The Tech-Enabled Insurance Claim Revolution

Wednesdays With Woodward webinar series logo

The Tech-Enabled Insurance Claim Revolution

October 20, 2021

Wednesday 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. ET

From geospatial technologies and aerial imagery to machine learning and artificial intelligence, what happens when digital innovations are embedded in the insurance claim process? This installment of Wednesdays with Woodward® included an eye-opening conversation on how claims are being revolutionized with digital tools that increase efficiency and satisfaction for today’s connected customer. Travelers Senior Vice President Patrick Gee took us inside the latest transformative innovations and explored what they mean for business and personal insurance customers.

Watch the replay

Summary

What did we learn? Here are the top takeaways from “The Tech-Enabled Insurance Claim Revolution.”

  • Smartphones have been a game changer. “If I think of all the equipment a property claim professional had to carry around with them before – video cameras, cell phones, audio recording devices, measuring tools, ladders – all this stuff basically got subsumed into smartphone apps,” Gee remarked. According to him, texting has also quickly grown to become the preferred method of interaction for more than 50% of customers.
  • Customer demand is driving advancement of tech-enabled insurance claims. “Our customers are comparing us to their latest, best example in any business, industry or interaction, not one that’s just in the insurance space,” said Gee.
  • COVID-19 hastened the shift as well. During the pandemic, customers opted for virtual claim inspections at more than double the pre-COVID rates. In addition, Gee pointed to electronic payment, file sharing and document signing, along with digital claim status tracking and automated customer communications as tools that round out a full suite of capabilities beyond the initial inspection and estimate.
  • Insurers are combining technologies in powerful ways. Rapidly evolving tools that gather and analyze information about incidents and outcomes enable insurers to provide highly customized, data-driven resolutions to even some of the most complex claims – often reducing processing time from weeks to hours. Some exciting advancements include:
    • Using drones for remote damage assessment. Gee noted that more than 700 Travelers’ claim professionals are FAA-certified drone pilots – a capability that offers unprecedented speed, accuracy and safety for inspecting locations that may be dangerous or inaccessible.
    • Layering data on aerial photography to map damage. Gee shared that Travelers uses geospatial tools and artificial intelligence to map catastrophe damage over aerial imagery of impacted regions after an event or as it’s happening. He said that in some circumstances, Travelers is aware of damage to a property even before a customer.
    • Creating detailed structural schematics from just a few photos. Pictures from a smartphone can now offer enough information to build a 3D model, down to the width and height of every door and window. “It’s amazing and extremely accurate,” Gee said.
    • Leveraging telematics to respond to auto incidents. Telematics can now instantly pinpoint locations of a motor vehicle crash and the nearest responders, get details about the vehicles and people involved, and capture and analyze data about the physics of a collision. This means customers get quicker, more personalized resolutions.
  • Finally, the industry is on board for the tech-enabled claims revolution. Two-thirds of participating insurance professionals reported they were already “fully immersed” in the digital claims process or had at least begun using these tools. This mirrored Gee’s assessment of the present and hopes for the future: “We feel like we’ve made some progress, and we’re super excited because we know there’s a whole lot more to get done here.”

Presented by the Travelers Institute, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the MetroHartford Alliance, the Risk and Uncertainty Management Center at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business and the Master’s in Financial Technology (FinTech) Program at the University of Connecticut School of Business

Speaker

Patrick Gee
Patrick Gee
Senior Vice President, Personal Insurance Claim, Auto and Property Claim, Travelers

Host

Joan Woodward headshot
Joan Woodward
President, Travelers Institute; Executive Vice President, Public Policy, Travelers


four-panelists-seated-on-stage-at-event.png

Events & webinars

Don't miss other upcoming programs in the Wednesdays with Woodward® series.

Close up picture of businessman using keyboard

Join our email list

Get on the list to receive program invitations, replays and more.