One-size-fits-all claims technology will soon be extinct

AI and machine learning are creating the possibility of a new conversation between law firms and in-house claims teams.

Within the UK Casualty space, claims automation and harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) are high on law firms’ agendas– and we’ve seen significant progress. At Clyde & Co, we have used these powerful new technologies to radically reinvent the way in which we deal with and value Official Injury Claims Portal and Ministry of Justice claims in both the motor and EL/PL space.

While these rapid advances have been welcomed by insurer clients, the speed of progress and the sheer potentiality they generate is subtly changing the dynamic of the insurer-law firm relationship.

What makes this relationship so critical right now is that claims inflation is running at around 11%. The cost-of-living crisis in this country will certainly drive both claims fraud and claims exaggeration in 2023. That’s only going to increase the pressure on insurers’ claims teams.

Today, it’s possible to segment insurers into three broad groups: those who are starting to think about the journey down the path to automation and AI; those fully onboard and able to engage; and those so advanced, they are already engaged and beginning to explore data and its meaning at an increasingly granular level.

What this means is that the traditional one-size-fits-all-technology produced by law firms no longer works. Today, law firms need to be much more collaborative and recognise that each insurer is at a different stage of their technological journey.

Insurers also have the power to surprise law firms. Clients frequently adapt Clyde & Co’s technology for their own needs. In many cases the adaptation was an idea that never occurred to us. While we sat in our darkened room and developed the system to solve problem A, the insurer has seen the potential to solve problem B.

In 2023, law firms can no longer hand over finished claims processing technology to a client like Father Christmas handing a present to a child. The need is for law firms to spend more time face-to-face with claims teams understanding their needs and the way in which they want to work. How, for example, can we integrate without forcing clients to change their workflow or force them to log in and out of multiple systems. How can we address their increasingly sophisticated management information needs? It’s these conversations that will drive the direction of law tech innovation in 2023.

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