The engine will offer a more personalised claims experience by tailoring claims questions and reducing end-to-end turnaround times for payments.
The mutual will also have greater capacity for instant decisions at the point of claim and align the provider with the Protection Distributor Group’s claims charter.
The system is backed by UnderwriteMe, and will help the mutual’s claims assessors in pooling together as much information as possible from an initial phone conversation with a claimant and generate a tailored set of questions based on the cause of the claim and conversation.
The lender is launching the engine for income protection claims and will expand coverage to real life policies in early 2024.
The system also offers claims assessors with policy information, product features, exclusions, and adviser details on one platform for faster decisions.
It can recommend an outcome but the final claims decision will rest with the claims assessor until The Exeter is ready to automate claim decisions.
‘Delivering a better customer experience’
Claire Hird (pictured), customer service director, The Exeter said: “We are pleased to announce the launch of our new partnership with UnderwriteMe, which we believe will help deliver an even better experience for our member’s at the point of claim.
“The system provides our claims assessors with a more complete view of the member’s product details and uses responsive questions to help them make quicker decisions.”
She added: “The ability to fast-track a claim for payment for those members with a day one or week one deferred period is hugely exciting and aims to provide faster payments to those who will experience an immediate drop in income if they are unable to work due to illness or injury.
“These developments allow us to balance the efficiencies that technology can add to our business with our desire to continue providing a personal service to our members and intermediaries.”
Simon Jacobs, director of business development, UnderwriteMe, added:“UnderwriteMe is delighted to be working in partnership with The Exeter. As an industry we’ve spent a considerable amount of time and investment in making the underwriting process a far better experience for our customers.
“As part of this, we’ve made the application questions more intuitive to meet the needs of the customer whilst speeding up decision making times and improving decision consistency.”
He continued: “So, why can’t we apply the same thinking to the claims process and further improve customer experience? We’re excited to work with The Exeter to make the first step towards achieving this.”
