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.
Actec is a recognized leader of claim and incident reporting
management through Full-Cycle Claim and Incident Reporting solutions
that improve productivity and reduce costs for commercial and personal
insurance carriers, self-insured companies, third party
administrators, and managed care organizations. Actec's full-cycle
approach moves beyond just transferring information from policyholders
to designated stakeholders to provide total information management.
More than 100,000 client companies use Actec first notice of loss
(FNOL) contact centers to handle over a million live-answered calls
per year. A leading innovator in the industry, Actec has provided
uninterrupted service every hour of every day since 1989.
ActecSystems, Inc., 2100 Powers Ferry Road, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA
30339 http://actec.net/
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