Every Insurer Wants To Settle Claims, But Can Legacy Tech Deliver?

Payment platform provider, Imburse, says UK insurers face a claims contradiction; despite 100% of respondents in a recent poll agreeing a good claims payment experience gives them a competitive advantage, only half (50%) have confidence their systems can deliver this.  

At a recent claims insurance webinar, Imburse asked attendees what they thought were the biggest roadblocks to enhancing the claims payout experience. Integration was cited as the top barrier with 30% of votes, followed by business case approval, 28%, lack of knowledge, 23%, vendor selection, 10%, and lead time, 9%.

Insurers’ expectations of the time it takes to implement claims payment change within their organisation appears equally contradictory; 78% stated it would take under a year, yet the reality of trying to integrate legacy systems without a ‘plug and play’ software solution can take up to two years. 

Imburse chief product officer, Bruno Soares, (pictured) comments: “As more people use online and mobile wallet channels to make payments, and with Open Banking, plus a New Payments Architecture, rationalising processes for Faster Payments, BACS and cheques, on the horizon, insurers need to keep pace with the changing payments landscape.  

“Clients who reach out to insurers via their mobiles, for example, may prefer to receive a text/email that takes them to a virtual account which can be downloaded onto their phone so they can spend money via a digital wallet.”  

Bruno continues: “The insurance claims journey doesn’t end when the claim is processed; the journey ends when the customer receives their money. Personalisation is crucial to delivering excellent customer service and this is especially true in the claims journey, where customers with similar demographic profiles can have very different needs when it comes to the speed and method of payment.”  

“Inadequate payments systems are preventing insurers from delivering on their claims promise – which should be to pay out in the quickest way the customer wants, rather than what legacy systems dictate.”