Insurance

Many healthcare and insurance related companies have experienced high ASA times (Average Speed of Answer) and problematic Call Handling Times (CHT). Others have experienced challenges with ABN (Average Time to Abandonment) and ATB (All Trunks Busy). A company's call center is the often the first contact, the critical initial claims intake responsible for customers when problems or losses occur. As with most call centers, there are times when in-house occupancy rates are at 90% - and no one is available to answer the phone.

A company call center could certainly return the call an hour later or the next day, but that may be too late, as the customer may have already contacted an attorney or progressed down a more problematic or costly path than necessary. For claims related issues, industry experts agree that a cycle time delays can increase the cost of your claims dramatically and will simultaneously reduce the effectiveness and level of customer service provided by your organization. This is why many of today's contact centers employ outsourced call centers for overflow, nights and weekends. The around the clock claims professional staffing with overflow capacity offers improved call center responsiveness and enhances the overall customer experience.

By leveraging a contact center for overflow, nights, weekends and holidays, companies can improve organizational by as much as 40% while enhancing the customer experience. All of these things can positively impact the bottom line of many if not most organizations. Today, many high quality call centers outsource FNOL (First Notice of Loss) for overflow and non-peak times, while some outsource their entire operation. JD Power and Associates has stated that insurers with longer than average cycle times of 14.8 days are rated in the bottom 50% in terms of customer satisfaction.

At 80% or greater call center occupancy in-house staff is extremely busy, turnover often increases due to burnout, customer service is adversely impacted and many calls go unanswered. At 50% occupancy staff has flexibility with down time, customer service levels are often very good, and most calls are answered. At 20% occupancy, essentially every call is answered, ASA times are short, customer service is superb; however efficiency is low and the cost per claim is astronomical. Finding the right balance with outsourced first notice of loss (FNOL) solutions can allow call centers to improve efficiency and reach optimum effectiveness.