"Low economic growth and market volatility are the two top concerns for the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of European insurers. At the same time, insurers across the continent are increasingly leveraging technology in order to cut costs, according to Moody’s Investors Service’s European Insurance CFO survey."

Reinsurance News - Luke Gavin on Moody;s Report 9th April 2019

CFO's looking for the scale of cost-cutting achievable will do well to look at these from various sources.

Setting measurable goals

When setting the measurable goals of any digital claims project benchmark your plans against the transformational results described below from various industry sources – all referenced at bottom of article.

Customer Satisfaction

  • From FNOL in days and hours to minutes; 35% of customers will transact direct from the web if provided with an option to report online 360GN
  • Of the balance who may still call then over 95% can be engaged in a digital process with call handling time reduced by 66%360GN
  • Claims life-cycle reduced by minimum 40% 360Globalnet (360GN)
  • Increase in Net Promoter Score by 20 or 30 points McKinsey & Company
  • Average of NPS 77% over all Home & Auto customers, 82% in Pet 360GN

Efficiency

  • 30% reduction in cost of claims McKinsey
  • Digital Lean Initiative leading to cost reductions of 15% Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
  •  Digital customer journeys yielding cost reductions up to 20% BCG
  •  From 20% of call centre calls being “what’s happening” to 50% drop in status calls McKinsey
  • Up to 70% reduction in call centre resource requirements 360GN
  • 60% Reduction in FTE staffing Boston Consulting Group
  • 5% to 20% reduction in expense ratio McKinsey
  • Up to 50% reduction in processing time per claim LexisNexis
  • Total Cost of Ownership reduced by 20% to 30% McKinsey
  • 3 points to 5 points reductions in combined savings ratio Bain & Company

Effectiveness

  • 5%-15% Annual Revenue Growth Bain & Company
  • Using data prefill at FNOL 14% improvement days to pay for PI LexisNexis
  • 3 points to 5 points reductions in combined savings ratio Bain & Company
  • 1 to 4 manual touches removed from claims process LexisNexis
  • 1 to 15 day reduction in processing time per claim LexisNexis
  • 3 to 10 times more cases processed per adjuster LexisNexis

Finally, the bane of all CTOs and CIOs; the multiplying cost of multiple platforms and digital initiatives. The only way to avoid escalating costs is to insist on a price structure that is a PAYG or Subscription pricing model which require no major Capital Expenditure by the Insurer. And that does not require that you replace today’s legacy core systems; rather that you do so at a time of your choosing when convenient and cost-efficient.

References

"Revolutionising Insurance Claims"

https://www.360globalnet.com/en

“Time for Insurers to face Digital Reality”.  https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/time-for-insurance-companies-to-face-digital-reality

“Capturing Value from the Core” ;https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/capturing-value-from-the-core

The P&C customer rediscovered through analytics; https://www.bain.com/insights/the-p-and-c-customer-rediscovered-through-analytics 

Digital Disruption in Insurance: Cutting through the noise ; https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/digital-insurance

How a Digital Approach is improving customer satisfaction at a major insurer ; https://www.bcg.com/en-gb/industries/insurance/digital/bcg-digital-approach-improving-customer-satisfaction-productivity.aspx 

Attacking complexity in Insurance Products and Processes;  https://www.bcg.com/en-gb/industries/insurance/attacking-complexity-in-insurance-products-and-processes.aspx

2019 Future of Claims Study LexisNexis- balancing claims automation and empathy https://risk.lexisnexis.com/insights-resources/white-paper/2019-future-of-claims-study