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How to Be an Innovative Adjuster in a Digital World

Where do claims adjusters figure in a world rapidly moving towards automation?

Our world is rapidly transforming into a digital landscape. Industries and workplaces across the globe are incorporating growth-driven practices that leverage automation and digital tools to make their operations more efficient.

Each and every industry is rapidly moving towards digitization. It is estimated that more than 25% of jobs in the US face a massive threat from automation. Another estimate suggests that by 2030, robots would have replaced up to 20 million factory jobs across various industries. With all this new tech in place, would we be moving into a world where everyone succeeds and prospers, aided by technology or would we observe a scenario where technological advancements result in massive unemployment across different sectors?

A digital future is scary because it is riddled with ambiguity. When it comes to the insurance industry, this fear is all too familiar. Traditional insurers across the world are witnessing unprecedented disruption due to the advent of insurtech unicorns like Root and Lemonade that have forced insurers to rethink their strategy when it comes to business continuity and operations.

Rethinking operations

When it comes to inspections, insurance giants are primarily driven to bring the customer at the forefront of operations. Several tech companies have innovated products that allow policyholders to become a part of the claims management process. Tools like Hover allow policyholders to create 3-D rendered models of their homes to assist adjusters with inspections in a remote setting.

On the other hand, applications like Matterport allow homeowners to host virtual walkthroughs of their properties, thus accelerating the claim cycle. While such applications are on the rise, there is also speculation about the rise of drone technology in claims adjusting and enabling a streamlined, cost-reductive process of handling multiple claims.

With such key players at stake, how can independent adjusters transform their operations through innovation and optimize their workflow in order to become more efficient and accurate and work towards business continuity?

Transforming the IA workflow

One of the key transitions that independent claims adjusters can work towards is optimizing their workflow. An IA’s job requires them to receive inspections assignments from IA firms, schedule several inspections in a day, navigate to loss sites, and then finally inspect properties and create scoping reports. All these processes are time-consuming and coupled with the massive amounts of paperwork that is involved, claims adjusters have to be highly efficient to close claims on time.

Collaborating with IA firms

A lot of independent adjusters observe informational gaps when it comes to getting assignments from IA firms. Several assignments have incomplete information regarding the policyholder. It could range from policy types to the specifications of the damage that the policyholder has filed a claim for. Sometimes, internal errors also result in assignments not reaching adjusters properly because of poor communication.

In order to tackle this challenge, one of the best options is to use a claims management tool that collects all the assignments an adjuster receives and brings them together in one place. An application like JustEZ is a pioneer in this field as it extracts all the required information about an assignment from the source. An adjuster could have received a claim through email or a CSV file, it doesn't matter. With its integration with claims management systems like Claimcolony and cloud storage program like Dropbox, JustEZ helps collate all the data and makes it easier for adjusters to understand what kind of a claim they are dealing with.

Scheduling Inspections

Scheduling inspections in a timely fashion can make or break it for you as an independent adjuster. Managing hundreds of claims throughout the week and being able to attend to each and every inspection efficiently is what separates the best from the rest. Having the right set of scheduling tools can not only optimize your workflow but can also help in carving out a well-balanced work-life.

Having an application like JustEZ at your disposal can enhance your scheduling capabilities as it automates the process of assigning your inspection visits based on your work style and prioritizes assignments accordingly. Your daily roster can be easily planned without all the administrative hassle.

Transforming navigation

Adjusters can be the best navigators there ever were but every once in a while, an assignment will take them to unfamiliar territory and when that happens they’ll be at a loss when it comes to directions. We can’t stress enough about the importance of navigational tools like Google Maps and Waze which create highly accurate routes for adjusters to follow so that they don’t have to waste time looking for the loss site.

With an application like JustEZ, IAs get an automated navigational experience since the application has integrations with Google Maps and Waze which provide real-time navigation and traffic updates along with the fastest routes so adjusters are never late for an inspection. What is truly awesome is that there is no need to type in the address since the app picks it automatically, providing you with the best driving experience.

Evolving inspection strategies

Inspecting damages has traditionally involved a point-and-shoot camera to take pictures of the loss and asking a bunch of questions from the claimant regarding the damage and its occurrence. These verbal exchanges of information coupled with a few pictures can now be replaced with high-quality images and videos alongside highly accurate descriptions of the damage.

While interviewing a claimant, claims adjusters can use a predefined checklist to get important information from them.

With an application like JustEZ, adjusters can take multiple pictures of different parts of a property and the app automatically classifies the images based on their location.

These images can be imported from the phone using Wi-Fi or even a camera using a Wi-Fi enabled SD card like FlashAir. The process of collecting data from inspection sites and syncing it with the respective claim is automated so that an adjuster doesn’t have to invest time in doing it himself. With such a feature in place, inspection processes can be sped up and optimized to cut down the overall claims cycle.

Finally, when it comes to creating scoping reports, the traditional method involves tons of paperwork and an hour or two to finish one claim but with the use of applications like JustEZ, scoping reports can be created on the go and shared with the IA firm while an adjuster prepares to navigate to another loss site.

Innovative Adjuster: The New Adjuster

As the insurance industry leverages new-age technology like AI, machine learning, and Big Data Analytics to process claims, why should adjusters be left behind when it comes to implementing technology in their workflow. With such optimized processes in place, any claims adjuster can function smoothly in the digital world. Having a digitally sound ecosystem and operating with modern capabilities can lead to a significant transformation in the claims workforce.