Players in the insurance sector have been urged to speed-up the industry’s digitization process so as to be able to cope with the new realities occasioned by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
In an article published by the ZEP-RE Academy for the insurance industry, the ZEP-RE CIO, Alexio Manyonde, said that the pandemic had ushered in a new way of working that now requires a greater use of technology in daily operations by organizations.
(TOP: ZEP-RE CIO, Alexio Manyonde).
“Businesses have been forced to change the way they operate to take into account the new way of service delivery in the middle of a pandemic. These will now require a different way of working to ensure that timely processing is still met,” Manyonde said.
He noted that in the era of working from home and social distancing, the expectations from clients had not changed, but the ability of the insurance industry to deliver on the expectations was being challenged.
“Clients seek three things from their insurers – speedy settlement of claims, timely updates, and a choice on how to engage. However, claims processing time, for instance, has been greatly affected by claims department staff being unable to share physical documents from one desk to the next as they would normally do in office operations. This means that the industry players will need to review their work processes and adopt new technologies to be able to keep up with the fast-changing business environment,” he added.
“At ZEP-RE, we have used our workflow system to automate notification as claims progress through the payment process. The technology allows us to give our clients the confirmations they need to assure them that their claims are being handled despite being out of office,” Manyonde said.
He further intimated that ZEP-RE would soon launch a claims portal that will offer alternative interaction channels within the claims process.
“The portal will be integrated with our workflow systems to be able to satisfy the need for engagement as well as timely updates to our clients,” he concluded.
ZEP-Re (PTA Reinsurance) is a regional organization charged with promoting trade, development and integration within the COMESA region through insurance and reinsurance business. It was created by COMESA member states in November 1990 in Mbabane, Swaziland. The company has been in operation since 1993 and is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
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