Industry: Insurance
Client Overview
A global leader in the online homestay and experiences marketplace, operating in over 220 countries, with a significant presence in emerging markets. The company is renowned for providing seamless, user-friendly experiences for both leisure and corporate travelers.
The Challenge
Enhancing Claims Processing Amidst Rapid Global Expansion
Despite its strong market position in the homestay and short-term rental sector, the company faced a critical gap in its operational capabilities: a lack of in-house expertise in managing insurance claims at scale. The existing claims process was largely manual, fragmented across multiple systems and teams, and prone to inconsistencies, resulting in operational inefficiencies, elevated indemnity costs, and increased exposure to service failures that could impact customer trust and satisfaction.
As claims volumes grew alongside business expansion, the limitations of this model became increasingly unsustainable. Recognizing the strategic importance of a seamless, high-quality claims experience to both customer loyalty and brand reputation, the company sought a partner to reimagine and transform its claims operating model – focused on enhancing customer experience, driving operational efficiency, managing indemnity spend, and building a scalable foundation to support future growth.
Sutherland Solution
Seamless Claims Operations with Intelligent Automation
Sutherland collaborated with the company to deploy a comprehensive strategy centered on intelligent automation:
1. Deployment of Digital Straight Through Processing (STP) Solution
Sutherland implemented a market-leading Digital STP solution to transform the company’s claims operations. The solution integrates cognitive automation platforms, Generative AI technologies, advanced analytics, and a leading Insurtech partner system to enable faster claims processing and instant settlements. This significantly increased straight-through processing rates, minimized manual intervention, and improved cycle times.
2. Advanced Data and Analytics Integration
To enhance operational intelligence and recovery outcomes, Sutherland embedded advanced data and analytics across the claims lifecycle.
Key initiatives included:
- Digital identification and prioritization of vulnerable customers.
- Predictive modeling for fraud detection and subrogated recovery.
- Identification of missed recovery opportunities through data-driven insights.
- These capabilities allowed the company to make faster, more accurate decisions while protecting both financial and customer experience outcomes.
3. AI-Powered Data Extraction and Hyperautomation
To address non-STP transactions and optimize exception handling, Sutherland deployed enterprise-grade AI and automation platforms:
- Sutherland Extract: An AI-powered data extraction solution that accelerated data capture, document processing, and validation.
- Sutherland Robility®: An intelligent hyperautomation platform that streamlines workflows, reduces manual work, and improves operational scalability. Together, these tools minimized administrative burden, improved data accuracy, and enhanced claims throughput.
4. Establishment of a Specialized Claims Advisory Team
Recognizing the importance of human expertise alongside automation, Sutherland formed a dedicated Claims Advisory Team.
This team brought extensive technical expertise in damage protection and liability claims, covering:
- Claims intake and review
- Loss assessment and vendor identification
- Reimbursement and settlement processing
- Adjustment, escalation management, and dispute resolution
The advisory team ensured a consistent, compliant, and customer-centric experience across the claims journey, reinforcing trust, and service quality.
The Outcome
Enhanced Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction
The intelligent automation initiatives led to substantial improvements. The company achieved a 40% reduction in claims processing time, a threefold return on transformation investment, and a significant improvement of over 10 points in Net Promoter Score (NPS). The combination of hyperautomation and human-in-the-loop processes enhanced exception handling, automated recovery and claim closure, and provided guided next-best actions, transforming the claims operating model end-to-end.
KEY OUTCOMES
Reduction in claims processing time
Transformation ROI
Point improvement in NPS
