The relationship among carriers, software vendors, andpolicyholders requires great attention, particularly for theinsurers and their software partners, who often become the focalpoint when a policyholder files a claim.

Aite Group examined therelationship in a survey of North American property & casualtyclaims executives (North American P&C Vendors: Partners inClaims Excellence) that studied examined every aspect of theirclaims operations from claims software to claims services,according to Stephen Applebaum, senior analyst, property &casualty insurance, Aite Group.

Survey respondents rated vendors and their products in threeareas: Do you use the software; what is your perception of theperformance of that software; and what is the perception of thecost of that software.

"The overall theme is carriers are 100 percent dependent onvendors for achieving claims excellence," says Applebaum. "Thevendors, in many cases, are the face of the insurance company whenit comes time to resolve a claim and the way in which the vendorsbehave is critical to retention. They are vital partners. The waythe industry rewards the companies that do the best job is reallyapparent from the survey. They rise to the top."

Applebaum describes claims as "the moment of truth" for p&ccarriers. The average policyholder only files a claim once every 10years, so when that happens, the claimant wants to feel the insurerappreciates those 10 years of premium payments.

"The claim is more often than not triggered by a traumatic or atleast unpleasant event," he says. "At this time of high anxiety,the typical claimant needs and expects prompt and attentiveassistance."

Applebaum explained the report detailed some interesting pointsconcerning the use of rental cars while claimants have their car ina repair shop.

"Enterprise is a wonderful story in that the vendor can become apartner in claims excellence," he says. "I challenge you to find abody shop of any kind—whether it be a national chain or a localindependent—that doesn't have either an Enterprise rep on site someportion of the time or an actual desk inside the shop."

Bigger name car rental companies, such as Hertz and Avis, nevercompletely took the time to understand an insurance replacementrental is a different transaction with different automobiles,according to Applebaum.

"You can't afford to put fully- featured cars in an insurancereplacement fleet and still offer an insurance company a $25-a-dayrate," he says. "Enterprise has nailed the business model thatallowed them to provide insurance companies with the lowest costand highest level of service and literally outsource the entirerental car process."

Applebaum estimates that 90 percent of insurance companies don'tlift a finger to deal with the rental car. As soon as a claimantinforms the insurer they need to take their car to the shop,Enterprise takes over electronically and handles the work.

"The amount of rental insurance coverage that is now in thegeneral public has increased from 10 percent penetration 10 yearsago to 80 percent now, whether they pay an additional premium or itis included," he says "It is a high customer-service touch point toprovide an easy car rental experience."

Some of the conclusions from the report include:

• The use and application of analytics solutions will continue togrow exponentially.
• Accelerating vendor industry segment consolidation willcontinue to impact carriers, claims costs and service, and smallindependent single-solution vendors.
• Vendor management software solutions are becomingmandatory.