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INTERVIEW WITH
Charles Eurell
Claims Director | Hettle Andrews & Associates
Innovating Insurance: Understanding Emerging Risks in an Uncertain World
Our customers are used to web portals and apps and remote validation. If we don’t offer those services to clients, someone else will.
What does innovation look like in the insurance industry today?
We are focusing on the Internet of Things and online connectivity, to help pre-empt questions and address them faster for our clients. A good example of the potential of Iot is the claims process. Part of this process is claims validation, where we check things like customer name, address details, and previous activity. Much of this information is already stored online, in various devices. If we can use IoT to access that data at the right moment, it makes the claims process faster and more efficient. Another exciting innovation is drone technology, which is being used to save time and effort by conducting live site inspections.
Our customers are used to web portals and apps and remote validation. If we don’t offer those services to clients, someone else will. Traditionally, the insurance sector has been slow to accept technology innovation, so these technologies already exist but aren’t being used to their full extent. It’s so important to start embracing these technologies and start to pre-empt technology as we move forward.
How important is the speed of response when meeting the expectations of today’s digital-enabled customer?
When a customer contacts us, it’s easy for insurance providers and brokers to forget that this customer might only experience this particular problem once in a lifetime. It could be something that affects their entire life and causes serious financial consequences.
In that situation, what the client wants most is rapid agreement of indemnity. They want us to say, don’t worry, you’re covered, and we’re here to help you. Traditional insurance models aren’t designed to make this process quick. It takes time, which creates worry and uncertainty for the customer.
Technology can speed up the process so that customers can describe what’s happened and get almost immediate confirmation of policy liability. We need to add technology into that process of the adjustor visiting the site, reviewing the property and checking that against the policy. We might not ever make it instant, but by accelerating it, we can offer a better customer experience.
Technology can speed up the process so that customers can describe what’s happened and get almost immediate confirmation of policy liability.
A proactive warning could include things like flood prevention and mitigation techniques. We will advise policyholders on low-tech methods like moving things upstairs and using sandbags, but we can also advise on IT solutions so that the policyholder can continue to work from another location.
Charles Eurell
Claims Director
Hettle Andrews & Associates
How does your organisation proactively prioritise pre- and post-response efforts in these situations?
I would love to see the industry using a local or national system that automates warnings in a consistent way, so that I get the same information as my neighbour.
Today, we use web GIS and postcode maps to cross-reference any incoming weather events with a map of policyholders. If there is a storm heading for Aberdeen, we can issue notices to policyholders and prepare our adjustors, so we know we have capacity for incoming customer calls.
A proactive warning could include things like flood prevention and mitigation techniques. We will advise policyholders on low-tech methods like moving things upstairs and using sandbags, but we can also advise on IT solutions so that the policyholder can continue to work from another location.
The industry still relies on boots on the ground when prioritising post-flood support, so there is enormous scope for that process to be improved. The next step is to use AI to identify that flooding is happening in this postcode area; here are the clients with high value risk and high exposure, and these are the people we should focus on first. I haven’t seen that happening in the industry but it’s technology that exists. We just need to start embracing that change.