Remote Diagnosis in Claims

During the coronavirus pandemic, concern about social isolation has caused many businesses to look for alternatives to offer their services, especially in activities that require face-to-face contact with the customer. At Zurich, this was no different.

Leader of the extended warranty insurance segment in Brazil, the insurer has a commitment to millions of customers who purchase the insurance from our partners, and eventually trigger the insurance for repair of appliances such as televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, among others. In this case, face-to-face contact with the customer is inevitable - usually, a technician visits the customer to understand the problem and, only later, in a new visit, the technical assistance actually makes the repair, already in possession of the necessary tools and parts.

Putting the needs – and safety – of customers at the heart of everything it does, the company sought to invest in developing a solution that would simplify the repair process, keep people safe (including service providers) and improve the customer experience with the insurer.

To this end, the Remote Diagnosis project in affinity claims was implemented in early 2021. It is a technical call center that serves the customer at the time of the claim notice. It works like this: after triggering the insurance, the customer is directed via voice channel or WhatsApp to a contact of this technical call center, which through photos or video calls, will be able to understand the damage to the insured product and how it should be repaired. In this way, the claim is pre-approved and the insurer itself triggers the nearest assistance that will contact the Insured to schedule the visit with the necessary parts for the repair.

Currently, 61% of extended warranty repair claims are resolved with the support of remote diagnostics. In addition to limiting face-to-face contact with the customer to what is necessary during the process – an essential issue during the period of social isolation in the pandemic – the project reduced by 40% the average time of customer service, which can have its product repaired faster.

Even so, the implementation of remote diagnostics has improved customer satisfaction rates, as well as reducing the carbon footprint of claims processes, as it avoids travel to the customer's home. For these reasons, the project gained traction after the most acute period of the pandemic and remains in full operation at the company.