Transform Claims and Underwriting with a New Inbox Zero Process

Claims and underwriting teams fight a never-ending battle with their inboxes. To solve this problem once and for all, it’s time for insurers to embrace a new kind of Inbox Zero. This doesn’t mean simply dealing with emails as they come in – it means leveraging digital tools to eliminate emails entirely.

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Insurance Professionals Are Wasting Time on Emails

The number of emails professionals deal with has been growing slowly but steadily. In fact, McKinsey & Company says workers spend 28% of their workweek reading and answering emails. Assuming a five-day workweek, that’s nearly one and a half days spent on nothing but email!

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For insurance professionals, emails may consume even more time. Everything in the insurance industry is email based. 

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• On the claims side of the business, claimants either file claims by email or complete a claims form that routes collected data by email. As a result, claim departments end up with full inboxes. 
• On the underwriting side, it’s the same story. Brokers send quote requests and supporting data via email or in direct models, insurance buyers complete online forms and the data submitted is received by underwriters via email.

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All this creates a lot of work for underwriters and claims professionals. They have to organize the information, enter it into their systems and respond via email.

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Email is extremely time consuming – but it doesn’t have to be this way.

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A New Inbox Zero Approach

When most people talk about an Inbox Zero approach to email, they usually refer to dealing with emails as they arrive to keep the number of unopened emails at zero – or as close to zero as possible – at all times. The concept (invented by Merlin Mann) appeals to many people who are tired of finding a huge number of unopened emails waiting for their attention.

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However, as Inc. points out, many people are doing Inbox Zero wrong.

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Staying on top of emails sounds great, but what if you’re on vacation? What if you’re sick? What if you’re working on a task that requires 100% of your attention? Email management can become a full-time job. As the number of emails grows, the problem just becomes worse.

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It’s time for a new solution. This new kind of Inbox Zero process doesn’t mean your inbox is at zero because you’ve read and dealt with all your emails already – it means your inbox is at zero because you never received any emails in the first place. 

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The Future of Claims and Underwriting Is Possible Now

At this point, you might be skeptical. Emails are so entrenched in modern insurance processes that eliminating them seems impossible. But it isn’t.

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With this new Inbox Zero process, you don’t need to enter any data because it’s automatically fed directly into your system. For claims professionals, a dynamic FNOL process makes this possible. For underwriters, a digital intake and dynamic quoting process makes emails unnecessary.

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Right now, emails add extra work. Why not skip the back and forth? When the information arrives directly to your system, you don’t need to bother with emails or data entry. The data is ready for the next step, which, by the way, may also be automated.

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Eliminating Emails Is the Real Productivity Hack

A lot of productivity hacks focus on how to get more done in less time. In other words, productivity hacks make you work harder. In reality, insurance professionals are already working hard enough. 

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Furthermore, talent shortages and hiring challenges could mean insurance professionals have even more on their plate. BLS data shows that 500,000 insurance employees are likely to retire soon. Due to a lack of interest among younger generations, finding new workers to replace them may be a challenge.

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Eliminating emails is the real productivity hack. Rather than trying to squeeze more work into less time, you’re leveraging automation to reduce the amount of busywork you need to do. This frees your team to focus on more important tasks, like generating revenue and facilitating the superior digital experiences your customers expect. It also helps makes you a more appealing employer for GenZ and Millennial talent who are not accustomed to wasting their time on manual processes. 

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Why Squander Your Talent on Busywork?

It’s hard to recruit and train smart, talented people. When you do, you want them working on initiatives that take your organization to the next level. Why waste 28% of their time on email?

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Don’t just manage email – eliminate it with Liberate. Our Cloud-based software as a service enables you to quickly and cost effectively automate claims and underwriting processes to save time and money – all while delivering the digital experiences that today’s consumers have grown to expect. 

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Are you ready to liberate your team by deploying a new kind of Inbox Zero process?
We’re ready to help. Learn more or Book a Demo>

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