The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a mass movement towards digitalization in the insurance industry. It has been an epiphany for many insurers in terms of understanding their digital capabilities pre-pandemic, recognizing their digital gaps at the start of the pandemic, and fast-tracking their digitalization roadmaps to survive the rest of the pandemic and thrive beyond it.
Digital tools are more important then ever today. With lockdowns, widespread remote working, social distancing and other preventative measures in place, insurers have had to find ways to serve their distribution partners and their customers digitally. One insurer to recognize this and shift up a gear in its digitalization quest is RSA Canada. Throughout 2020, the property & casualty insurer has introduced a range of innovations for both its broker partners and end-customers, improving efficiencies from client onboarding all the way through to claims management.
In the latest phase of RSA’s digital transformation in claims, they have introduced Claims Ami™, a brand-new online chat tool designed to answer simple questions quickly. The tool, which is available to RSA broker partners via rsabroker.ca/claims and to customers on rsagroup.ca, can cut down the time spent on personal and commercial insurance claims. Through Claims Ami™, brokers and customers can chat with a live agent about open claims, getting answers to simple questions (e.g. How much is the deductible? When does the policy expire? Who is the claim’s adjuster? What is the claim’s status? Can I add more information? and more).
“Claims Ami™ is part of our overall digital strategy at RSA Canada,” said Karen Mican, SVP Claims & Chief Claims Officer, RSA Canada. “We’re on a transformational journey in claims, using data and analytics to drive claim handling and introduce different forms of digital technology to support the customer experience.
“This brand-new online chat tool is a tremendous benefit for our broker partners and their customers. It’s much quicker to launch in through a chat tool than it is to use the telephone and navigate a voice menu system. You can access Claims Ami™ from anywhere, multitask while waiting for a response in real-time as well as save results for future reference, having the chat transcript sent straight through email to track back to it throughout the lifecycle of the claim.”
Claims Ami™ is especially suited for automobile claims, but can also address simple questions on property claims. For example, if a customer has a car accident and submits an auto insurance claim to RSA Canada, brokers and customers can use the chat tool to submit new information, such as a police report or witness statement, to support their claim. They can also use the tool to ask questions about rentals and repairs.
Continued digital claims investments
“Of course, thinking about digital capabilities and how we operate today, we’re hoping to continue enhancing Claims Ami™’s capabilities with artificial intelligence (AI) so the tool can answer simple questions automatically, and direct brokers and customers to any digital tools that might help them with their claim. Even when we move to a more AI-driven experience, Claims Ami™ will always retain the capability to connect the broker and the customer with a human claims agent if their question cannot be answered via the chat tool.”
This new chat tool is not the only digital investment RSA Canada has made of late in its claims department. RSA Canada has also introduced photo-based loss estimation, using drones in some cases (especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic) to inspect exterior damage on property losses.
“We’ve seen, through COVID-19, increased interest in using digital ways to connect, which makes Claims Ami™ so fit for purpose. It gives people the opportunity to connect with us in the path that they choose, and from where they choose. It's a key step in our transformation journey.”
This article originally appeared on RSA Canada’s exclusive Expert Advice column on Insurance Business Canada Magazine.
