For the Prism Network team, the pandemic accelerated their plans to exploit technology even further, by offering insurers and policyholders more choice in how they communicate, validate, and settle claims.

In this article, Mark Orton, managing director of Prism Network, talks about how offering choice is key to success in 2021 and beyond.

The magic formula

2021 is an uncertain time. This uncertainty affects the insurance sector, just like every other industry. Budgets are tighter, materials and labour are sometimes harder to get hold of, planning becomes more difficult, and face-to-face activity is reduced.

Prism Network’s approach to maintaining competitor advantage in an uncertain time, is two-fold:

1.    Flexibility and adaptability – being ready to change at pace, to accommodate the new needs of employees, insurers, and policyholders.

2.    Technology – taking advantage of technological advancements to offer choice, speed up cycle times, lower operating costs, and work anywhere.

What choice looks like

Prism Network’s strategy is anchored around ‘The Prism Choice Model’ (see image above), which is essentially about giving policyholders and insurers, full control over how they work with Prism Network.

From how they communicate with the team, right through to who they want to repair the damage.

Mark says: “Policyholders can choose how they make a claim. Whether that’s by telephone, email, or through our web portal.

“Most of the time we can validate claims remotely. If that’s what the person wants. Policyholders can share photos or videos of the damage. And we can interact with that footage in real-time, say if we need to seek clarification on what we’re looking at.

“When it comes to settling a claim, Prism can offer a settlement via their app immediately, allowing the policyholder to simply click to accept and confirm bank details at the flick of a switch, details of which are encrypted and later automatically deleted.”

For insurers, there are multiple ways for them to do business with Prism Network too. They can access real-time, online information about the progress of claims. And, they’re able to make sure Prism Network continues to do a top-notch job – via remotely listening to policyholder calls.

Offering choice brings rewards

The insurance industry – like all sectors – is having to adapt to emerging trends. Just like in every walk of life, consumers and businesses want more choice and control over how they do things.

Having said that, the coronavirus pandemic has taken some of that choice away, with less physical interaction, and an increase in digital activity. For Prism Network, this has expedited a drive towards more desktop surveying and remote claims handling.

Technology means tasks can often be done more quickly. That’s led to an increase in consumer expectations too. In fact, one survey found that 40% of people will leave a website after five minutes, if they’ve not found the information they want!

Going even more digital has brought tangible gains for Prism Network. Their average claim lifecycle, has gone down from 82 days to 43 days. That’s a 48% drop – and technology has certainly played a part.

In the recent ‘Investor in Customers’ assessment – where Prism Network was awarded Gold – speed was a theme that emerged as important to clients.

One respondent said: “Prism’s turnaround is two hours, which is very quick considering the amount of work we send over.”

Mark added: “Further investments in technology will help to give our stakeholders even more access to information. That way, they’re not always relying on us for updates.”