To improve service delivery through digitisation, Standard Bank Insurance has implemented a new automated payment system to ensure that its Insurance service providers receive payment quicker.
Insurance service providers, such as panel beaters, tow truck businesses, builders, plumbers, electricians, and other artisans, simply need to upload their invoice to the Standard Bank Insurance system which then automatically review and authorise the payment.
The autopay system means Standard Bank Insurance can now process and pay out claims quicker. “We can pay our Insurance service providers faster, ensuring continuity of their cashflow as well as finalise claims faster on our side, reducing our overall outstanding claims and resolving for clients at a much quicker rate. This will improve overall operational efficiencies because we save our human capacity and there’s more controls on the system,” says Shakeel Ebrahim, Head of Claims at Standard Bank Insurance.
The autopay system has also improved service provider engagements and ensures that they have constant cashflow. Since launching the autopay function in 2020, 80% of Standard Bank Insurance inspection fees and 50% of geyser supply job cards are auto paid to the service providers. Further enhancements to the autopay features are being developed in order to ensure that additional claim types and Service providers may benefit from this.
The digitised payment solution serves as another proof point in Standard Bank’s journey to embrace digital transformation in financial services.
Standard Bank Insurance continues to explore more innovative solutions to enable for an easy claims process in areas such as windscreen replacement. Blockchain can be used to automate the process, reduce costs of claims, track previous claim behaviour, and integrate it with the service provider.
Both the insurer and the customer have visibility to the entire value chain as a result. Says Ebrahim: “Our enhanced focus on digital means that we are able to ensure that our Insurance service providers can pay out claims faster. Paying the service providers faster also means that we improve the cashflow in their business and they can service more Standard Bank Insurance clients. It also means that our clients will have their insurance claim resolved and they can return to normality much faster than before.”