Evolving FNOL through data enrichment

Kajal Vakas, product manager, claims, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Insurance, UK and Ireland

Through data enrichment, insurance providers can get on the front foot to manage the claim

Where once first notification of loss (FNOL) meant a phone call to the insurance provider or visit to the broker, followed by a question-and-answer process that could take around 40 minutes, FNOL has evolved to encompass a range of ways in which claimants can log their claim without necessarily needing to speak to a claims handler. The challenge is that in the drive to make FNOL more automated, more efficient to manage and less onerous for the claimant, gaps in detail about the claim or the claimant become a risk for insurance providers. This is where data enrichment could make its entrance into the claims space.

Looking at the different forms of FNOL currently employed by the insurance market; as stated above, telephone is arguably going to provide the highest level of detail about the incident; but electronic notification (ENOL) is becoming common, allowing customers to log a claim through a website or app. Efficiencies gained are sometimes lost, however, when ENOL data needs re-keying and further detail needs validating, sometimes leading to a second notification of loss—SNOL.

As connected and smart devices become more common, we may see the evolution of DNOL—a device notifies the insurer about the loss in real-time, as in the case with motor insurance telematics through crash alerts and in the future through the connected car. In this way, the claims handler can access relevant details about the incident, before even communicating with the customer to offer support.

In the same vein, dashcams have grown in popularity, offering the potential for both an alert to an event and the footage surrounding the incident to be fed into the DNOL process.

We are also seeing more connected devices in commercial buildings and homes that can alert insurance providers to a claim such as for an escape of water or a burglary.

Smartphones and smart watches are capable of flagging an event to the insurance provider in real time, if they detect that the owner has been in an incident in or outside the home. The benefits in health insurance are obvious but there may be good use cases in vehicle insurance.

Clearly these solutions rely on the consumer’s consent to share their data with the insurance provider for the benefit of immediate support and a faster claims settlement. Indeed, it is encouraging that in GlobalData’s 2021 UK Insurance Consumer Survey, 39.7% of home insurance policyholders with smart home devices would be either quite likely or very likely to share the data with an insurer in return for financial rewards.

So, how can claims professionals evolve FNOL today, without compromising the quality of the data they need to process the claim?

In the same way insurance providers are using data enrichment at quote, a similar approach at FNOL could improve the quality of data and help ensure the claims handlers’ time is focused on obtaining the more pertinent information needed directly from the customer.

This FNOL focused data enrichment could be on the person to confirm they are who they say they are, any prior claims history Data enrichment could also confirm prior claims related to the property—what happened, when, how much the claims settlement was for—even before the customer’s current tenure.

The same principle applies to a vehicle asset. Data enrichment could swiftly confirm the ADAS fitments on a specific vehicle and in time, connected car data could inform where and when and how the vehicle was being driven in the seconds before the claim. There may also be the opportunity to bring in vehicle history (MOT, valuation, mileage), plus the claims history of the vehicle, and the owner.

When you know more about the claimant and the asset, up front, the focus at and post-FNOL can be on the details of the claim itself. Some claims are cut and dry while others are much more complex. Through data enrichment, insurance providers can get on the front foot to manage the claim. This all has the effect of shortening the claims handling time, which is not just good from a cost perspective, it is good for building customer trust and loyalty in this highly competitive market.

Images: Canva and LexisNexis Risk Solutions

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