What is Document Automation in Insurance?

The combination of new regulations, skyrocketing claim payouts, soaring customer expectations, and the shift to remote working is forcing insurers to rethink the way they create and manage documents.

Fierce competition raises the stakes for insurers to effectively manage their documents.

That’s why more insurers are digitizing and simplifying the way they create, populate, distribute, and store their documents.  Document automation solutions help insurers improve efficiency, reduce costs, deliver a better customer experience, and mitigate the risk of fraud and compliance issues.

Eighty-three percent of insurers surveyed by Celent believe that automation is critical to improving the customer experience their organization provides.  Seventy-two percent of insurers plan to increase their investments in document automation, according to research from PwC.

This article shows how document automation works and the benefits insurers can achieve.

What is insurance document automation?

Insurance document automation solutions digitize and simplify the creation, population, distribution, and storage of quotes, proposals, policies, claims, and other documents used in insurance operations.  Standardized templates on these documents are populated with policy details, terms, and conditions.

Here’s how an insurer may use a document automation solution.

• Quotations and proposals.  Automation makes it a snap for insurers to generate quotes and proposals and documents outlining coverage options for potential policyholders.
• Electronic signatures.  The best document automation solutions have built-in capabilities for electronic signatures for obtaining policyholder signatures and other approvals.
• Workflows.  From initiation through approval, document automation solutions provide configurable workflows that digitally route documents through the insurance lifecycle.
• Communications.  Insurers can use document automation solutions to create welcome letters, updates and other policyholder correspondence related to their coverage.
• Renewals.  Document automation solutions can generate renewal notices.
• Claims.  Document automation solutions provide systematic workflows that accelerate approvals and facilitate collaboration and communication between stakeholders.
• Underwriting.  From risk assessments to policy evaluations, insurance document automation solutions streamline the underwriting process by generating underwriting documents.
• Compliance.  Automation helps ensure that compliance documentation is up to date.
• Amendments.  Document automation solutions streamline the process of updating and generating the necessary documents when policy amendments or endorsements are needed.

While the use cases may vary, automating document processes provides insurers with big benefits.

How does insurance document automation work?

Insurance document automation uses workflow automation, digital signatures and other technologies to automate the creation, population, distribution, and storage of claims and other documents.

Here’s how insurance document automation typically works.

• Templates.  Templates are created for generating standardized documents such as policies.
• Input.  Relevant data from policyholders, agents, and other sources is input into the system.
• Integration.  The solution integrates with policy administration platforms and other legacy systems to facilitate the exchange of information and to ensure documents are up to date.
• Generation.  Documents are created using predefined templates and integrated data.
• Logic.  Insurance documents are dynamically adjusted based on pre-set criteria or variables.
• Workflow.  Configurable workflows manage the movement of documents through the insurance lifecycle.  Workflows may include approvals and stakeholder communication.
• Electronic signatures.  Relevant parties can sign and approve documents digitally.
• Storage and retrieval.  Generated documents are stored in a centralized cloud-based repository.  Authorized users can instantly retrieve documents for inquiries and other reasons.
• Compliance.  Documents can be checked for compliance with regulations and policies.
• Communication.  Parties can be notified about renewals and other important information.

These capabilities transform the way that insurers create and manage policies and other documents.

Benefits of document automation for insurance companies

Document automation provides significant benefits to insurance companies of all sizes.

• Cost savings.  Automation reduces the labor required to create and manage documents as well as paper, paper-related consumables, and physical document storage.
• Efficiency.  Document automation eliminates manual tasks associated with creating, populating, distributing, and storing proposals, claims and other insurance documents.
• Speed.  Digitizing the document lifecycle eliminates the friction that slows processes down.  Fast policy issuance and renewal cycles ensure timely coverage and minimizes policy lapses.
• Accuracy.  Errors are inevitable wherever there is manual intervention.  By reducing manual tasks, document automation improves the accuracy of policy documentation and other tasks.
• Service.  Document automation helps insurers deliver a better customer experience through better data quality, faster response times to inquiries, and streamlined communications.
• Compliance.  Automation reduces the risk of compliance violations and penalties by helping to ensure that documents comply with industry regulations and legal requirements.
• Security.  The best document automation solutions protect against data breaches and cyber attacks with access permissions, segregation of duties, audit logging, and data encryption.
• Agility.  Document automation solutions can easily be adapted to changing business needs.

These benefits can provide insurers with a tremendous competitive advantage.

How to get started with insurance document automation

Getting started with insurance document automation involves a clear understanding of your current needs, selection of the right technology provider, and a project plan that spells out responsibilities and deadlines.  Here is a step-by-step guide to initiating a document automation project.

• Assess.  Understand your current document processes, identify pain points, chart key workflows, and create a list of document-intensive tasks that can benefit from automation.
• Set goals.  Determine the goals for document automation.
• Research.  Evaluate document automation solutions based on features such as template creation, workflow automation, electronic signatures, and customer communications.
• Collaborate.  Work with your compliance and IT teams to define the technical requirements, security considerations, and compliance standards that the solution must meet.
• Plan.  Develop an implementation timeline that spells out roles and responsibilities, dependencies, and deadlines.  Avoid the temptation to bite off more than you can chew.
• Manage change.  User adoption is critical to the success of any document automation initiative.  Develop a plan for communicating the benefits of document automation to users, training users on the solution, and addressing any shortcomings and issues head-on.
• Integrate.  Connect the document automation solution with your existing systems.
• Test.  Develop mechanisms for continuously measuring system performance, identifying system issues, and making necessary adjustments.  Be sure to gather feedback from users.

These steps will help insurers achieve the full benefits of document automation.

Conclusion

From applications and underwriting to claims processing and renewals, automation can revolutionize the insurance document lifecycle.  Document automation solutions enable insurers to reduce costs, boost employee productivity, speed cycle times, deliver a better customer experience, and strengthen compliance and security.  All this helps insurers stand out from the competition.  If your organization is looking for ways to unleash the power of its data, document automation may be the solution.