The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down many aspects of life we as a society were accustomed to, but it has not diminished the public's collective desire to stay informed and continue learning. In the property & casualty insurance industry alone, professionals are using their time to listen to new podcasts or attend industry events in order to garner new insights.

Over the last three days, many professionals attended America's Claims Executive (ACE) Virtual Leadership Forum & Expo. Despite being forced to transition from an in-person event to a completely virtual experience, the three-day event featured keynote speakers, experts across a range of subjects and networking opportunities. Yesterday marked the conclusion of ACE, but many of the questions that were discussed throughout the event will continue to be evergreen — even if and when a cure for COVID-19 is discovered.

What will the workforce of the future look like? What new skills will claims professionals need? Questions like these have been top of mind at many organizations for some time, but the pandemic has turned the spotlight on them once more.

Deb Zawisza, vice president, research and consulting at Novarica, focused on such questions during her keynote on Day 3.

Day 3 takeaways

The future of work in any industry will revolve around technology, and this is especially true for the claims industry. According to Zawisza, there are three key areas focused on increasing the expansion of digital capabilities, which will influence how a workforce operates:

Digital claim payments, especially as claimants expect their experience to happen in real-time and be more frictionless
The overall claim service, especially as calls for greater transparency increase as digital engagement increases
The expanded integration of various claims ecosystems (imagery, estimation, analytics) to include broader ecosystems partners to core system capabilities

"For most carriers, core systems are the anchor point around how their claims work, how their processes operate," says Zawisza.

These three areas of expansion will directly impact three major works shift already happening in claims organizations:

A shift from physical to virtual work
A shift in focused expertise, specifically the transition to analytic enhanced expertise from adjuster expertise
Organizations shifting to a customer-centric approach from an adjuster-centric approach

"When we think about the future of work and how claims organizations are operating, core systems are really the platform around everyone in the claim organization and how their processes operate," says Zawisza.

Limitations on in-person assessments have disrupted normal business operations, but claims organizations have innovated and found creative ways to continue providing for claimants.

Although ACE has concluded, you can find summaries from the first two days listed below. For more insights on all things claims, turn to PropertyCasualty360 and consider subscribing to our Claims Connection newsletter.

We look forward to seeing you at next year's ACE event.

Related:

Special Reports /

ACE Leadership Forum & Expo: Here's what you missed on Day 3

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