Touchless claims are a widely discussed topic throughout the insurance industry. While the trend toward claims automation has persisted for years, it has traditionally been more relevant to carriers who write personal auto and want to process “glass claims.” However, a confluence of factors such as COVID necessitating remote claims handling, the establishment of a rich ecosystem of claims point solutions, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence / machine learning, heightened customer expectations, and an aging workforce have led to touchless claims having perhaps more utility than ever before.

With all the potential benefits and virtues of touchless claims, it would be reasonable to expect modest industry-wide adoption at a minimum. The topic of claims automation seems to be a mainstay on conference session agendas. Still, several conversations with carriers lead us to believe that this topic may be more popular in theory than practice.

To cut through the noise and understand, from a data-driven perspective, just how far along the insurance industry is on touchless claims, Celent launched a joint survey with PropertyCasualty360.com to understand the state of touchless claims. Some topics covered were present and expected future use of touchless claims, perceived value in functional areas and technologies, benefits, barriers to adoption, expected impact on customer satisfaction, and use of insurtechs.