Insurers criticised for poor communication

New research has found that 20 percent of people who have made an insurance claim felt that their insurers had poor communication skills when they were dealing with them.

This is the finding of the EDM Group, the information management specialists, which also reported that of those people who were unhappy with how their insurers communicated with them during the claims process, 43 percent said it was because they took too long deciding whether or not to cover their claim.

This was followed by 22 percent who said they found it difficult to find someone to speak to. Others complained that their insurer was not quick enough in finding the relevant data on them, or that they used the wrong channel of communication e.g. the internet instead of the phone.

Craig Campbell, head of insurance sector at EDM Group, said: “Having access to the right information quickly is key to insurers offering customers quality service. The challenges here are growing because insurers have to deal with a growing amount of data and information, and also come to terms with the growing channels of communication their business partners and customers use.

“However, our feeling is that insurers have stepped up to this challenge and are making a number of changes to the way they manage their information. This includes greater digitisation of information and less focus on paper based data.”