A recent Post Magazine survey among insurance company Claims Managers, (Post, 22 October), revealed that service levels tend to fall once contracts are signed – especially in the motor sector. In addition, ‘claims handling leakage’ costs insurers millions of pounds a year (Post, 19 November), and the problem is not limited to the UK. The Van Ameyde Group has developed a pan-European web-based Claims Management system that prevents both the fall in service levels and leakage.
Interestingly, most commonly outsourced services are loss adjusting, repair and replacement, according to Post’s survey. Only 30 – 40% of the claims managers surveyed employ third parties for fraud detection and back-office services, including claims management. Van Ameyde’s CCO Cees Werff feels that it is these services that can give insurers a competitive edge.
“The main reasons for insurers utilising multiple providers can be historic arrangements, and a fear of reliance on one provider – especially with the risk of declining service levels over time”, said Werff. He added, “This strategy does, however, result in greater financial and service risk to the insurer - as it reduces purchasing leverage, increases provider supervision risks and presents multiple contracts, disjointed reporting, and multiple auditing lines. All of which certainly does not improve transparency, efficiency, or the claims management process.“
In particular, the management of cross-border claims requires access to a huge international supplier network. To keep a grip on the entire claims process, outsourcing to one party makes sense. But how does that party ensure compliance to service levels, where providers of less complex services fail?
integration of client protocols
In the Van Ameyde Group the answer is its international, web-based IT system - ECHO. ECHO is custom-developed to support Van Ameyde’s claims professionals and its international network of offices. Van Ameyde’s CEO Piet Middelkoop said, “No matter how good the claims handler or adjuster, strict adherence to service levels of hundreds of clients throughout Europe can only be achieved by superior IT support. ECHO allows us to integrate our clients’ policies to form an integral part of our claims management activities on their behalf.”
ECHO presents client specific information to the claims handler at pre-defined stages of the process – whether this is first notification of loss data, reserving protocols and referral requirements, delegated authority levels, etc. In addition, it assigns activities in accordance with preset deadlines, keeping the claim cycle within the agreed limits. Van Ameyde’s claims sourcing services have demonstrably resulted in increased customer satisfaction among insureds and reduction in costs.
Fraud prevention, direct access for Van Ameyde’s clients to their files and reports are added benefits provided by ECHO. “Process control is no longer an issue as it is an integral part of ECHO, which supports SAS70 compliance,” said Piet Middelkoop. “In addition, continuity is guaranteed through multi site back-up servers and systems access wherever, whenever.”