How insurtech is advancing insurance from underwriting to claims

Finance

Sponsored by CoreLogic

Insurtech is creating new efficiencies and improved customer experiences, and insurers can benefit from these innovative solutions through a single connected platform

Rose Hancock, CoreLogic

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many industries to adapt their business practices to survive in the new paradigm. In the insurance sector, carriers continued to adopt new technologies to accommodate the impact of quarantines and lockdowns. One advancement in particular has allowed for significant breakthroughs in the insurance workflow: the integration of underwriting and claims.

How does insurance work?

Let’s say you decide to buy a new home. To acquire that home, you need property insurance. Underwriting is the process of evaluating a property and determining its risk profile for damage events such as adverse weather or natural catastrophes. The insurer needs to determine the reconstruction cost and the risk of damage to the property to properly price the premium of the home. This is done when the homeowner purchases the home, as well as at times of policy renewal.

Claims, on the other hand, play a role after damage to the property occurs and the policyholder submits a request to the carrier. After the damage happens, the carrier needs to understand what happened, the extent of the damage, and the cost of repair.

These two key elements of insurance have historically always been disconnected. But now, with modern technology in hand, underwriting and claims can be interwoven into a seamless experience. What are some of the benefits of this?

Tying together underwriting and claims

Information flow between the underwriting and claims workflows carries immense benefits in efficiency. On one hand, information gathered in the underwriting process can be useful for the claims process in determining what has been destroyed. On the other, information gathered in the claims process can be used to better inform the underwriting workflow.

For example, by taking of advantage of the latest technology, carriers can allow homeowners to submit photos of the exterior and interior of their home. This allows the underwriter to view the property and verify it is insured correctly based on factors such as the roof materials, the size of the home, the types of cabinets and appliances, as well as the general condition of the property.

In the future, if there is a fire and the house burns down, the carrier has an objective to help the policyholder recover as soon as possible. With imagery already collected during the underwriting process, the claims process now has 3D models, measurements and floorplans of each room, and the contents of the home before the disaster. This helps the carriers work towards restoring the home faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Conversely, if a home’s roof is damaged by hail, the policyholder files a claim and the carrier pays the policyholder to have a contractor fix the roof. By passing this information on to the underwriters, it can be verified that the repairs were done correctly.

The CoreLogic digital hub

To have happy, satisfied homeowners while also saving insurance carriers time and money, CoreLogic® combined its industry-proven underwriting and claims management tools in a single platform called the Digital Hub. This Digital Hub consolidates a variety of different insurance data channels, giving carriers easy access to all relevant information on a property. Like a smart TV for insurance carriers, insurtech providers can join the Digital Hub Alliance^TM (DHA) and allow participating carriers to seamlessly incorporate the latest solutions into their workflow. New insurtech providers are vetted by CoreLogic industry experts so that carrier and insurtech capabilities can be combined to provide a better experience for all parties. DHA members are highlighted with joint marketing and monthly member spotlights where insurtech providers can showcase their technology and how it brings value to carriers.

Modernising the industry

Carriers need to embrace the latest technology, or they will fall behind and their customers will not be satisfied. With a plug-and-play platform weaving together the best of insurtech providers and traditional insurance carriers, CoreLogic is enabling a seamless and consumer-oriented future for the industry.

Check out the Digital Hub Alliance and the monthly spotlights here corelogic.com/protect/digital-hub-alliance.