Aviva’s commitment to embedding AI into its claims operation has yielded transformative results across multiple dimensions. Beyond reducing the time to process its claims process, the transformation unlocked operational efficiency that has led to a remarkable 65% reduction in customer complaints, underscoring the positive impact on customer satisfaction.
Elsewhere, employee engagement scores more than doubled, reaching an all-time high. Empowered with tools that allowed them to do their jobs more effectively, staff reported higher job satisfaction, contributing to a healthier workforce.
Finally, customer satisfaction saw a sevenfold increase in total net promoter scores, indicating a significant improvement in the overall customer experience. This was achieved through faster, smarter decision-making and more accurate assessments, which also had a positive environmental impact: Aviva tripled the use of recycled parts, resulting in improved costs and a reduced environmental footprint.
“Aviva’s leadership had extreme conviction that, contrary to conventional belief, they could improve all customer experience, efficiency, and accuracy in parallel, if they conducted an end-to-end, holistic rewiring of their claims function,” says Sid Kamath, a McKinsey partner.
Note: This article was created by McKinsey & Company.
Aviva’s AI-driven transformation: A blueprint for insurance’s future
Aviva partnered with McKinsey & Company to revolutionize insurance claims with artificial intelligence—reducing assessment times, boosting accuracy, and slashing customer complaints, all while enhancing the customer experience.
Servicing a claim is arguably the most important interaction an insurer has with a customer. And as Aviva, the U.K.’s largest general insurance company, knows, it’s also one of the most challenging.
Customers file claims after going through a loss or catastrophic situation, which can sometimes include personal injury, and can be when they are at their most vulnerable. The stakes are high for both the customer and the claims professional who is trying to help. And when you add in the rising cost pressure in the claims supply chain, it creates further complexity and challenges. In 2019, claims remedy costs such as repairing a customer’s vehicle or fixing a leak in a home were rising at a rate of 6% above the Consumer Price Index; by 2023, they were rising at 11%. Recognizing these challenges, Aviva decided to holistically rewire its claims operation end-to-end, using AI to augment decision making throughout the claims journey. In the process, it set a new standard for customer care and improve decision-making accuracy in the claims journey and supply chain.
The process of settling an insurance claim for something like an auto accident is complex, involving numerous decisions, from damage, detecting fraud, evaluating injuries, and determining the best course of action for the customer. Each step requires meticulous attention to detail and swift decision-making. Aviva understood that addressing a few elements of this process would not be enough. Instead, a comprehensive, domainwide approach was necessary to build the country’s leading claims operation.
To embark on this transformation, Aviva brought in more than 50 data scientists, engineers, business leaders, change professionals, and translators, many of whom were from QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm. The team focused on a domainwide approach to AI implementation, focusing on improving customer experience, efficiency, and accuracy in parallel. The strategy involved a comprehensive overhaul, from the first notification of a loss to the final settlement. “The combined team with McKinsey, with the input of QuantumBlack specialists, meant that we could...really launch forward,” says Waseem Malik, chief claims officer of Aviva. “It felt like we were a true partnership—we were in it with aligned goals and objectives.”
A key element of Aviva’s approach was to create the right balance between digital and human interaction, always optimizing for both business and customer outcomes. For example, in cases involving personal injury, the claim journey defaults to human interaction. This approach reflects Aviva’s foundational belief that improvement is not a zero-sum game; greater accuracy or improved financial results should go hand in hand with an improved customer experience and customer outcome.
To fully achieve—and sustain—the potential of AI, Aviva knew it had to create a new digital-first culture with agile ways of working and a mindset that treats data as a strategic asset. To holistically embed this new digital-first mindset, Aviva invested in more than 40,000 hours of training to build general skills and capabilities. This training empowered teams to make decisions fast and take risks, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation. In fact, by enabling the claims teams to make faster, smarter decisions, Aviva was able to cut the average time needed to assess liability for complex cases by 23 days and improve routing accuracy by 30%.
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Aviva’s commitment to embedding AI into its claims operation has yielded transformative results across multiple dimensions. Beyond reducing the time to process its claims process, the transformation unlocked operational efficiency that has led to a remarkable 65% reduction in customer complaints, underscoring the positive impact on customer satisfaction.
Elsewhere, employee engagement scores more than doubled, reaching an all-time high. Empowered with tools that allowed them to do their jobs more effectively, staff reported higher job satisfaction, contributing to a healthier workforce.
Finally, customer satisfaction saw a sevenfold increase in total net promoter scores, indicating a significant improvement in the overall customer experience. This was achieved through faster, smarter decision-making and more accurate assessments, which also had a positive environmental impact: Aviva tripled the use of recycled parts, resulting in improved costs and a reduced environmental footprint.
“Aviva’s leadership had extreme conviction that, contrary to conventional belief, they could improve all customer experience, efficiency, and accuracy in parallel, if they conducted an end-to-end, holistic rewiring of their claims function,” says Sid Kamath, a McKinsey partner.
To embark on this transformation, Aviva brought in more than 50 data scientists, engineers, business leaders, change professionals, and translators, many of whom were from QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm. The team focused on a domainwide approach to AI implementation, focusing on improving customer experience, efficiency, and accuracy in parallel. The strategy involved a comprehensive overhaul, from the first notification of a loss to the final settlement. “The combined team with McKinsey, with the input of QuantumBlack specialists, meant that we could...really launch forward,” says Waseem Malik, chief claims officer of Aviva. “It felt like we were a true partnership—we were in it with aligned goals and objectives.”
A key element of Aviva’s approach was to create the right balance between digital and human interaction, always optimizing for both business and customer outcomes. For example, in cases involving personal injury, the claim journey defaults to human interaction. This approach reflects Aviva’s foundational belief that improvement is not a zero-sum game; greater accuracy or improved financial results should go hand in hand with an improved customer experience and customer outcome.
To fully achieve—and sustain—the potential of AI, Aviva knew it had to create a new digital-first culture with agile ways of working and a mindset that treats data as a strategic asset. To holistically embed this new digital-first mindset, Aviva invested in more than 40,000 hours of training to build general skills and capabilities. This training empowered teams to make decisions fast and take risks, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation. In fact, by enabling the claims teams to make faster, smarter decisions, Aviva was able to cut the average time needed to assess liability for complex cases by 23 days and improve routing accuracy by 30%.
Servicing a claim is arguably the most important interaction an insurer has with a customer. And as Aviva, the U.K.’s largest general insurance company, knows, it’s also one of the most challenging.
Customers file claims after going through a loss or catastrophic situation, which can sometimes include personal injury, and can be when they are at their most vulnerable. The stakes are high for both the customer and the claims professional who is trying to help. And when you add in the rising cost pressure in the claims supply chain, it creates further complexity and challenges. In 2019, claims remedy costs such as repairing a customer’s vehicle or fixing a leak in a home were rising at a rate of 6% above the Consumer Price Index; by 2023, they were rising at 11%. Recognizing these challenges, Aviva decided to holistically rewire its claims operation end-to-end, using AI to augment decision making throughout the claims journey. In the process, it set a new standard for customer care and improve decision-making accuracy in the claims journey and supply chain.
The process of settling an insurance claim for something like an auto accident is complex, involving numerous decisions, from damage, detecting fraud, evaluating injuries, and determining the best course of action for the customer. Each step requires meticulous attention to detail and swift decision-making. Aviva understood that addressing a few elements of this process would not be enough. Instead, a comprehensive, domainwide approach was necessary to build the country’s leading claims operation.
Servicing a claim is arguably the most important interaction an insurer has with a customer. And as Aviva, the U.K.’s largest general insurance company, knows, it’s also one of the most challenging.
Customers file claims after going through a loss or catastrophic situation, which can sometimes include personal injury, and can be when they are at their most vulnerable. The stakes are high for both the customer and the claims professional who is trying to help. And when you add in the rising cost pressure in the claims supply chain, it creates further complexity and challenges. In 2019, claims remedy costs such as repairing a customer’s vehicle or fixing a leak in a home were rising at a rate of 6% above the Consumer Price Index; by 2023, they were rising at 11%. Recognizing these challenges, Aviva decided to holistically rewire its claims operation end-to-end, using AI to augment decision making throughout the claims journey. In the process, it set a new standard for customer care and improve decision-making accuracy in the claims journey and supply chain.
The process of settling an insurance claim for something like an auto accident is complex, involving numerous decisions, from damage, detecting fraud, evaluating injuries, and determining the best course of action for the customer. Each step requires meticulous attention to detail and swift decision-making. Aviva understood that addressing a few elements of this process would not be enough. Instead, a comprehensive, domainwide approach was necessary to build the country’s leading claims operation.
To embark on this transformation, Aviva brought in more than 50 data scientists, engineers, business leaders, change professionals, and translators, many of whom were from QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm. The team focused on a domainwide approach to AI implementation, focusing on improving customer experience, efficiency, and accuracy in parallel. The strategy involved a comprehensive overhaul, from the first notification of a loss to the final settlement. “The combined team with McKinsey, with the input of QuantumBlack specialists, meant that we could...really launch forward,” says Waseem Malik, chief claims officer of Aviva. “It felt like we were a true partnership—we were in it with aligned goals and objectives.”
A key element of Aviva’s approach was to create the right balance between digital and human interaction, always optimizing for both business and customer outcomes. For example, in cases involving personal injury, the claim journey defaults to human interaction. This approach reflects Aviva’s foundational belief that improvement is not a zero-sum game; greater accuracy or improved financial results should go hand in hand with an improved customer experience and customer outcome.
To fully achieve—and sustain—the potential of AI, Aviva knew it had to create a new digital-first culture with agile ways of working and a mindset that treats data as a strategic asset. To holistically embed this new digital-first mindset, Aviva invested in more than 40,000 hours of training to build general skills and capabilities. This training empowered teams to make decisions fast and take risks, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation. In fact, by enabling the claims teams to make faster, smarter decisions, Aviva was able to cut the average time needed to assess liability for complex cases by 23 days and improve routing accuracy by 30%.
Aviva’s commitment to embedding AI into its claims operation has yielded transformative results across multiple dimensions. Beyond reducing the time to process its claims process, the transformation unlocked operational efficiency that has led to a remarkable 65% reduction in customer complaints, underscoring the positive impact on customer satisfaction.
Elsewhere, employee engagement scores more than doubled, reaching an all-time high. Empowered with tools that allowed them to do their jobs more effectively, staff reported higher job satisfaction, contributing to a healthier workforce.
Finally, customer satisfaction saw a sevenfold increase in total net promoter scores, indicating a significant improvement in the overall customer experience. This was achieved through faster, smarter decision-making and more accurate assessments, which also had a positive environmental impact: Aviva tripled the use of recycled parts, resulting in improved costs and a reduced environmental footprint.
“Aviva’s leadership had extreme conviction that, contrary to conventional belief, they could improve all customer experience, efficiency, and accuracy in parallel, if they conducted an end-to-end, holistic rewiring of their claims function,” says Sid Kamath, a McKinsey partner.