There’s a lot of talk about providing an “end-to-end” claims service for customers, but how do insurers really achieve it? The pandemic has driven a huge acceleration in their own digital journey, however with so much else to focus on many will still favour an outsourced solution.
Businesses that handle accident-damaged vehicles for insurers may not be the first companies that come to mind as potential claims outsourcing partners, but with their experience at the sharp end of the claims process they are ideally placed to understand what’s needed.
UK and Ireland Managing Director of remarketing and recycling company Copart UK, Jane Pocock, explains why insurer demand for their own claim management service continues to grow, and why the two sectors work well together.
The past 12 months has been incredibly tough for many business sectors, so where there has been growth it’s important to understand what’s driven that success.
It’s been hugely impressive how insurers have adapted so rapidly to the changes that the pandemic has imposed on everyone. In a sector that had a reputation for being slow to develop and innovate, there’s been pretty much an overnight transformation in their digital development and capabilities and in the way they do things generally.
Policyholders were already demanding quicker and better digital services before Covid, and they’re now even more likely to look elsewhere for cover if they don’t get the service they expect. So that has further increased insurers’ focus on the need to improve the customer experience, especially at the most crucial time – the point of claim.
This has given businesses like ours, which were already technology-driven and led, a big advantage. We were ahead of the digital game to start with, helped by being part of a US-based global business that has invested massively in technological innovation.
Copart has been in the UK for 15 years now, and over that time we have listened to and learned from our insurer customers, earning their trust and building long-term partnerships.
As a result, despite the pandemic, we’ve found we’ve gained more customers for our outsourced total loss claims management service in the past 12 months – we’re now working with most of the UK insurance market, and that’s continuing to grow.
Collaboration and integration are key. It’s all down to being a true partner to the insurer, rather than just a supplier, and working with them rather than just for them. That way you can get under the skin of their business, understand what’s needed by both them and by their policyholders, and work together to develop services that reflect insight and experience from different parts of the customer journey.
Of course it’s crucial to have the right teams and infrastructure to provide, maintain and build this kind of effective and successful partner service. You need to make sure you have the right people with the right experience, and give them the training and resources they need to do the job. To underpin our own commitment to this, we’ve now opened our new Customer Excellence Centre and appointed a Head of Central Operations, Richard Howe, to lead it.
Richard, who has more than 30 years of commercial, technical, and claims experience, has joined us from Markerstudy Insurance where he was Head of Engineering. It’s an appointment that really signals our focus on insurance partnerships.
As we emerge from the pandemic, with lots of lessons learned and relationships built, it’s clear that successful partnerships are going to have a big part to play in forging successful business growth and giving customers what they need.
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