Lessons for adjusters from 2024’s NatCat deluge

Escalating catastrophe claims volumes have overwhelmed traditional communication channels at adjusting firms and that teaches valuable lessons, says Juliet Gagnon-Leaker, senior vice president, corporate services and Cat coordinator at Sedgwick.

“We learned that brokers and clients need real-time visibility into claim status to maintain trust and reduce frustration,” she tells CU. “Communication is critical, especially during surges.”

What’s more, scalability must be built into adjusters’ strategies. The pace and scale of recent events exposed gaps in surge capacity, she adds, and the fast-breaking events helped her firm realize flexible staffing models and pre-event planning are essential to avoiding bottlenecks.

“We are maintaining a core team of full-time adjusters, [a] Cat roster of deployable licensed adjusters and a contracted workforce,” says Gagnon-Leaker. “This three-tiered model ensures rapid deployment without overburdening staff.” 

Another lesson – manual processes slowed adjusters down, which means technology is no longer an optional tool. “We learned that digital tools, automation and AI are necessary to process claims faster and more accurately,” she says.

“Automation is used for routine tasks like claim intake, assignment and first contact with policyholders. AI tools assist in damage assessment and fraud detection, freeing up adjusters for more complex work.”

CAIB New Edition 1.0 – a New Standard for Broker Education Image

Insights Paid Content

CAIB New Edition 1.0 – a New Standard for Broker Education

Preparing brokers to navigate an increasingly complex insurance landscape.

By 

Sponsor Image

Related: Can Canada keep claims adjusters from quitting?

Other ways the firm’s drawn from lessons learned over the past year include a restructuring of Cat response teams, and the adding of dedicated communication liaisons for brokers and clients to improve both work timeliness and the transparency of updates sent to clients.

Along with new systems for real-time claim tracking, there are now set service-level agreements for broker and client communications during Cat events and templated updates aimed at ensuring consistent messaging for stakeholders.

“We [also] added remote adjusters and independent contractor adjusting partners to our roster and invested in mentored Cat training to improve readiness,” she says.

“Advanced weather modelling and risk forecasting [give us] the ability to work with our clients to pre-position adjusters and mobile command centres 24-to-48 hours before an event, improving response times and reducing claim severity.”

There have also been tech upgrades, including AI-powered claims triage tools that process incidents by severity and complexity, claims management platform upgrades to let brokers access real-time upgrades, and new remote assessment and mobile inspection tools to speed up fieldwork.

“Remote claims handling has become a game changer. Adjusters now handle many claims virtually, reducing travel time and increasing capacity. This is especially effective for smaller or less complex losses,” says Gagnon-Leaker.

Phil Porado

Phil, an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of experience in financial topics, has been managing editor of Canadian Underwriter for more than three years.