible environment, but Savolainen said that more sandboxes would be “extremely useful” in helping InsurTechs like INZMO test out new products.
Beyond claims automation, Savolainen foresees that the growth of embedded insurance will continue to make waves in the insurance market.
And in the future, she said she expects insurance will be more embedded into products and services, “with just a sort of sticker or stamp of the insurance provider on it so that you know that you’re covered.”
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