In June of 2020, the city of Calgary experienced a devastating hail event, one of the top 10 insurance losses in Canadian history. The hailstorm was responsible for 1.3 billion Canadian dollars in damages as of January 2021[1], though it’s possible actual damages are much higher now that many more claims have been settled over the past 6 months. When events like these happen, insurers need to fully understand their potential exposure to ensure a quick and appropriate response.
With the Canadian hail season beginning in June, insurers can use the latest technology to identify impacted areas within a few hours of the event, allocate emergency resources, estimate the loss reserves required to cover, proactively reach out to clients most likely impacted and improve overall customer satisfaction.
When adopting these new technologies, insurers should make sure the platform they choose is able to do the following:
- Visualize hail events to quantify impact
Insurers need an interactive, geospatial mapping solution that allows them to visualize hail events to identify and quantify which policyholders were likely impacted. With geocoded policies, claims actuaries and managers can visualize and map storm impacts at the parcel level, identify specific geographic areas where assets are monitored for impact awareness, forecast which policyholders will most likely be impacted, verify which policyholders were actually impacted, estimate reserves, and then export the impact data for use in other workflows. Insurers should make sure that they have a platform that can help them accurately calculate reserves in the most efficient manner possible.
- Integrate with existing workflow processes
Claims personnel benefit from having an intuitive and simple to learn tool that automates existing workflow processes with no additional requirement to hire technical support staff. This means having a platform that allows for a simple upload of CSV files with the ability to add optional policy and property data to create custom impact reports. These reports can be used to gain a dynamic and more accurate overview of ongoing and historic hail events more swiftly and efficiently.
- Support efficient claims adjusting processes
The volume of claims resulting from widespread severe weather events can be difficult to manage. While traditional weather reports are available both during and directly after a storm, they provide little to no information about the actual impact on a carrier’s book of business.
Further complicating the challenge, today’s policyholders increasingly expect faster claims resolution cycle times. This means the ability to quickly and decisively respond to hail events will influence how policyholders feel about the claims process. With the right software, catastrophe managers, claims analysts, and claim actuaries can quickly analyze all policies and reported claims against weather-related events with geospatial mapping. This allows for more accurate anticipation of claims volume and an increase in efficiency of adjuster deployment, resulting in shorter claims cycle times, lower loss adjusting expenses, and better customer experiences.
In Conclusion
Canadian hail season is underway, and insurers can benefit immensely from the technology offerings that are now available. Having a platform that is able to support claims adjusting processes while also helping to accurately calculate reserves is essential for (1) proactively creating customer awareness before claims are filed, (2) anticipating resource allocation needs, (3) eliminating confusion regarding date of loss, and (4) providing accurate data that helps you make knowledgeable decisions, reduce claims adjusting expenses, and improve cycle times. With this technology in hand , insurers can rest assured knowing that they are able to respond to hailstorms in the most efficient manner possible, better protecting the policyholders and families they serve.
[1] http://www.ibc.ca/on/resources/media-centre/media-releases/severe-weather-caused-$2-4-billion-in-insured-damage-in-2020
