Innovation Group looks to make the claims process virtual | Insurance Business

One of the knock-on effects of COVID-19 on the insurance industry has been the impact on claims workflows. Due to social distancing restrictions, the need for services such as remote assessment and claims validation has become abundantly clear.

For Drew Schnehage (pictured), Australian managing director of Innovation Group, a new agreement with data and analytics provider Verisk will allow the firm to pursue this goal of providing clients with a consolidated real-time view of the claim lifecycle.

“In these times, we’ve seen that customers aren’t necessarily able to allow people into their homes for claims assessments, or even to take their vehicles into repair shops,” she told Insurance Business. “By pairing Verisk’s Xactware products with Innovation Group’s own Gateway platform, we can now deliver a product that permits the entire assessment, estimation and reporting cycle to be conducted virtually.”

Read more: Innovation Group establishes new partnership

According to Schnehage, one of the benefits of the collaboration is that it provides insurers with greater transparency regarding each stage of the claims process.

“The digital and personalised nature of this process means that via collaboration we guide customers to take videos and photos of the damage on their vehicle and have the repairer prepare a quote and assessment within 24 hours,” she noted. “Overall, it can cut down the claims lifecycle by five to seven days while keeping clients informed at every step.”

The product has already been introduced to certain segments of Innovation Group’s clients who have been quick to reap the benefits on offer, Schnehage said.

“For our property insurance customers, it’s really cut down on the need for a loss adjustor to be sent out to ascertain the extent of damage to a customer’s property. This has not only made the claims process more economically viable thanks to the reduced costs, it’s also helped to streamline the overall timeframe and improve the customer experience.”