Automation is transforming claims processing in myriad ways. Damage appraisals that are completed in only a few hours are becoming the norm―shaving days off cycle time and making the claims process easier than ever before. Insurance customers are getting comfortable with snapping a few photos of their damaged vehicle and sending them to their insurer via a simple mobile claim app. Drones are often dispatched to inspect storm damage on a home, allowing property adjusters to complete virtual damage inspections. Data delivered electronically early in the claims process is revolutionizing the claims workflow, simplifying claim reporting and providing a wealth of actionable data to expedite claim settlements.

The Travelers Companies, a major national insurer, has made an undisclosed but apparently substantial investment in drone operations software company Kittyhawk. The investment strengthens a partnership between Kittyhawk and Travelers and signals a deepening reliance on drones to assess property claims in the insurance industry, particularly after natural disasters.

It’s common knowledge that due to a host of reasons, smaller insurers, municipal risk pools, captives and self-insured groups are hesitant to adopt new technology and thereby adapt their business processes for continuous improvement.

Although 2017 — fraught with catastrophic incidents — was one of the costliest years on record for the global insurance industry, Aon’s new report has found that insurers’ capacity to meet their losses continues to grow.

The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance, a blockchain consortium representing 31 risk management and insurance companies, announced today that it has selected global professional-services organization Deloitte to help advance its blockchain application and product-development efforts.

A potentially devastating Hurricane Florence is rumbling toward the Carolina coast this weekend, but for as historic as each new storm seems to be, insurers are preparing in relatively typical ways like activating additional staff in preparation for an onslaught of claims.

Claims is a people business — virtually every claims executive I have ever met believes this. If you have ever been in a vehicle accident, experienced damage to your home or business, or been injured in a work-related incident, one of the first things that comes to mind is: I need to talk to someone who can assure me that I have insurance coverage and that there will be resources, both financial and technical, to make me whole again.

There’s a hesitation in the claims industry about making a quick decision. And why wouldn’t there be, given all of the information and evidence that might be out there? What if your decision is incorrect?

As monikers go, the “dark web” has certainly lived up to its name. A vast swath of the internet accessible only through special software that keeps users anonymous and untraceable, it is the preferred realm for criminals, threat actors and others who take part in a bustling online underground.

State Farm agreed to pay $250 million on the brink of a trial to customers who claimed the company tried to rig the Illinois justice system to wipe out a $1 billion jury verdict from 19 years ago.

A lot has already been written about blockchain and what it is, but for those who need a quick refresher, Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani provided this summation in the January-February 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review, “The Truth About Blockchain”: “The technology at the heart of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically.”

Despite increased costs of outsourcing claims adjustment, an extreme wind event this past May serves as a reminder that insurers will continue to need independent claims adjusters and brokers should be prepared to field calls from claimants.

Insurance companies with legacy systems can find it extremely challenging to bring their data together because of different data formats and system access methods.

Given that “there are no 10-year-old blockchain companies” in an industry that relies heavily on historical data, how do insurers assess a submission for insurance related to the distributed ledger?

For millions of Americans, this summer has been marked by climate-related risks. USA Today reported in July that 40 million people from Washington to Arizona were facing an excessive heat warning while in the Eastern US, around 32 million people were under a flood watch during the same period.