The National Underwriter Company and Claims Magazine have busily been preparing this year's program for the 12th Annual ACE America's Claim Event conference. Responding to the needs and desires of past attendees, we have focused this year's program on how to modernize claim processes for operational efficiency and productivity. In other words, we will help you achieve even greater success this year while making your job easier and simpler.
The Claims staff spoke with two keynote speakers that will be presenting during sessions at this year's event, which is being held June 9-11, 2008, at the Renaissance Orlando Resort at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla. For more information or to register for the conference, go to www.nucoevents.com.
Allstate Exec Examines Technology's Role
Technology's role in the claim industry is important because of the opportunities for improvement. A simple comparison to banking makes the difference clear. While banks have established clearing houses to quickly exchange money, insurance technology for things like subrogation consist of writing checks back and forth on an individual file basis. In Mike Jackowski's welcome address on June 9, 2008, he will define the specific problems with technology facing carriers and offer insights gleaned from other industries on how to address them.
"When you compare the insurance industry to other industries, especially some of the processes in claims, we are behind in terms of driving efficiency and making operations seamless," said Jackowski, who serves as Allstate's vice president of claim technology services. "If you look at a lot of the processes that are in place at carriers today, they are labor intensive, there is a lot of paper involved, and there is a lot of sequential processing. I think a lot of it has to do with the technology behind it and how operations are organized."
Jackowski will also discuss ways to get the adjuster back to doing what they should be doing: working with the policyholder. He said that too many times adjusters are pulled away from essential job functions in order to deal with non-customer administrative tasks.
"Getting more efficient is going to be extraordinarily important," said Jackowski. "But we not only have to become more efficient, we have to do a better job of servicing our customers. Sometimes those two things go against each other. The true question is, how do we take that administrative work out of the adjuster's hand and reallocate that time so they can do the right thing for our customers?"
The answer to this question and more will be heard at the ACE conference next month in Orlando, Fla., June 9-11, 2008. Register today at www.nucoevents.com.
Taking the Stairs to the Top
There is a popular expression that says there are no shortcuts to success. It can be equated to taking the stairs, even when the elevator doors are open. On Tuesday, June 10, 2008, chairman and chief executive officer of Auto-Owners Insurance Robert Looyenga will expand on this metaphor as he discusses how service and leadership can combine into a powerful formula for reaching life goals.
In addition to overseeing Auto-Owners Insurance, Looyenga is the author of a book called Take the Stairs. In it, he discusses combining service and leadership traits into what he calls "servant leadership." He said his book was written around the Auto-Owners concepts and how they applied the concepts of servant leadership within their organization.
"If you consider the characteristics of outstanding service and the characteristics of outstanding leadership, they are exactly the same," said Looyenga. "So I will discuss five different components of service or leadership, tying them together into what I call servant leadership."
In his session, Looyenga will explain the relationship between the five components: relationships, recognition, communication, knowledge, and attitude. At the end, attendees will leave with a better strategy to motivate their staff and increase customer satisfaction.
"I want attendees and the people that they work with or the customers they service to positively respond back to them," he said. "It's about getting someone to come back to you because they have had a good experience. Customer service is something we always need to continually work on, and as times change, we need to change along with people's expectations. The providers who do that the best will be the ones who reap the rewards."
To hear more about servant leadership, plan on attending Looyenga's session at this year's ACE conference in Orlando, Fla., June 9-11, 2008.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.