The familiar line in broking is that insurance only becomes real at claim time. The latest Vero SME Insurance Index suggests that line now deserves to be taken more seriously than ever before. The SME Index report’s broader backdrop is an Australian business sector under economic strain. Many smaller firms are dealing with weaker revenues, rising costs and tougher choices about where to spend. In that kind of market, the old broker pitch about advice, relationships and expertise has to feel indispensable to clients. What emerges from the Vero findings is that the claims process is where that judgment is increasingly made.
The numbers in the report are telling. Overall satisfaction with the claims process is high, but it rises sharply with broker engagement. Businesses that make heavy use of brokers are far more likely to be satisfied with a claim than those that do not. Just as importantly, nearly half of businesses say they would pay more for a better claims experience. That crucial point shows that claims handling is not being treated by clients as a back-office function or a technical afterthought and instead is now seen as part of the value of insurance itself.
Claims is the point at which insurance stops being a line item and becomes an operational test. For brokers, that is the moment value is most clearly judged: not by the policy placed, but by how effectively they reduce disruption, manage complexity and help a client get back to business.
“For businesses that maybe haven’t had a claim before, or maybe are time-poor, having a broker to help them navigate that is so key,” said Laura Broughton (pictured left), Vero’s head of platform business. Broughton, together with NIBA CEO Richard Klipin (pictured centre) and Josh Hamill (pictured right), general manager of broking and risk services for Insurance Advisernet, analysed the significance of this year’s SME Index in a recent webinar.
For SME clients, a claim quickly becomes a test of whether a broker can do more than arrange cover. The premium value lies in knowing how to frame the claim, manage the insurer and steer the business through a process that can otherwise drain time and focus.
“It’s where the rubber hits the road,” said Hamill, re-emphasising that claim time is the point at which every promise made at placement or renewal is tested. Did the client understand what was covered? Were expectations set properly? Is someone clearly explaining what happens next? A good claims experience is not only about pushing for an outcome after the event. It is also about the work done before the event: getting the cover right, making the limits and exclusions clear, and ensuring the client understands the process before they are under pressure.
That is why claims service now looks less like a support function and more like a defining part of the broker proposition.
“The message from this research is that brokers need to be actively involved and intrinsically involved in the claims process,” said Klipin.
So in a market where clients are scrutinising cost more closely, brokers need sharper ways to explain what they actually do. Claims offers one of the strongest answers and is where trust can really convert into practical service. The broker who is visible and effective in a claim is not just helping resolve a loss. They are proving why they belong in the relationship at all.
The SME Index suggests clients, compared to past years of the report, are increasingly understanding and valuing that. Businesses willing to pay more for a better claims experience say they value strong communication, a simpler process and better support and guidance. Those are not peripheral extras. They are exactly the things that matter when a business is trying to limit downtime and get back to normal.
Broking has long described itself as a relationship business and the Vero findings suggest claims is where that relationship is most clearly measured. So not at policy sign up time or the annual review but in the middle of a stressful event, when the client needs clarity, speed and someone to take ownership.
That is especially relevant for smaller businesses, where broker satisfaction is solid but more mixed than it is among larger firms. For those clients, the full value of the broker may not always be obvious in ordinary times. Claims change that. It makes the service visible. It reveals whether the broker is simply a placement channel or a genuine business ally.
The strongest reading of this year’s Vero SME Index, then, is not merely that claims remains important. It is that claims has become the clearest and most persuasive expression of broker value.
