Recent innovations in the personal insurance market are set to influence the commercial insurance arena in coming years. This is according to new research conducted by Xuber, Xchanging’s insurance software business.

Personal Insurance Trends for Commercial Insurance to Watch in 2013 - How Innovations in Personal Insurance will Inspire Commercial Insurance to Raise the Bar identifies the shifting expectations of consumers and the increased relative importance placed on non-price related factors such as response times and ease of access to data.

Among the recent trends in personal insurance predicted to cross over into the commercial space are:

•Gaining insight with ‘big data’ to control losses and validating claims more effectively
•Using information intelligence, such as telematics, to look at patterns of client behaviour to set policies and assess claims more accurately
•Enabling claims handlers to share data with other departments in real time, both online and offline to make the claims experience smoother
•Deploying technology to support real-time collaboration with multiple intermediaries to streamline the claims process
•Going beyond the remit to provide a resolution as well as compensation.

Richard Clark, head of business development and specialist commercial at Xuber, comments: “The personal insurance market is leading the industry through its example of placing customers at the heart of the claims process. Advances in technology now mean that consumers expect a seamless and streamlined buying process as par for the course.

“The emergence of big data and sophistication of supporting IT systems can only help insurers to understand customers, and meet their needs with new products and refined policies. No claim is an island, and by streamlining the claims process insurers will ensure customer claims are handled as quickly and efficiently as possible – both retaining older customers, and gaining new ones.

“In the past we have seen that trends in the personal insurance space tend to permeate into the commercial space over the course of time, with many adopting methodology more commonly seen in the personal industry for their own needs. Even though B2B claims are inherently more complex, technology that enables claims handlers to access information about each stage of the business process – from first notification of loss through coverage verification to final settlement – will no doubt create a superior claims experience for both claims handlers and claimants alike.”

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