"Karp added, “The engineering elite in Silicon Valley may know more than most about building software. But they do not know more about how society should be organized or what justice requires.” To put it more bluntly, techies might be brilliant and clever at what they do, but that doesn’t make them qualified to organise our lives. It was a striking statement from someone who is himself an ultra techie and whose company’s extensive military and intelligence links have sparked controversy."

All those who write about technology should remember Karp's warning. We can easily get carried away by the technology and forget the organisations, peoples, cultures and human egos and goals involved.

In my recent article "The central function of claims" I discussed the human factors involved as much as the technology. Even so, whilst talking about digital claims and transformation technologies, I was taken by some wise commentary from Bart Patrick (until recently MD Europe for Duck Creek) : -

" Claims tech (generalisation) languishes in vintage between the late 90s and early/mid noughties in architecture and implementation.

Claims experience at the point of consumption is largely down to the amazing people who fill the tech gaps and deliver support to those who find themselves at the nasty end of a loss. They are the heroes."

Focus should, of course, be on the customer- the policy holders of carriers but also needs to be on the very people acting for and supporting those suffering the nasty end of a loss. These involve such a wide range of loss from simple accidental damage of home contents to the awful consequences of fire, flood and hurricanes. 

Automation, straight through processing, eFNOL are real benefits but only so far as they free up the claims teams to focus on the important and complex issues that only they can solve.  The "long-tail claims will not be solved better just because a customer can register it by eNOL. It might be allocated quicker to the right claims specialists and supply chain partners but they must be managed at the same time as the customer wants personal engagement when anxious and in need of reassurance. I so agree with Bart's description "they are the heroes".

And any technology partner cannot know as much as these heroes of the challenges, difficulties, data gaps and so on that make decision-making and execution hard. The agile technology platforms extolling low-code ad no-code are a mans to an end and not the end itself. The technology platforms must be able to cater for every type of claim and peril from simple to complex and leverage the knowledge, experience and intuition of the professionals involved. Not just in the insurer but across the broker and MGA distribution channels.

It needs the CEO, C-Suite and the claims and broker teams plus the technology partners to understand that. Low-code and no-code does not solve these challenges unless this reality is faced up to and technology vendors apply a little more humility when seeking to solve the problems and opportunities for insurance claims operations.

And to fess up I must say "Mea Culpa" at times .