Insurance has prided itself on the speed and reliability of the policy and sales functions offered customers on its Web site, but until a year ago, customers filing claims weren't offered the same experience. The carrier knew that had to change.
"We wanted to align and enhance the claims self-service portal for our customers with the same type of service they expected from the sales and servicing side," says Chris Holcombe, claims self-service manager for Esurance.
"When [customers] went to the claims side [of the carrier's Web site], it was very static and didn't do a whole lot for them or us. We needed to enhance that and align it with what our customers expected."
When the insurer created the claims self-service group two years ago, it recognized what was lacking both from a customer service and from a claims-handling efficiency and productivity standpoint.
"Our customers were saying they wanted to do more online–it was what they expected," says Holcombe. "The company was growing so fast, and it was an area we needed to bring up to speed."
Company officials wanted the online claim-reporting application to be the centerpiece for Esurance self-service. "From that, we would have supporting applications for customers to view claims details, documents, and information about their adjusters," says Holcombe. "This was the hub and the major project for us from a technology and development standpoint we had to get in place first."
Esurance put together a team from the self-service group, the claims technology team, and the corporate IT team to look at various applications. The solution Innovation Group offered allowed the carrier more flexibility.
"It was customizable, easy to integrate with Web services with multiple applications, and it was flexible for future enhancements," says Holcombe. "Not only could we utilize it internally with our loss-reporting unit by creating a brand-new first notice of loss system, we also were able to utilize the same application for the customer-facing side. So, it served two purposes."
Now, when the field operations group decides to make internal process changes, it can make adjustments to certain business rules for the internal application of the carrier's loss-reporting unit.
"The great thing is we were able to reduce all the applications and integrate them into ClaimCapture so the [users] have to be in only one system to do everything we ask," says Holcombe. "That was a big productivity gain for us."
On the customer side, the feedback Esurance has received from its surveys indicates customers feel the overall reporting process is smooth. "It set up things for a great claims experience for our customers," says Holcombe.
As Esurance continues to grow as a low-cost provider of personal auto products, Holcombe believes the carrier needs to find ways to leverage technology to help absorb that growth. "If we can continue to increase the amount of online activity for claims reporting, we won't have to hire more staff as we continue to grow," he says.
The most difficult issue for Esurance in this project was taking a complex process such as reporting a claim and translating it into a user-friendly claim-reporting process.
"We don't have [customers] online for a lengthy period of time before they get frustrated, so you have to condense the type of key questions," says Holcombe. "This forced us from a process standpoint to adjust to the types of claims that are reported."
Another challenge Esurance faced during the project involved integrating multiple systems with multiple vendors and partners. "From a scheduling and coordinating standpoint, we had to get everybody's buy-in," says Holcombe. "We had two or three internal claims systems we had to integrate as well as our other [technology] partners. It was complex to manage all the groups to support this integration."
What made this project special for Holcombe is the claims self-service group now is able to support the future growth of the carrier as well as provide a positive claims experience for its customers.
"Not only can they report a claim online, they can create an inspection of their vehicle that is convenient for them, they can select one of our [repair] facilities, or they can select when to have one of our appraisers estimate damages at a time and place that is convenient for them," says Holcombe. "We hope that translates into a good claims experience and a customer we can retain."
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