From complex data to clear reports

We worked with an insurance claims handling company that uses a powerful database in the running of its operation. 'Reports' from this database are simply large spreadsheets of data. Often such reports produce seemingly inaccurate and inconsistent data.

We were asked to develop tailored reports to provide consistent management information, allowing clients to analyse the causes and effects of incidents and to benchmark performance across locations.

The problem

Insurance is a complex business and claims handling a specialist activity. This company's clients saw large costs attached to settling claims, but did not have a strong understanding of what drove those costs and how their locations were performing in the drive to reduce incidents and manage claims effectively.

What we did

We analysed the insurance claim process in detail with claims handling professionals and then interpreted it from a lay perspective. This allowed us to design a report structure that linked measures in a simple process flow, from incident to claim and resulting cost.

The reports identified causes of incidents and prioritised those by claim cost to allow action to be taken to reduce them. Each region gained a table benchmarking the performance of each location and the group could benchmark the regions.

The reports compared over 100 locations in a systematic, consistent way. We designed an Excel tool to take 40MB of data each month and produce a report for each location and region, automatically, in less than one hour.

What happened

The claims handling company now distributes these reports to their clients each month. Client relations are improving dramatically as more information is shared, not just about cost, but also how to reduce costs.

We have performed further work to produce a range of reports for different purposes within the claims handling company and for their clients.