How Loss Adjusters fit into the brave new world of claims

The loss adjusting industry is facing several challenges, not least the ever-evolving implementation of technology in claims management.

There is no question that initiatives such as video reporting have a valuable role in speeding the claims lifecycle. Indeed, in certain circumstances such as low value EoW claims, they limit or even negate the need for a site visit, enabling the adjuster to optimise their valuable time managing more costly or complex claims.

However, in many scenarios there is a requirement for a professional and personal touch on a claim to ensure accuracy of assessment and assure all parties that the best possible outcome will be reached.

In this article we will assess the state of play in claims and present a clear business case for the use of Loss Adjusting services, where technology is an enabler not a replacement, to ensure claims costs and duration are managed, and all stakeholders are satisfied.

It seems barely believable that the iPhone, now into its 14th incarnation, was only unveiled to the world by Steve Jobs a mere 15 years ago.

Today, around 20 million people in the UK are estimated to own an Apple smartphone and a further 29 million are users of Android devices, showing how we have readily accepted and rapidly adopted this technology over a relatively short period of time.

But eye-watering as the numbers might be, they are perhaps not surprising. In recent times, the rise of the smartphone has been symbolic of a much wider digital transformation. Across almost all areas of personal and professional life, tech-driven change has become the norm.

In Loss Adjusting, there is plenty of evidence to show how this trend is changing the rules of the game. Video reporting, for example, has already established its value within the claims management process, enabling claim lifecycles to be reduced while also providing a level of transparency that can help tackle fraud.

Indeed, in certain circumstances, video can negate the need for an adjuster to travel to site. Instead, we are seeing policyholders use their smartphones to record a reliable first-hand account of damage or licensed operators using technology such as drones to record high-quality images of even difficult-to-reach areas of a property.

Although the use of such technologies was already in the ascendency prior to the pandemic, there is no doubt that Covid-19 acted as an accelerator. At a time of socially distanced disruption, technology stepped in to fill the gap, facilitating a level of business continuity that would not have otherwise been possible. Clearly, it will remain an important feature of our post-Covid ‘new normal’.

There are other examples of technologies helping to bring greater accuracy and efficiency to the loss-adjusting function. This can be seen in the growing networks of sensing and monitoring technologies that form the Internet of Things (IoT).

By enhancing the collection, management and use of data, these devices are opening the door to improvements in the claim supply chain, from shorter response times to higher quality of communication. And any improvements in these areas can make a major contribution to enhanced levels of customer service and satisfaction.

Taking these examples, and adding in the potential presented by Artificial Intelligence, automation and other algorithm-driven processes, it is easy to see why digitisation has prompted fears that technology might go too far, leaving the sector populated by a handful of robo-adjusters.

At Bickley Chartered Loss Adjusters Ltd, however, we think the outlook for the future of loss adjusting is more bright than bleak. Technology will certainly continue to become more deeply integrated into the claims process, having lost none of the momentum that it gained during the pandemic. Indeed, it is only likely to build on these foundations as the sector seeks out further gains in efficiency and better outcomes for both insurers and policyholders.

But however effective technology might be at facilitating the handling of data and accelerating the completion of defined tasks, it has its limits. Entrusting more straightforward claims to technology is one thing, but in more complex situations it has more value as an enabler.

In these cases, human sensibilities are still critical in assimilating all the elements involved and making fine-margin evaluations and judgements. Digitisation can turn claim information into a wealth of highly valuable and sharable data, but we still require the skill of a loss adjuster to contextualise and balance all these inputs, and to arrive at an optimal outcome for insurer and insured in terms of cost, time and resolution.

Technology should not, therefore, be seen as separate from what we do as loss adjusters. It’s more that we must acknowledge and appreciate what it can offer and understand how it can be used to complement and augment our function – because by the time the iPhone 15 comes around, the rules of the game may well have changed again.

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