View from Atlantic Canada: Building a claims system for the changed world
by Michael Ackerman, Vice President, Claims - Atlantic, Intact??
The weather has not been kind to many of us across Canada over the last few weeks. These are difficult times, with the loss of homes, destruction of businesses and stressful evacuations. In Atlantic Canada, we’ve so far had a relatively mild CAT season – but, with hurricane season far from over, we’re remaining vigilant.?
Our purpose is to get customers back on track after life’s unpredictable events, be they car accidents or natural disasters. Over the past few years, the pandemic, staffing challenges, global supply chain issues and an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events underscored how critical this purpose is as the world has changed. ?
In response, our claims system has changed with it:?
Investing in people?
People are our most important asset, and the most important part of our claims strategy. We’ve hired more than 1500 claims professionals nationally over the past two years – more than doubling our capacity on key teams in Atlantic Canada – and reinvented how we train them.?
Our training is longer and more robust, and gives new hires time to learn, practice and shadow more experienced team members. Newly created roles, such as a customer experience and onboarding unit manager for auto, continue to support new talent after their formal training wraps up.?
We’ve also revamped how we train adjustors, first grounding them in our claims systems and honing their customer service skills, before layering in adjustor-specific liability and valuation training.?
This hard-working, well-trained local team is supported by colleagues across the country who can be mobilized to address the high-volume CATs create.??
Managing the supply chain?
Another key part of our strategy is to put key controls in place to better manage the supply chain to improve your customers’ repair and restoration experience wherever possible. Part of this is the continued expansion of Intact Service Centres – Intact-branded one-stop auto repair shops provides faster repair times and higher customer satisfaction. Compared to regular auto repair shops, Intact Service Centres provide an average of 36% faster cycle time and a +9% customer satisfaction score on service.??
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We’re also addressing the contractor crunch on property claims by using our subsidiary On Side Restoration to support as many claims as possible – up to 50% in some regions.?
Flexible, adaptable processes for today and tomorrow?
A claims system that works today, tomorrow – and the day after – needs to be flexible and adaptable, and the people who work in it need to be agile. The extremely difficult 2023 CAT season, in Atlantic Canada and across Canada, showed us our strategy was working: We were able to deploy all-hands on deck quickly, leveraging people from every office and every province to support customers in the affected areas. And while floods, fires and storms affect our immediate performance – notably, the speed with which we were able to respond to customers, as well as our ability to continue to process non-CAT claims – our phone service levels now return to target goals within a week.?
Committed to second-to-none claims service?
All of us in Atlantic Canada? – and across the country – could use a break from the impacts of extreme weather. But if the predictably unpredictable comes – and it will – the Intact claims team is here to help your customers get back on track.?
And, when extreme weather events affect other regions of the country, as they have in recent weeks, we’re part of Intact’s all-hands on deck mobilization efforts, supporting customers in their time of need.?
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Resources for customers?
Our claims teams across the country remain available 24/7, with a focus on making it as easy as possible for? customers and their families to contact us for help:??
Your customers can also file and monitor the status of their claim online on the Intact Insurance App or Client Centre.?