16.12.2016

There is again a lot of talk about the insurance sector, this time mainly due to nearly 30% raises in liability insurance premiums observed since the beginning of the year. Although some tension between the insurer and the claimant seems unavoidable, numerous insurance aspects are changing in the client’s favor.

Insurance companies not only endeavor to build ever more flexible and customized offers. Most of all they strive to maintain a high level of reputation and seek to gain customer loyalty. The Polish Office of Competition and Customer Protection and Financial Supervision Authority in turn watch the transparency of procedures with increased vigilance. As a result the claim management process is becoming more and more smooth.

The customer does not wait
Claim processing time has been significantly reduced in recent years. According to the procedure it may take about 30 days, but in practice decisions are made after several days or, in the accelerated mode, as soon as within the first week from reporting the claim. Reporting a claim by phone takes several minutes. "Insurance companies seek to gain customers by improving, among others, customer service. Numerous insurance agencies are developing the so-called simplified claim management path which allows a case to be closed within a few days. Some insurers are also introducing additional convenient functions such as the ability to track the case progress and to quickly add documents via an internet platform", enumerates Katarzyna Skrzypiec, an expert at Voice Contact Centre, a business service center.

Help in reporting the claim recommended
The most common causes of the prolongation of the claim management process are omissions and ambiguities in the report itself. Incomplete documentation, illegible copies of documents, incorrectly selected claim form, incomplete data, failure to set the date of the inspection where required, lack of knowledge about the required documents and how to deliver them – all of this delays the payment of the compensation.
There are no specific guidelines concerning the form in which the claim should be reported. Usually the customers decide whether they will fill in an internet form or call a hotline. Although claims are still frequently reported by email, the most effective contact method is a phone call. Thanks to our experienced consultants we are confident that no relevant information will be omitted and that the claim management process will be launched immediately, explains Katarzyna Skrzypiec.

The system is favorable
The shortening of the claim registration and processing time is aided by the advancing digitization and the development of the functionality of systems which support the entire process. Systemic solutions speed up data collection and processing. Basic errors may be detected and corrected already at the initial stage of the procedure by using control mechanisms. The report form enables verification of personal identity numbers as well as taxpayer’s identity numbers and bank account numbers. The policy number and claimant’s details are also checked on an on-going basis versus data collected from the insurer’s domain system. If there are omissions in the report form, some data may be imported from that system into the form, which eliminates document circulation downtime and frees the consultant from the need to contact the customer again in order to complete the missing data. The system will also verify whether all documents required in the case have been registered and assembles them in a single complete electronic case file, which is a basis for a smooth analysis of the claim.

"It is also worth noting that thanks to digital files and a system which may be simultaneously used in many different locations we are able to automatically and evenly distribute more claims to be processed in multiple areas. This makes it possible to effectively unblock bottle-necks caused by staff-related restrictions in months in which we observe a surge in the volume of claims due to natural disasters or accidents occurring during ‘long weekends‘", adds Marcin Ogrodnik, an employee at ArchiDoc, a company which provides systemic support in claim management processes. "There are also solutions which enable clear monitoring of case progress and control over the claim processing time at each stage of the procedure. All of this makes the process more transparent and is conducive to its further optimization.”