When thinking about the most common causes for high insurance claims costs, one must first assess the nature of the processes involved. When these processes are manual, there’s an inherent upfront expense: the cost of administration.
There are many known time wasters that are especially detrimental in the insurance industry since they have a great deal of influence on claim-processing outcomes and cost. Among the most common are reviewing and completing forms manually. Digitizing them by scanning, communicating back and forth between teammates and manually entering data, can be repeated and susceptible to human error.
Digitizing claims management helps ease the load. Adjusters can migrate to fully digital operations with claims management software, which reduces the liability of having to maintain storage premises when the software is cloud-based.
5 Steps to Digitalize Processes and Reduce Costs
However, analog-to-digital transition is not easy. Especially when you are talking about transitioning to save money. Where do you begin? What do you do?
Here are 5 steps to start thinking about how to transition in an orderly fashion without wasting money.
- Assess and reassess: First, you need to know what you require — and when. What are the most important parts of the process? These are the tasks that should be dealt with first. For that purpose, you need to make sure you have acquired the equipment you need.
- Train and educate people: What’s the composition of your team? Do they all know the ins and outs of computers? They won’t require a degree in software engineering to handle these types of programs, but basic knowledge of the use of computers is necessary. Determine who needs it and how long it will take to onboard them.
- Move Claim Data to better storage: Once you know what you need in terms of hardware it’s time to secure your data. Moving it to a cloud-native site may be the best solution for data storage in existence because there are virtually no physical drawbacks.
- Remind yourself of the reason why you’re doing it: You are not replacing manual data input and data processing for claims to keep repeating what you were doing in a computer. Claims Management Software can do a lot more than just provide a digital sheet of paper. Don’t even think about starting in Excel or in Microsoft Word. Claims Management Software will simplify processes, eliminate duplicated data in documents and avoid people coming and going and wasting time asking for data that’s already there. Moreover, more importantly, you’ll have a centralized unit of information.
- Digitalize and Review (over and over): Digitalization is not only the transition. To keep everything running smoothly, digitalization requires constant review and updates. Make sure you continually examine your processes for improvements.
Automation: the biggest time saver
Among the most valuable time savers, automated workflows tops the list. By implementing digital tools and systems, manual and repetitive tasks can be automated. This reduces the need for human intervention, saves time, and minimizes errors.
Automated Workflows are the perfect example. They are sequences of tasks that are triggered by a user’s actions. This means that when user A performs action 1, it triggers action 2 to be performed by user B. Digital systems can automatically generate claim forms, validate data, and process routine tasks. This eliminates manual data entry and reduces costs.
This sounds straightforward and simple because it is. Instead of fumbling around with small tasks that waste your employee’s time, setting up a workflow will prevent you having to be on top of every “micro-manageable” task. Instead, staff are able to focus on delivering a high-quality user experience.
How does digitalization help you save costs?
After you have decided to digitize and followed the previous five steps, you may be wondering: “How did I ever save money from this?” Digitalization can significantly save costs in a claim management process by streamlining operations, increasing efficiency, and reducing manual tasks. By optimizing these processes, organizations can save significant costs while delivering improved customer experiences. Here is an example:
To see the results, you need to focus on a few KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and they will reveal how better you are performing. For instance, if you use Claim Resolution time as a Key Performance Indicator, the less time claims take, the lower your costs will be.
Terra: saving by spending efficiently
Terra is the claims management solution that makes efficiency one of its core pillars. How does it do that? By focusing on reducing long processes, centralizing communication to speed up resolution, and making subrogation much more streamlined.
To see Terra’s capabilities for yourself, schedule an 8-minute briefing with our team.
