Why settle for anything less than the best claims management software? Having an efficient and sophisticated claims management system can make a world of difference for your company, your claims professionals, and your policyholders. Don’t decide on a system without knowing what a top-class claims management system should be able to do.
Why Your Insurance Claims Management Software Matters
Don’t underestimate the importance of your insurance claims management software system.
Your claims processing software has a direct impact on the amount of time you need to close a claim. Claims professionals often waste hours every week on routine and repetitive tasks. This leaves them with less time to spend on other, more meaningful tasks and adds to the overall length of the claims management process. The result is reduced productivity and higher overall costs. A claims processing system with an automated workflow changes this. You waste less time on tedious tasks, resulting a more efficient process. As a result, you save money.
The claims system also has a direct and noticeable impact on the policyholder experience. Claimants want fast resolution and good communication – the right claims system can support both. An automated workflow results in a faster process, meaning the claimant receives the payout sooner, whereas automated messages can improve communication and keep the policyholder informed. Furthermore, when claims professionals aren’t overwhelmed with tedious tasks, they have more time to deal with questions and give claimants the attention they deserve.
Claimant satisfaction can also make a big difference to your bottom line. Accenture found that 31% of home and auto claimants were not fully satisfied with their claims-handling experience. This is important because claims dissatisfaction is driving policyholder churn. In fact, insurance companies could lose up to $170 billion in premiums over the next five years as a result of churn.
What to Look For in a Claims Management System
As there’s a lot riding on the claims process, you need the best claims management system. This raises the question: what makes a claims management system the best?
Since claims can be complicated, the answer is complicated. There’s not one single thing to look for in the best insurance claims management system – there are actually 10 crucial elements to consider.
1. ROI and Time Savings
As time is money, you can’t look at the return on investment of a claims system without looking at time savings and how these translate to cost savings.
A claims system that automates as much of the process as possible and makes it easy to track claims and access data can result in massive savings.
When considering a new claims system, consider how many hours a week it would save your claims team. If the system saves your team two hours a day per person and you have 10 employees, that’s 20 hours a day – or 100 hours a week. With that extra time, your team could be focusing on other tasks that bring in more income or improve customer retention, resulting in a massive return on investment for your company.
2. Integrations
Advancements in technology have made the claims management process more complicated. You likely need to use multiple programs from different vendors over the course of the claims process. This doesn’t mean the process needs to be difficult – all the systems just need to “talk” to each other.
A claims system may seem great on its own, but if it doesn’t interface with the other systems you need, it’s no good. The best claims management system for you will come with all the integrations you need. This probably includes QuickBooks, CoreLogic, and other key programs as well as email integration and digital payment capabilities. Built-in compliance with Lloyd’s of London is another important feature.
3. Your Team’s Satisfaction
Switching to a new system can be nerve wracking for workers. Employees may worry that it will take them too long or be a hassle to learn how to use the new setup. A good claims management system should alleviate these fears by being easy use.
The system should be as intuitive as possible, but training options should also be available. This way, everyone on your team – regardless of their technical expertise – will be able to enjoy a seamless transition.
4. The Policyholder Journey
It’s important to think about the claims system from the point of view of the policyholder. Your policyholders might not know – or care – what software you’re using, but they will care about things like communication and time to close. Customer relationship management is a key part of claims management.
The best claims management system should result in a shorter claims cycle and should support strong communication to ensure your policyholders are always in the loop. You can accomplish this through automated workflows, automated communications, and claims status access.
If the claims system could detract from the policyholder experience, you have a problem. For example, if the system is hard to navigate on the policyholders’ end, limits access to claims statuses, makes communication awkward, or requires redundant actions, you could end up with dissatisfied insurance customers.
5. Features
Sometimes, it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. The right features can turn a good claims management system into a great one. Pay attention to the features in the claims management systems you’re considering.
Some key features that can make managing claims easier for your team include:
- Document management
- Automated workflows and alerts
- Tracking (reserve and payment, time and expense)
- Claim diaries
- Customizability (rules, workflows, file layout, field options)
- Rapid search function
- Invoice options
- Third-party portal access
- Reporting
- Analytics and embedded AI
- On-the-fly data queries
6. Speed to Market
Technology is moving fast – and customer expectations are changing even faster. If you invest in a new system, you’ll want to start reaping the rewards as soon as possible. A long implementation time is more than a headache for your team: it’s lost opportunity.
You need a system you can implement in a few months or less. Plus, since progress won’t stop when you invest in a new system, you also need software that will integrate with emerging technologies. It’s possible to find an evergreen system when you choose one that’s SaaS based.
7. Customer Service
Your insurance customers demand great customer service from you – and you should demand great customer service from your claims management system provider.
Look for a rapid-response team in case there are any issues, as well as online resources and disaster recovery tools to help you squeeze as much value as possible out of your system.
8. Security
Data breaches and cyberattacks have become a fact of modern life, but this isn’t an excuse to be lax about security – in fact, the exact opposite is true. Since strong security measures are absolutely essential, the best claims processing software needs to provide top-notch security.
Look for a system that supports strong cyber hygiene, such as multifactor authentication, mandatory strong passwords, and policies on password recycling, password expiration, and account lockdowns. Also check whether the provider is SOC II compliant.
9. Hosting Reliability
Imagine you find a fantastic system with all the features and integrations you need. You implement it quickly and your team loves using it – but it keeps crashing. Time and again your team has to put work on hold and make clients wait while you deal with the technical problems. The system doesn’t sound so fantastic anymore, does it?
Downtime costs your company money. Your claims processing solution should have near-perfect uptime.
10. Growth
You need scalable insurance software that can grow with your company and adapt with you. For example, your insurance company might only offer auto insurance now, but what if you want to expand into other lines of property and casualty insurance in the future? The best claims management system also supports digital transformation and offers multi-line compatibility.
The Best Claims Management System Checklist
If you want to make sure you’re choosing the best system, ask the following questions:
- How much time will it save your team?
- What integrations does it have?
- How long will it take to learn to use it?
- What training is available?
- How will it impact policyholder communication?
- How will it impact time to close?
- Does it have the features you need?
- How fast can you implement it?
- Is it SaaS based and evergreen?
- Is it scalable?
- Does it provide multi-line capability?
- What kind of customer service is available?
- Is the security top notch?
- Is the provider SOC II compliant?
- How reliable is the hosting?
Checking All the Boxes
If you’re looking for the best claims management software, see what VCA has to offer. Our claims management software is ideal for small to midsize insurance carriers, managing general agents, third-party administrators, adjusting firms, self-insurance companies, and captives. With a 90-day implementation time, customizable rules, time-saving automation, and top-notch security, it could be exactly what you’re looking for. But don’t just take our word for it: request a demo.
