Driving Successful Claims Digitalization in Insurance

Amanda Ingram: Hi everyone! And welcome to the Sapiens Insurance 360 podcast. I’m your host, Amanda Ingram, P&C Product Strategy & Marketing Manager at Sapiens, and I’m really pleased that you’re out there listening; this is where we discuss the latest news, trends, and issues from across the insurance solutions and technology spectrum.

Our topic for today is claims digitalization, which is rapidly shaping and reshaping the insurance industry, bringing new opportunities for operational efficiency and importantly, customer satisfaction. The digital shift is transforming insurance in so many ways, making processes more efficient and improving customer experience. But with these benefits come challenges, like integrating new technology and getting employees on board. Today’s podcast, “Driving Successful Claims Digitalization in Insurance,” explores how insurers can navigate these obstacles and make the most of digital claims transformation. And with me today to explore this topic in detail is Anupam Malhotra, Associate Director of Enterprise Sales at Whatfix. Insurance carriers use the Whatfix platform to onboard, train, and support employees as well as customers on their internal and customer-facing applications and portals. Anupam who has been with Whatfix for over four years, directs the sales strategy, tailored to address distinct challenges in the insurance industry. His passions include digital transformation and adoption, leveraging insurtech solutions, and pioneering innovative approaches such as digital adoption platforms to elevate customer experience and internal organizational efficiency.

Anupam, welcome!

Anupam Malhotra: Hey Amanda, thank you so much for that introduction! Really glad to be here today!

Amanda Ingram: That’s awesome. Anupam, and we’re pleased to have you here. So Anupam, let’s get started. Let’s begin with what issues are claims adjusters facing when they’re using new systems or migrating to a new version of an existing system?

Anupam Malhotra: Yah, I think there is so much widespread transformation going on across the insurance industry today. We have insurance customers which are migrating to new core systems. We have transformations in the cloud going on. And we have new technologies like GenAI coming in. Now, technology is being introduced at such a rapid pace across the industry today that adjusters are getting overwhelmed with how to do things a certain way. You know, something as simple as an FNOL, how do I do it? How do I start using my new system efficiently inside my company? Now, you know, maybe today, adjusters have been using a homegrown system. They have been using a legacy system, and in comes in the shiny new technology which they have never used before. That’s a big challenge for any adjuster. We know that carriers are expecting efficiency gains by these transformations, but if the adjusters and employees are struggling to use their applications efficiently, there are chances that those efficiency gains will only remain on paper, right? The biggest challenge that I feel an adjuster might be facing today is he or she needs to understand maybe 10+ different applications to process a claim. Obviously, I’m working as an adjuster on my core claims system. I may be using a document management system, I might be using a texting platform and so on and so forth. Now, with new systems getting introduced, adjusters can struggle in doing basic tasks, like completing an FNOL, making a payment. The traditional modes of training are now getting ineffective. So the biggest challenge that adjusters are facing is how do I get trained inside these new applications and new technologies? No one wants to go through huge pages of a PDF or watch a video to understand the system. And then there is no contextual help and support for the adjusters. They then end up making more errors while working on claims. Moreover, there is so much complexity that insurance brings in so many process compliances regulations that an adjuster needs to be aware of, and there is no easy way for an adjuster to get that information at their fingertips, right? Especially when I’m working on a new system. I need all the information I need. To make the claim process quickly without making too many errors. And that is precisely what is happening today with adjusters.

Amanda Ingram: It’s certainly challenging, isn’t it Anupam, when you’re faced with a brand new shiny, shiny system and you don’t quite know what to do with it?  It’s a fascinating topic and haven’t explored, you know, some of the challenges that you’ve already mentioned. Explain to me a little bit more around how digitalization is solving problems? And, you know, some of those problems that you’ve just outlined. When they’re using these new systems and particularly when they’re looking at the practical level of things, you know, how do I do certain things in this new system? Can you dive into a little bit more for us?

Anupam Malhotra: Sure. Amanda, I think that’s a really great question. Obviously at a high level, I feel digitalization is helping the industry tremendously. We are seeing efficiency gains happening because of digitalization. It’s making the customer experience better. The claim processing times are improving. And we are seeing numerous such benefits that digitalization is bringing at a higher level. But when we go deeper and look at the practical level, we also see that, you know, when the digitalization is introduced in the right way, an adjuster spends less time in searching for information, he or she is providing the right information contextually in the flow of work while processing a claim. Now that just not improves the adjuster’s efficiencies, but also improves the end-user experience. By end user, I mean the policyholder experience. And, you know, we all know that when a customer is filing a claim, the experience that the customer gets at the time of filing a claim will determine largely whether the customer stays with the insurance company or moves on to another company. And it’s extremely important to provide that right experience to the policyholder through digitalization. What is also happening is that because of digitalization happening across the industry, employees and insurance companies are becoming more agile in adopting new technologies, getting proficient, with these, you know, numerous technologies. The errors are getting reduced and new products are getting introduced more quickly. Right. So overall, I see a lot of productivity gains happening, because of the digitization that’s happening across the industry.

Amanda Ingram: It’s quite challenging, isn’t it? You know, I mean, certainly, you know, working in the insurance industry ourselves, the speed at which, insurers can launch new products to market now. And you know, the uses of the internal systems of the customers have to adapt to all of these new things very, very quickly. I really liked the way that you talked about, you know, contextual assistance and how we can help both internal and external users of the system. So let’s shift the conversation a little bit and explain to me how and to our users and our listeners, obviously, how Whatfix can empower users, such as claims adjusters and customer service representatives with those self-service capabilities that you’re mentioning to improve or improve the overall efficiency?

Anupam Malhotra: Sure. I think when I, when I want to explain [what] Whatfix does to somebody that I’m speaking with, for the first time about Whatfix, I always give this analogy, you know, think of Whatfix like a GPS for your application. It could be a core claims system, it could be an underwriting application. It could be an agency portal. But since Whatfix is application agnostic, you can have the same experience on any of these applications. But in the context of today’s discussion, which is focused on claims, think of Whatfix as an overlay that is sitting on top of your claims application and providing contextual help to your claims adjuster.

Now, the claims adjuster today need not FNOL and read a document to understand how do I do an FNOL inside the system? Instead, what he or she needs to do is log in to my claims application. And I will be guided in real time by Whatfix inside the application itself. Any help that I need as an adjuster, is provided to me inside my claim system. Now, what that ends up doing is solving multiple channel challenges for the adjuster. Number one, it helps me find the relevant information. I can do that very easily without having to spend too much time finding for that information. The right information is provided to the adjuster at the right time inside the application itself. Secondly, what it ends up doing is adjusters make fewer errors as Whatfix provides very contextual nudges and reminders to the user. Thirdly, we are also seeing improvements in process compliances, regulations, and all that improves as a result of it. Now, I want to give an example on this scenario wherein we had this particular insurance company where the claimants were supposed to provide a rental, in case of theft of an entire vehicle, but that was not happening.

So Whatfix started providing these smart nudges inside the claim system, reminding the adjuster to make sure that they’re providing a rental, to the claimant. And that started improving the adherence to this particular process tremendously, post-Whatfix implementation. The fourth benefit that we are also seeing is the change management is streamlined. Now the new changes now communicated, inside my system, instead of sending numerous emails which no adjuster is reading today. And finally, the last benefit is that adjusters get trained and onboarded quickly onto the system. They get proficient inside these applications very quickly. Now, think of all the contractual workforce that carriers hired today. To do, you know, process those volumes of claims coming in. We need a way to train my, contractual workforce quickly, efficiently, and get them productive so that they start processing those volumes coming in, in a timely way. So I think these are some of the benefits that Whatfix can bring in.

Amanda Ingram: Thank you, Anupam, you explained it very clearly, and I particularly like your analogy of a GPS system for claims. I really like that. I think that’s great. And the real-time guidance and compliance that you provide into to the users as well. And I particularly know what you call them, intelligent nudges. I really like that as well, because that tells me that the system knows when it needs to give a little push or a nudge to the end user. And that actually streamlines and again, improves that overall customer experience. So let’s go on to another question. Let’s have a look at what role does the customer satisfaction and agent stickiness play in motivating insurers to adopt digital plans processes? And how are those expectations evolving?

Anupam Malhotra: That, that’s a great question, Amanda. I think, today agents and policyholders are spoiled for choice. There are so many options available to me as a policyholder when I want to get a new insurance policy. And my decision to go for the company will depend on the digital experience that I get while filing a claim.Right? If I, as a carrier, am able to digitize the claims journey for the agent and the policyholder in a very effective way, I’m building a competitive differentiator for me as, as a company compared to my competitors. A smooth digital experience, which is easy, fast, and uncomplicated, can actually lead to a happier customer. And we all know if a customer is happy, they are more likely to renew a policy.And similarly, if I have an agent, that’s getting the quotes and time that that is able to, self-serve themselves, they’re getting faster turnaround times. They are definitely going to stick around with me as a carrier. So I think it’s inevitable that the experience that my agents and policyholders are getting will largely determine, whether they stick around or whether they are loyal to me or whether they move on to another company,right? So I think it’s extremely important to bring that digitization in the right way and ensure that my agents and policyholders are getting the best experience that they deserve.

Amanda Ingram: Thank you. I totally agree with what you’re saying. Now, you know, that whole experience, it’s not just about using the system, being able to do a particular role, but it’s actually about, you know, improving the experience for the customer at the end of it.I totally agree with you there. So we’re on our final question and could you please share with me some examples of some quantitative and measurable benefits that insurers are expecting to see after undergoing the whole claims digitalization process? You know, things such as, you know, reduce claims leakage or, you know, expediting the claims process, streamlining that claims process.

Anupam Malhotra: Oh, absolutely, Amanda. And then I think, at the end of it all, we all talk about digitization. But if you are not getting any tangible benefits out of it, what is the entire point of it? Right?

Amanda Ingram: 100%!

Anupam Malhotra: There have been numerous studies done recently, by analysts around this. And one survey, which I particularly remember is that, you know, it was by McKinsey and it mentioned that insurers who have implemented digital claims processes have seen up to a 30% reduction in claims leakage. And up to a 10 to 20% decrease in the claims processing times. Now, that’s a huge savings for any claims leader. When we look at it, some of the benefits that, you know, and another report back central came up with, talked about the fact that, you know, digitally enabled insurers have experienced up to 50% faster claims, settlement times, 40% increase in the in the customer retention rates. So I think overall, we are seeing so many benefits that insurance leaders are tracking today as a result of digitization. And with Whatfix, also, we have seen customers saving up to $1 million, just by, you know, being able to train and onboard that just as quickly and getting them proficient inside the application. So yeah, a lot of benefits. I mean, I can go on and on about this, but these are some of the ones I definitely wanted to highlight today.

Amanda Ingram: They’re great statistics, Anupam. They’re very impressive! I mean you know and any benefits and savings that the insurer is making, you know, whether that’s true, the claims leakage that 30% that you mentioned or whether, you know, it’s the million pounds of saving in processing and reduction times and all of these things, ultimately, that all benefits that the, you know, the insured, at the end of the day, whether they taken out the policy or whether they’re making the claim. I think it’s been a fascinating conversation. I really do thank you for joining the Sapiens podcast today, and for taking the time to appear here. And, and, you know, share your thoughts and you know, your insights with us. So thank you for that. As we said at the beginning with claims digitalization come startup issues, such as technology integrations, and polling, buying, etc. But with modern insurance applications, and no apologies for the shameless plug here, such as Sapiens leveraging Whatfix, to ensure minimal friction within the workforce. By doing this, insurers really can foster a culture that is ready for change and to remain competitive and in an evolving market. It’s been a fascinating session today, and I would like to say thank you again to Anupam, for joining us.

To our listeners, thank you so much for listening. It’s been really hard to believe that we’re already approaching Q2 of 2025. Where did those months go? But we have so much more exciting content and commentary in store. And of course, we love hearing from you. So if you have comments and you’d like to follow us on our social media, please reach out to us on our channels. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast! Stay tuned for our next episode of Sapiens Insurance 360. Bye for now and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you!