Specialization of Line of Business, Industry and Adjuster Are Wave of the Future

Jeffrey T. Bowman is president and CEO of Crawford & Company, the world’s largest independent provider of claims management, offers his perspective on understanding non-U.S. insurance markets to help predict things to come in the U.S. markets. 

Line of Business, Industry and Adjuster Specialization
As a global center  for the insurance industry, the London market has long been an incubator of new products and best practices. It is also a harbinger of things to come in the U.S., where domestic insurers have largely focused on domestic business (thanks in great part to the sheer size of the U.S. market).

With insurance  practices and regulations varying widely from country to country, it has become necessary to understand non-domestic markets and, more important, to develop complex, overarching programs that meet the mandate of global clients. As a result, insurers and claims administrators operating in the U.K. have been required to implement global programs for a longer period of time than insurers based in other markets.

In particular,  the importance of data in managing and evaluating insurance programs was recognized there earlier than in other markets, thanks to the greater complexity of global programs. Chief risk officers-a C-level title that has existed for only a few years and indicates the elevation of concern about enterprise exposures-and risk managers are looking for much more granular evidence of an organization’s ability to manage claims effectively.

One of the  byproducts of a focus on cost and performance has been increased specialization in lines of business or industries by insurers, claims administrators and adjusters themselves. With current industry conditions, similar trends will come to the U.S.

1.  Line of business specialization
British insurers and businesses are turning more frequently to companies that can offer specialized loss adjusting that they believe is more aligned with their needs and better able to provide results. Large claims administrators are developing and marketing services in increasingly smaller and more defined specialty segments to compete with a growing number of niche providers. Appropriate licensing in the U.S. is a particular issue when it comes to handling more specialized claims.

2.  Industry specialization
Specific industry knowledge, particularly on major losses, is a growing requirement. For example, in 2007 some of the world’s largest losses occurred in the mining industry. Losses in the mining world are complex and very specific to the industry. Those factors reaffirm the need for insurers and claims administrators to develop targeted industry knowledge that helps them settle claims effectively and mitigate business interruption.           (workersxzcompxzkit)

3.  Adjuster specialization
With line of business and industry specialization, adjusters, too, are going to be hard-pressed to remain as generalists. Focused experience in a particular category of claims will become ever more important, as will familiarity with specific industry segments and their types of losses.

Jeffrey T. Bowman is president and CEO of Crawford & Company, the world’s largest independent provider of claims management solutions with more than $1 billion in revenues and 9,000 employees based in 63 countries.Broadspire, a leading TPA, is a Crawford Company. He can be reached at info@us.crawco.com
Workers’ Comp Kit® Blog  welcomes Mr. Bowman as a guest writer.

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