(As seen in CLAIMS magazine)


Web Technologies Allow Improved Claim Results

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Lowering claim losses is one of the levers that insurance companies executives can affect. In addition, it has direct impacts on the combined ratio, earnings per share, P/E multiple, stock prices, executive and other bonuses, as well as ratings in the market by companies such as A.M. Best.

Insurance is a human-capital intensive business built on knowledge workers whose expertise, skills, and values determine results. The single biggest opportunity to decrease losses is to recognize that people (and their quality of knowledge) are heavily involved in the entire loss-reduction process, from underwriting practices through producers to claim adjusters. The Internet Age provides many new capabilities that change all of the costs and results of making the knowledge workers a company’s competitive edge.

Increasingly, the costs of attending classroom training are being questioned. Online continuing education courses are faster and easier to take, and free up business hours. In seven states, special CE requirements exist for adjusters.

The transition to web-based training from classroom training can be smoothed by new video-via-web capabilities. Past video-related limitations have included expensive production requirements, the inability to view classes except with highspeed lines, difficulty in attaching synchronized text and slides, downloading plug-ins, and limitations on attaching online tests to assure competency results. New technologies have eliminated all of these problems.

For claims, many video-based training programs can be produced for remote viewing with online testing. Areas that are being addressed include: auto damage adjusting, home damage adjusting, commercial loss control, and claim negotiation settlement role-playing. Faster, lower-cost programs are the result.

Combinations of online insurance courses, PC skill courses, and professional skill courses can be used to produce certified customer service representatives and adjusters. The time it takes to become skilled is much faster, and the cost is a small fraction of past methods. Online testing can assure competencies.

Content alone is not enough. It is important that web-based automation of the entire learning process be in place. Many alternative solutions are available, each with its own emphasis. The full automation should include such major capabilities as:

• Multi-department/divisional/subsidiary structures, so that each entity may have its own learning program, yet the human resources department and executives can closely and regularly monitor learning activities.



• The ability for each entity to automatically assign courses or curricula, groups of learning programs that can include classrooms, seminars, online classes, workshops, manuals, testing.



• Career path support, to guide knowledge growth phases.



• Online, scored, tallied, and reported assessments.



• Certification support, including assignments, notifications, content, assessments, and result tracking.



• Guaranteed competency control.



• Classroom or event scheduling and administration automation, to reduce internal administrative costs and improve students’ experiences.



• Extensive reporting, including to department managers, trainers, HR, and division executives. Data mining, for analysis of educational activities from many different dimensions, also should be supported.