It starts with what seems like a simple request on a Wednesday morning.
A senior leader needs visibility into a specific category of claims — by location, over a 12-month period, segmented by type. “Can we get that by the end of the week?” they ask.
But for the claims manager, it’s not that simple. That data is buried and scattered across emails, spreadsheets, PDFs, and a paper notebook. And while formal claims are all tracked, incidents and near-misses are not. Pulling all this information together will mean hours of digging, cross-checking, reformatting — and even then, there’s a risk it won’t be 100 percent accurate.
What leadership sees as a routine reporting request — and a reasonable one — feels, to the claims team, daunting. Cue panic.
Simple request vs. complex reality: One report is never just one report
Leaders expect timely insights, and claims teams want to deliver. But legacy tools and disconnected systems can make it feel impossible.
It starts with data capture. If your team isn’t logging information and images at the scene of an incident (First Report), you’re already introducing blind spots.
Data wrangling often requires pulling from different systems, each with its own inefficiencies and quirks. And as information is gathered, inconsistencies emerge, and tiny mistakes can wreak havoc. For example, if dropdowns weren’t available when the data was input, a misspelled word or ambiguous label can make data unfindable. Formatting issues and missing fields make it hard to filter or segment claims in meaningful ways.
When existing tools fall short, team members often resort to workarounds. They create additional spreadsheets, jot down notes, or store data in their inboxes — all in an effort to “make it work.” But this complicates an already complicated issue and moves your organization further away from a single source of truth.
It all adds up to more time spent searching, double-checking, and reformatting — and a higher likelihood that something slips through the cracks. It’s not just inefficient. It’s frustrating and demoralizing.
What chaos costs your claims operation
When visibility is retrofitted instead of built into the system, the impact ripples across the organization.
Operationally, decision-making slows as teams scramble for context. Delays in communication create confusion or rework. Risk exposure increases when leaders are forced to act without complete information. And financially, missing or incorrect data leads to higher reserves and inflated payouts. These avoidable errors can take a direct toll on the bottom line.
Culturally, the effects are just as damaging. When teams are overwhelmed by manual work and constant urgency, they can begin to feel undervalued. Morale dips. Burnout sets in. Turnover rises. And outside the organization, the ripple effect can reach your customers. When claims are delayed or mishandled, frustration builds — and your brand reputation takes a hit.
What claims managers wish leadership understood
Most claims professionals are invested in protecting the organization and doing right by their teams. They want leadership to understand that visibility can’t be added after the fact. It has to be woven into the claims process from the very beginning. Real-time insight isn’t possible when information lives in silos, and while most teams are more than willing to dig for answers, they need tools that make it feasible.
Your risk and claims professionals want to be empowered with the right technology, not only to answer questions, but to proactively identify patterns and potential exposures — and to deliver game-changing insights no one even thought to ask for.
The fix: Proactive visibility with Cloud Claims
Cloud Claims is designed to give your organization an edge in proactive claims and risk management.
With Cloud Claims, incident and claims data are captured and centralized in a single platform. Real-time dashboards and automated reporting replace the scramble with strategic clarity, and because Cloud Claims connects risk, legal, finance, and safety in one system, it empowers enhanced collaboration across teams. Less firefighting, more informed decisions, and trust across departments.
A better question for leadership to ask
“How can we empower our claims team to get ahead of the request?”
When teams are dealing with emergencies on the ground, they don’t have the luxury of looking up and ahead. Investing in a purpose-built technology platform is more than a budget decision: It’s about investing in people’s time and expertise, and unleashing new insights, efficiencies, and opportunities. It’s about empowering teams to roll up their sleeves, follow their own instincts, and look into the data, beyond what leadership is asking for.
Take the example of a transportation company that centralized their claims and risk management and discovered accidents were happening at a high rate late in shifts. They saw a trend in the data, implemented shorter shifts and more breaks, and accidents went down.
When consistency and visibility are built in, everyone benefits. Leadership gets deeper insight, teams feel more empowered, and outcomes improve.
Is your team spending more time chasing down information and building reports than improving outcomes? Let’s chat about ways to fix that.
