Claims at a Crossroads - Accenture Insurance Blog€¦ · It’s time for change, but choosing the...

Claims at a CrossroadsAccenture Claims Transformation Services

Table of contents

It’s time for change, but choosing the right path is critical

Yesterday’s strategies are not up to tomorrow’s challengesGeneration Xpectation

The data deluge

Outcomes matter—still

The people imperative

The changing face of risk

Evolution of technology

The road to high performance

RSA: claims transformation drives high performance

How can Accenture help?

Collaboration for Insurance Claims cuts costs and boosts retention

XL Group unveils multi-channel insurance claims customer portal developed with Accenture’s support

Allstate reinvents its claims process to enhance customer service

Accenture provides cloud-based claims software to leading US insurer

Embracing a new vision for claims

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2 | Claims at a crossroads

It’s time for change, but choosing the right path is criticalWithin the global insurance industry, there is widespread recognition that the claims function holds a unique place in differentiating an insurance company’s brand and influencing overall competitiveness. On the one hand, high performance in claims can place much needed distance between the insurer and the rest of the pack through increased loyalty and superior financial performance. Conversely, a failure to properly execute can have disastrous consequences and represents a missed opportunity.

In an effort to meet this challenge, insurers have been diligently executing claims initiatives designed to improve performance in parts of their respective organizations. While admirable in intent, a confluence of events—profound changes in the consumer, the emergence of new risks, and the dizzying evolution of technology—have rendered yesterday’s approaches nearly powerless against the challenges that lie ahead.

The claims function is at a crossroads. The time is now to gain a fresh perspective on claims, embrace a comprehensive “end-to-end, top-to-bottom” vision— a new operating model and a high-performing workforce, powered by leading edge technology—and ruthlessly execute. The choice is simple and stark: capitalize on this opportunity or be left behind by those who do…

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Yesterday’s strategies are not up to tomorrow’s challenges

This adage is applied in many areas,including insurance claims. People whobelieve it are clinging to the false hopethat yesterday’s strategies and tacticsare sufficient for dealing with today’scompetitive environment. But becausethe game has changed in so many ways it is hardly surprising that the old approach, on its own, is no longer delivering the required outcomes. Yet it is Accenture’s experience that the “playbook” used by many claims organizations has barely been expanded over the years (Figure 1). Simply trying harder with strategies that are inappropriate or inadequate will not deliver the required outcomes.

We believe today’s claims executives are at a crossroads—to make the right decisions for their claims operation requires a fundamental reexamination of the situation at hand. Through a fresh look at the challenges of the claims organization—some old and some new—leadership can gain the right perspective to forge a vision and a plan for the future.

Generation XpectationDuring the financial crisis which started in 2008, a significant amount of attention has been devoted to the structure of the insurance industry, focusing on financial viability, capacity in the market, and the challenge of attaining historical returns. Undoubtedly, the crisis will leave its stamp on the industry structure over time, but perhaps the most enduring impact is on the customer. In fact, customers have exited this period of uncertainty a very different animal than they were going in.

Figure 1. Most claims organizations today execute a standard “playbook” to achieve their goals.

“The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

The Standard Claims Playbook

Indemnity Loss Adjustment Expense

Customer

• Leakage reviews/closed file reviews

• Open file reviews

• Redefining the role of the supervisor (Intervention Excellence)

• Firm/factory

• Core process redesign

• Predictive modeling

• Rise and fall (and rise again) of the contact center

• Customer satisfaction surveys

• Customer involvement across the lifecycle of the claim

• Re-engineering/TQM/Fishbone diagramming/Pareto analysis

• Organizational flattening/spans of control changes (Command & Control)

• Sourcing rationalization (medical, legal, vendor, etc.)

• Straight-through processing

• Lean Six Sigma

• Business process outsourcing

This unique confluence of events has reshaped an entire class of consumer attitudes and behaviors, giving rise to what can be called “Generation Xpectation”. Unlike previous schools of thought, which focused mainly on age and demographic differences as key determinants of preferences, we are seeing a much broader impact across all age and demographic boundaries that signals a new face of the customer.

What we are left with is a challenging party indeed—a digital-savvy, mobile- enabled skeptic who questions conventional assumptions and insists on dealing on his or her terms. Across the age and gender demographics, insurance

customers have become more demanding, more critical of carriers’ attempts to differentiate themselves, less trusting and loyal, and more open in their quest to find products and services that better match their needs (Figure 2).

The flip side of this expectation is daunting: 55 percent of adults in North America believe insurance customers who receive poor service are more likely to submit fraudulent claims1. Interestingly enough, it’s not a price game—this new breed of customer is actually willing to pay more for the right products and services (Figure 3). In addition, these attitudes are being felt not only in personal lines—commercial lines managers


Figure 2. Many insurance customers would be willing to switch providers to get the service they want.

Source: Accenture Customer-Driven Innovation Survey, 2010

Information and advice available whenever you need it

Q: If your insurance provider did not offer the following, how likely is it you would switch to one that did?

Very likely

All services available via all access points

Possible to start an operation via one access point and pursue it using one or more other access points

Wide range of transactions and operations accessible via handheld devices such as Smartphones

Access to personal account information via handheld devices such as Smartphones

44%41% 42%

35% 34%

23%

18% 17%

14% 14%

67%

59% 59%

49% 48%

Somewhat likely

Figure 3. Customers would be willing to pay an average of 11 percent more to get more relevant insurance products and services.


Q: How much more would you be willing to pay for products/services that were more relevant than your current products/services?

Average premium percentage: 11%

5%3%

10%

11%

41%

52%

48%

30%

25% more30% more

15% more

20% more

You are not willing to pay more for products/ services that are more relevant for you

Total sample Respondents willing to pay a premium to gain more relevant products/services

You are willing to pay more

5% more

10% more

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are coming under similar pressure from small businesses to meet heightened demands for more personalized service, more convenient access, and more competitive pricing. In most respects carriers are falling short of these expectations. As Figure 4 shows, there is a broad and dangerous gap between what today’s insurance customers regard as important and what they believe they are receiving.

The data delugeMost claims professionals have come to appreciate the potential value of data and analytics in improving the speed, efficiency and transparency of the claims process, as well as its predictability. In addition, they realize it can contribute enormously to retention decisions, confirming the assumptions which underlie underwriting guidelines, and meeting regulatory requirements.

Figure 4. There is a gap between what customers expect of insurers and what they believe they receive.


32%

61%

Provides clear and easy to understand informationon policies

27%

62%

Very satisfied with what insurers provide

Very important that insurers provide

Makes you feel you are not anonymous

23%

33%

Provides you with personalized information

21%

35%

Provides a wide range of services online

24%

37%

Proposes updatingyour policies when your

changessituation

23%

39%

Provides you with the ability to compare rates and switch plans

21%

42%

Makes youfeel they understand your needsand help you face the challenges of life

24%

49%

Gives you access to the information you need whenever you need it

29%

53%

Provides prompt and effective service/answers requests in a timely manner

Percent

Until now, the data battle was fought in the confines of existing legacy systems. These tend to capture transactional data at varying levels of detail and accuracy. The notion of extracting data is a challenge in and of itself, and the aspiration to harness predictive models introduces another level of cost and complexity.

While insurance companies have focused their efforts to address these issues, the world of data has changed around them. In fact, we are arguably in a state of data deluge with massive amounts of structured and unstructured data being generated each and every day (Figure 5). Far beyond pure transactional data that is largely in their control, insurance companies are now looking at new sources and types of data in an effort to take advantage of this for claims (Figure 6).

Social media alone offer a wealth of insights about consumers, available to anyone who can make sense of the 25 billion pieces of information which are shared every month. There is an abundance of commercial databases on the market, a growing volume of usage data collected by means of telemetry and global positioning systems (GPS), and asset damage records collected by the millions of radio frequency identity (RFID) devices which have become commonplace throughout the logistics supply chain.

These and many other sources represent a rich opportunity for the insurer to become smarter, quicker and more precise. Carriers need to acquire the capability to use all kinds of data, both structured


Figure 5. Data is increasing at an explosive rate.

Figure 6. Computing growth drivers over time.

Source: The Data Deluge, The Economist, 25 October 2010

and unstructured, from within the claims operation, the enterprise as a whole and beyond its walls. This will go a long way toward improving the performance of their claims function, and giving them an enduring competitive advantage.

Outcomes matter—stillAccenture’s ongoing, systematic study of insurance claims performance—dating back to the 1990s—has shown a mixed bag of successes and clear signs that the industry overall continues to struggle to achieve durable performance improvements. Over 15 years of research, compiled across more than 70,000 claims reviews, 4,500 interviews with claims professionals, and across companies operating in more than 14 countries, has confirmed that there is significant room for insurers to deliver improved outcomes across loss cost management and expense efficiency.

According to an estimate by The Economist, mankind created 150 billion gigabytes of data in 2005 and 1,200 in 2010. The amount of digital information is believed to be increasing tenfold every five years.

2005 2010 2015

150 1,200

12,000?

Bn Gigabytes

1

10

100

1,000

10,000

100,000

1,000,000

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Devices/users (MM in log scale)

Mainframe 1MM+ units

Minicomputer 10MM+ units

PC 100MM+ units

Desktop Internet 1B+ units/users

Mobile Internet 10B+ units?

Increasing integration

More than just phones Smartphone

Kindle

Tablet

MP3

Cell phone/PDA

Car electronics (GPS, ABS, A/V)

Mobile video

Home entertainment

Games

Wireless home appliances

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Claims professionals still spend nearly half their day on activities that do not impact the outcome of the claim (Figure 7). In practice, this means that for every claims professional that an insurance company employs, half of the person’s talent, energy and effort are focused elsewhere than on delivering a superior claims result. The industry is operating with the pedal only halfway to the floor. And claims outcomes overall remain mixed, with varying degrees of consistent top-level

Figure 7. Efficiency and time allocation among claims professionals.

Figure 8. Claims effectiveness—the savings potential associated with achieving consistency in claims handling, in accordance with good market conduct and consistently applied company procedures.

Source: Accenture analysis

Non-core activity

Distribution of Work by Core vs. Non-Core Activities

Time Allocation

51 to 56%44 to 49%

Staff Adjuster

Claim Supervisor

Field Adjuster

% of Total Time

Actual

Preferred practices

Actual

Preferred practices

Actual

Preferred practices

0 20 40 60 80 100

40 60

70 30

59 41

70 30

75 25

45 55

Core activity

performance (Figure 8). The financial impact of this is staggering: in the US P&C industry, a mere 2 percent improvement in loss costs would result in a $11 billion annual increase in bottom-line results.

The people imperativeAt the heart of any high performing organization that delivers superior financial and service results lies a highly motivated, well trained, and properly organized workforce. The hallmarks of such a workforce are a strong customer-

oriented culture, collaboration between experts, and a desire to innovate to improve. The challenge for the claims operation is manifold in this domain. Through the cost cutting driven by the financial crisis, the claims workforce was an early target for downsizing for most insurance companies. There are simply fewer claims professionals today than in the past. In addition, the movement to outsourcing for some claims-related functions has further complicated the workforce model. Lastly, the desire of customers to be an active part of the claims process adds a new wrinkle.

Loss economic opportunityClass Type of claim Below average Average Above averagePersonal and Commercial Auto Comprehensive >12% 8-12% <6%

Liability: property damage >12% 8-12% <5%

Liability: bodily damage >14% 10-14% <7%

Personal Property Contents >12% 8-12% <3%

Structure/building >10% 6-10% <3%

Commercial Property Contents >12% 8-12% <3%

Structure/building >10% 6-10% <3%

Inland/ocean marine >13% 9-13% <3%

Commercial Liability General liability >12% 8-12% <5%

Professional liability >10% 6-10% <3%

Private Liability >18% 14-18% <7%

Accident/Disability >8% 4-8% <3%

Workers’ Compensation >16% 12-16% <7%


Figure 9. Optimizing talent has become a strategic imperative for insurers confronted by difficult economic times.

Making progress is not a function of increasing pay, or hiring the competitor’s best claims professionals. It’s a fundamental question of how to achieve the highest and best use of talent in the claims organization. The new claims workforce is one that will operate in a highly distributed fashion, where claims professionals are connected through collaboration, and focused on those activities where they can drive the best outcome. This workforce requires a new style of orchestration between parties, which should be expanded to include the customer, high value vendors or suppliers, and distribution channels, in addition to the claims professionals.

The changing face of riskRisk has become more complex, partly because the world has too—our digitally interconnected lives, businesses and economies are just one example of a new class of highly specialized risk—but also because the insurance industry has been successful at selling its services into new, more arcane markets.

In many respects the traditional claims handling guidelines, which were once considered immutable, are now inadequate and even dangerously outdated. Simply stated, we are seeing claims that were unimaginable years ago, such as terrorism and cyber crime. The International High Technology Crime Investigation Association reports that 62.5 percent of its members worldwide have experienced an increase in the use of computers and/or the Internet to commit acts of crime2. We are also experiencing loss patterns, most notably for catastrophes, that show a sharp increase in both the frequency and severity of these events—the 2011 total for worldwide weather-related losses, at $105 billion, is not only an all-time record but is double the figure for 20103.

Insurers need to become experts at managing these new forms and levels of risk, using data from all sources to rapidly sense what is happening and then changing their protocols to keep pace with the new environment. Agility and response time are critical performance factors.

• Drop in employee engagement

• Tainted employer brand

• Acute workforce planning needs

• Talent acquisition strategy change

• Decreased workforce productivity

• Delayed retirement

• Organizational restructuring

• Multi-generational workforces

• New skill requirement

• Increased turnover

• Pressure to reduce cost

Talent Impacts

• Layoffs

• Cost reductions

• Change in strategic direction

• Loss of customers

• Drop in consumption

• Economic crisis

• Skill shortages

• Changing demographics

• Globalization

• Technology turnover

• Increased sales pressure

• Mergers and acquisitions

Business Impacts External Pressures

Evolution of technologyTechnology has become utterly pervasive and is evolving a lot more rapidly than most businesses find comfortable. From an internal perspective, it is creating tremendous opportunities for innovation, efficiency and more effective decision making—opportunities which the early adopters are seizing to gain a competitive advantage. Externally, technology continues to become consumerized, which is placing new pressures on carriers to become more open and flexible—regardless of the platform or channel through which the technology is being accessed. As no one can be sure where all this is leading, insurers need to design architectures that are agile and future-proof. Key attributes will be speed to respond to new developments, the ability to integrate with other systems, and a focus on configurability rather than hard-wiring to accommodate a fixed vision of the future.

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The road to high performance

Action No. 1: Tackle the whole, not the piecesInsurers simply cannot achieve high performance by pursuing isolated, quick-hit system and process improvements at the periphery of their claims operations. Instead, they must take a holistic view of the claims operating model (claims personnel, processes and technologies), and how it supports the overall company mission and objectives. They must adopt well defined processes supported by meaningful metrics and enabled by effective tools and technologies. Insurers that embrace this new “end-to-end, top-to-bottom” vision will achieve gains that exceed the benefits of even the most successful piecemeal solutions. And, most importantly, they will create a unified foundation for continuous improvement.

Action No. 3: Maximize the value of technologyTechnology will be the substrate upon which a successful transformation relies. Far beyond simply replacing a legacy system, new technology must enable a step change in how claims services are delivered and how claims outcomes are managed. The bar for technology is simply set. It must capture data at a minute level of detail, interrogate that data in real time, use it to provide customer and outcome analytics, and then respond with new business processes based on the customer and claims circumstances.

In addition, this technology must be put in the hands of all parties who will benefit from it—across all channels and devices, and personalized to the user. New technology must also take advantage of powerful developments like cloud, where the system can be rapidly deployed in a SaaS model. Lastly, new technology needs to be future-proof. This is only achieved through the right technical architecture, espousing fine-grained services, and true configuration, which allows the claims organization to rapidly change systems behavior and business processes without introducing IT delays.

Achieving high performance in claims is not a question of tactical steps, but a thoughtful orchestration of key elements that leads to true transformation. Based on our ground-breaking research, and experience with hundreds of insurance companies worldwide, Accenture recommends the following actions for insurers to drive high performance for their businesses through claims operations.

Action No. 2: Reinvent the claims professional for an outcomes- focused cultureThe claims professional of the future needs to be at the center of a service offering channeled through the customer’s preferred means of interaction and powered by real-time access to relevant data. A truly motivated claims professional, equipped with the most effective set of tools and supported closely by strong back-office capabilities, will bring claims to a more rapid and satisfactory resolution for all parties. Collaboration and innovation must be encouraged and enabled across this new workforce, and with the customer.

Coupled with these changes will be a new set of metrics to ensure that performance objectives are aligned. Today’s common metrics, focusing primarily on “inventory” such as file counts, closure rates and average pendings, are becoming less relevant. They will need to give way to a balanced scorecard of measures that reflect more meaningfully each individual’s impact on the claims outcome.


RSA: Claims transformation drives high performance RSA is a leading multinational insurance group. The company has operations in 28 countries and provides its products and services to more than 20 million customers in over 130 countries. For 2010, the Group reported net written premiums of UK£7.5 billion (approximately US$11.8 billion).

Business challenge

In early 2003, a new Group CEO, Andy Haste, was appointed by the Board with one main goal, to make RSA a stronger, higher performing business, one that delivered to shareholders and one that customers and employees could again be proud of. Following a comprehensive strategic review, he and his team drew up a demanding set of objectives aimed at turning the business around. These included strengthening the Group’s capital position, building a new management team, embedding a performance culture, and transforming the operational performance of its ongoing business.

The operational transformation program has had two elements. The first has been to restructure and de-risk the ongoing portfolio by focusing on general insurance and by successfully exiting life and underperforming businesses. The second has been a demanding operational improvement program. Two key targets were publicly announced: to cut the expenses of the Group’s ongoing businesses by £270 million, and to achieve a combined operating ratio of 100 percent on average across the insurance cycle for the Group’s ongoing business (combined operating ratio is a measure of industry profitability).

Critical to the transformation program was a fundamental restructure of the UK claims business. The objective was to improve claims performance by implementing a new operating model to drive reductions in claims indemnity costs and claims expenses.

High performance delivered

The claims transformation program began in October 2003. Within three years, the target operating model and supporting system were fully implemented.

RSA’s UK claims operations now have a consistent organization and handle claims through a single system using a single set of best practice processes. Whether based in a RSA office or in the field, the claims employees in the UK now work as integrated, virtual teams instead of the previous silos dictated by geography and systems functionality. Workflow with key suppliers is seamless due to supply chain system integration.

The claims program is a significant contributor to RSA’s transformation program and strategic plans. At the end of 2005, the claims indemnity costs were reduced by more than £130 million per annum, and claims expenses were reduced by more than £5 million per annum.

Further long-term success for RSA will depend on consistent delivery against strategic objectives. One key part of this is its ongoing performance improvement program and its partnership with Accenture. For both companies the partnership is about more than reducing costs. It is about getting RSA ahead of the pack and enabling it to stay there through continued, sustained performance.

How Accenture helped

Andy Haste brought in Accenture to team with RSA as the partner to implement this fundamental restructure. This would exploit Accenture’s industry insights, transformation expertise, software assets and outsourcing capabilities. The two companies structured a contract with a risk and reward payment arrangement based on the delivery of the program benefits, within budget and on schedule. Both organizations stood to gain by making progress over the course of a three year plan to transform the insurer.

The transformation program was comprehensive and included:

• Implementing a new operating model comprised of a Rapid Response Unit for claims notification and settlement of simple claims, and a segmented back-office for handling complex claims

• Establishing an offshore claims processing center for claim notification and recovery processing

• Implementing Accenture Claim Components as the single claims handling system across the operations

• Implementing consistent organization, team and job structures and re-engineered business processes across the operations

• Establishing supply chain arrangements with suppliers to optimize £500 million in spend across motor, commercial property and indirect spend categories

RSA and Accenture staff have worked side by side in integrated teams to deliver the new claims operating model. Accenture assembled a strong global team with extensive experience in large-scale program delivery, claims transformation, claims system delivery and outsourcing.

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How can Accenture help?

Accenture Claims Transformation Services can help insurers realize their vision of a transformed claims function by offering a comprehensive suite of proven tools, software solutions and delivery capabilities (Figure 10).

World-class management consultingWe have an experienced team of strategy and management consultants with an impressive record of assisting clients to optimize their claims organization. They have at their disposal a comprehensive suite of claims diagnostic tools, operating and business process models, benchmarks, and business case templates. They can develop the transformation business case, strategy and roadmap, and plan and implement process redesign, Lean Six Sigma, activity-based costing, data analysis, claims segmentation, organization structure, job redesign, footprint analysis and migration.

They can also help realize the concept of the extended enterprise, which includes the customer and key vendors and partners. This vision is supported by the emergence of service-oriented architecture technology which allows disparate systems to communicate effectively, and enables rapid reconfiguration of functionality to meet changing conditions.

Accenture has, for more than 30 years, worked with many of the world’s leading P&C insurance companies, including half of the top 20 carriers in North America and more than 40 claims clients worldwide. Over the years we have acquired a deep understanding of the claims function, and built up an unmatched capability to help our clients achieve high performance in this crucial part of their business.

Figure 10. Accenture Claims Transformation Services—software, tools and services for claims optimization.

Accenture Claims Transformation Services

Vision & Diagnostic Tools

Software & Managed Services

Sourcing Solutions

• Claims Operating Model

• Claims Data Analysis Diagnostic

• Claims Activity-Based Costing Diagnostics

• Capability Benchmarking & Self-Assessment

• Business Process Models

• Claims Workforce Performance

• Accenture Insurance BPO Services: P&C Claims Services

• Accenture Learning Services

• Accenture Claim Components

• Accenture Insurance Data Migration Factory


Together these capabilities go a long way toward enabling insurers to capitalize on the business opportunity that claims offers.

Market-leading softwareAccenture Claim Components is a market- leading software platform which has received the highest accolades from the leading industry analysts. It has been implemented by 21 carriers with operations in 26 countries, and is being used to manage well over 40 million claims a year. More than 65,000 claims professionals worldwide rely on the system, including 32,000 at one group alone.

Accenture Claim Components is a comprehensive solution, made more so by its integration with the Accenture Software Policy and Casualty Suite. Founded on a deep understanding of the business processes at the heart of high performance, it features a unique set of capabilities that include a first notice of loss module and a core claims desktop application with unified end-to-end access to all information and tools needed to process claims, from set-up to final payment.

Our software is the engine that drives a comprehensive, holistic approach to claims. It balances the immediate priority of managing costs with the equally important need to deliver the highest levels of service. It raises the performance of claims handlers, using automation to relieve them of repetitive low-impact tasks, data management to segment claims and channel them to suitably skilled personnel, and sophisticated functionality to enhance their productivity. It facilitates consistent claims execution, makes it easier to improve customer service, and provides management with real-time access to claims status and crucial performance metrics.

Business process outsourcingAccenture Insurance BPO Services, with more than 4,500 insurance processing specialists worldwide, handles more than 7 million claims transactions a year. Our Global Delivery Network provides support for FNOL, end-to-end adjudication, claims business processing, and specific functions such as subrogation and actuarial analysis. These services are delivered in both onshore and offshore models. We offer a variety of other managed services, not least of which is application development and maintenance outsourcing, and application hosting.

Accenture Learning helps insurers enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its workforce by providing curriculum development and delivery for its claims professionals.

Together these services and capabilities comprise one of the most comprehensive and potent claims offerings available to insurers. They span the breadth of what is needed to transform the claims organization—swiftly and with the assurance of achieving the required results.

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Collaboration for Insurance Claims cuts costs and boosts retentionThe Accenture and Cisco Business Group (ACBG) provides a claims collaboration and communication offering which makes optimal use of the insurer’s assets and resources to achieve swift, accurate and efficient settlement. The benefits include significantly reduced costs and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Collaboration for Insurance Claims improves the claims function by embedding collaboration into claims processes to make the most of the insurer’s workforce—especially as it becomes more distributed. It streamlines call center operations by rapidly connecting customers with the right expertise. It helps optimize the balance of claims handling between experts and lower-cost resources, and allows claims professionals to connect and collaborate effectively with third-party reviewers.

The ACBG offering leverages Accenture Claim Components, Accenture & Cisco Contact Center Solutions and Unified Communications Solutions, and Accenture Process-driven Collaboration capabilities. It integrates, into the claims process, tools and technologies such as an IP contact center, instant messaging, video conferencing and expert locator with presence. This makes it easy for

customers, claims adjudicators, field adjustors, local insurance agents, and service providers such as repair shops, to connect whenever their input is needed. It improves all aspects of the claims process, with the greatest impact in first notice of loss, incoming call routing, remote management file review, damage review, remote management approval, customer communications, and settlement.

The benefits for insurers typically include:

• 1-3 percent reduction in customer attrition

• 5 percent reduction in claims closed after 30 days

• 2 percent reduction in the cost of processing complex claims

• Improved reserving accuracy

• An estimated incremental benefit of $60 million for a typical large P&C carrier

The ACBG collaboration solution is delivered through Accenture and Cisco’s proven technical implementation methods, supported by Accenture’s project and change management skills.


XL Group unveils multi-channel insurance claims customer portal developed with Accenture’s supportXL Group plc, the global insurance and reinsurance company, has unveiled a new multi-channel customer portal which was created with the help of Accenture, based upon XL’s global claims system, XL GlobalClaim. The XL GlobalClaim Customer Portal provides customers with access to claims information via the XL website and through mobile devices and applications like the iPhone*.

“With nearly two billion people connected to the Internet, and 90 percent of the world’s population4 having access to mobile networks, digital technologies are changing the way consumers choose to interact with their insurers,” said Michael Costonis, executive director and head of Accenture Claims Services. “That’s why it’s imperative in the relationship-driven business of insurance for carriers to be able to serve their customers through new channels. By launching its multi-channel claims customer portal, XL demonstrates its capacity to innovate and take advantage of the opportunities that digital technologies present.”

“Accenture Claim Components, which is part of Accenture’s end-to-end P&C software suite, is designed in a way that allows claims information to be provided through multiple channels, including mobile-based applications,” said Michael A. Jackowski, global managing director of Accenture Software for P&C Insurance. “This has enabled XL to address its customers’ evolving needs and provide them with access to their insurance information through their preferred channels whenever they want.”

The portal offers real-time access to claims-related information, such as the contact details and locations of participating XL claims handlers, date of loss, policy number, and claim status. The claims data, available online and currently through the iPhone application, is generated by XL GlobalClaim, which is based on Accenture Claim Components, Accenture’s claims processing software application. Drawing on its software capabilities, mobility services expertise and deep knowledge of claims management, Accenture helped XL design and develop the customer portal and the mobile services capabilities.

“With the increasing ubiquity and usage of mobile devices, it was a priority for XL to offer its customers better access to claims information through online and mobile channels,” said Paul I. Tuhy, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Claims at XL. “We had previously selected Accenture Claim Components for the development of our global claims system and, since the software is designed for multi-channel access, we were able to also develop and implement our new customer portal rapidly and cost-efficiently.”

* iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc.

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Allstate reinvents its claims process to enhance customer serviceProviding the best possible customer experience while moving toward accurate claim resolution has long been a goal of Allstate Insurance Company. Achieving it has involved leveraging fresh technologies and strategies, and taking a hard look at the claims operation and its relation to the bigger picture.

Allstate embarked on a multi-year journey to improve its customers’ claim experience. Working with Accenture, it implemented a new claims technology platform, and drastically shifted its organizational mindset. According to Michael J. Roche, Allstate’s Senior Vice President of Claims, bolstering customer satisfaction means, to a large extent, doing business with people when and where they want to do it.

“We installed a feature last July called self-service,” he told Claims magazine5. “It offers customers more options based on how they want to interact with us. We can keep all parties apprised of the progress of a claim as it moves along via e-mail status updates.”

Allstate’s incremental approach to a next generation platform serves as a model for successfully flattening silos in claim processing. The specific focus will be on reducing cycle time and keeping people informed, as well as measurement at the desk level—using customer input to gauge staff performance. Another crucial element is parallel handling, which aligns the people with the appropriate functional expertise with the tasks at hand. “Now everything is electronic, so we can have one to three people working on different aspects of the claim at the same time.

“Allstate has reinvented the claim-handling process to enhance the customer experience,” said Roche. “We have realized an estimated 30 percent reduction in the average time to inspect, resolve, and settle a claim.”


Accenture provides cloud-based claims software to leading US insurer

Accenture has contracted to provide a leading U.S. P&C insurer with claims management support on a software as a service (SaaS) basis. Delivered from the cloud, Accenture’s claims management services will allow carriers to have variable capacity and better align costs with the volume of claims activity.

The latest version of Accenture Claim Components, Release 10, will be used to process claims management operations for the insurer’s automobile line of business. The new installation will complement and upgrade the insurer’s current version of Accenture Claim Components to handle the several million claims the insurer processes each year.

“Our leading-edge SaaS-based claims management software will enable insurers to improve the claims reporting and claim handing process, while reducing operating costs, and at the same time deliver meaningful service differentiation at the point of need,” said Michael A. Jackowski, global managing director of Accenture Software for P&C insurance.

By utilizing the application in a SaaS-based model, while leveraging cloud technologies, the insurer will increase its flexibility and business agility.

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What the analysts have to say about Accenture Claim Components

What our customers have to say about Accenture Claim Components

Novarica: “Of the Novarica ACE Rankings™ published so far on claims solutions, Accenture received the highest average total mark and the highest rating for overall customer satisfaction.” Matthew Josefowicz, director, Novarica’s insurance practice.

Gartner: Accenture Claim Components received a “Strong Positive” rating, the highest possible rating, in Gartner’s 2011 “MarketScope for North American Property & Casualty Insurance Claims Management Modules.

“We believe a high-performing claims management system is critical to achieving customer satisfaction, profitability and growth. We chose this technology for its scalability and innovative design as well as its track record in the industry.”

Paul Stachura, Chief Claims Officer, Fireman’s Fund

“Accenture’s ongoing investment in Accenture Claim Components enables us to continuously enhance our operations and thus deliver world-class claims services.”

Phil Sibilia, Senior VP: Claims, OneBeacon Insurance Group

“We chose to work with Accenture because of their industry knowledge and their Claim Components solution, which enables us to harness the power of Web technologies more quickly and efficiently than any other approach.”

Jim Knight, CIO, Chubb

Celent: Accenture Claim Components won Celent’s 2011 Claims System Vendors: North American P/C Insurance XCelent Breadth of Functionality Award and XCelent Depth of Service Award.

“It’s not just a good claims system, it’s also a business system that analyzes everything we do. It’s made us look internally at our workflows and given us the ability to report better, aligning different trending analyses of data, which helps the business units become more competitive. That’s a huge advantage of the system. What’s more, we’re under budget and on schedule, and I don’t think we’d be there without Accenture.”

Paul Tuhy, Executive VP and Global Head of Claims, XL Group

“Given the robust functionality of Accenture Claim Components, we were able to rapidly configure and deploy the solution with minimal impact on our business. This implementation marks a major milestone in our effort to achieve claims excellence.”

Wilson Wheeler, Senior VP and Chief Claims Officer, Affirmative Insurance

“(Accenture’s) staff are as concerned with our business success … as I am.”

Client quoted in the Novarica ACE Rankings™ report, April 2009


Embracing a new vision for claims

The prospect of executing on this promise may seem daunting, given the critical role of claims in determining profitability and the constantly evolving demands placed upon this function. But the rewards can far exceed the time and resources invested in transformation.

Accenture is ideally equipped to help insurers through this journey. We also have the tools, the practical experience, and the expert claims professionals to assist them in developing the capabilities to win in this new reality.

Insurers recognize that the claims landscape has changed. Their old approaches have become less effective, and a bold new path is needed. The only way to ensure a durable competitive advantage and high performance is to rethink the claims organization, embracing a new “end-to-end, top-to-bottom” vision that is built on the right operating model, utilizes a high-performing workforce, and is supported by the right technology. By putting these elements in place in an orchestrated fashion, companies can achieve gains in service provision and outcomes management which previously were unimaginable.

Our experience working with many of the most innovative and successful carriers in the world, together with our ongoing industry and consumer research, have given us deep insight into the challenges that insurers face and the solutions that can deliver high performance. We are proud to have established a formidable track record of ensuring that the best laid strategies generate the expected business outcomes—on time, within budget and with unfailing dependability.

To find out more about Accenture Claims Transformation Services, and how we can help you achieve claims high performance, visit our website at www.accenture.com/insurance.

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Copyright © 2012 Accenture All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.

References1 Accenture Insurance Consumer Fraud Survey, 2010

2 “Report on Cyber Crime Investigation”, the International High Technology Crime Investigation Association, 2010

3 “Insurers’ 2011 Catastrophe Losses Hit Record, Munich Re Says”, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 14 February 2012

4 “The World in 2010: ICT Facts and Figures”, International Telecommunication Union, 19 October 2010

5 “Consider the Customer, Allstate VP Advises”, Claims, 2 June 2010

About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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