A mobile application for claims processing and analysis : a case study of motor insurance

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Mobile Telecommunication and Innovation (MSc. MTI)Insurers experiencing higher than permissible loss ratios are sometimes victims of fraudulent claims filed by their customers. Insurance claim process can also be long and tedious for the insured parties, especially with insufficient evidence provided for investigation to the insurer. These are some of the concerns that the current insurers face since it affects their financial health in case they settle fraudulent claims. Claims management is therefore a major concern in the insurance industry since it is likely to impact on business performance. Insurance companies are therefore embracing new strategies in making processes and procedures more efficient in terms of time and costs. Most insurance company customers are also unaware of the process followed in case of an accident and the information they need to gather at the scene of the accident, to be presented as part of the accident report. This research sought to identify the current solutions employed by insurance companies and customers within the country in case of a motor accident; as well as review mobile architectures, models and systems developed by other researchers for motor insurance claims processing, and to develop a mobile application that resolves recognised issues. The study that took place included 97 respondents comprising of insurance company personnel that handle claims processing and motor insurance subscribers. The survey results indicated clear limitations and inaccuracies in the current claims management process followed by insurers in Kenya. As a result of these limitations, it was clear that there was need for a mobile application to initiate claims processing and have these filed claims easily accessed by the insurance companies. The mobile application that was proposed and developed as a result of this research was found to be a reliable tool that could be used by insurance customers especially for collecting more accurate data at the scene of a motor accident as well as for reporting to the insurance companies the accident details. The speed of reporting accident details to the insurance companies was found to be greatly improved as a result of using the mobile application since details of the accident could be sent even at the scene of the accident