This article was produced in partnership with Crawford US
Insurance has always been shaped by its extremes. While a catastrophic storm or wildfire by necessity demands immediate attention, many leaders within Crawford & Company and across the wider industry will tell you there is now an increasing pressure coming from the opposite end of the spectrum. The relentless rise of high-frequency, low-value claims is creating a new operational challenge and becoming central to how the modern claims environment functions.
These smaller losses have long been a feature of the property and contents space, but what is changing is the context in which they arrive. Policyholders now expect fast and intuitive service and are more actively involved in documenting and submitting their own losses.
“Customers today expect more seamless, responsive service from their insurers,” says Melanie Hughes, President of edjuster, Crawford’s full service content solution. “The cumulative impact of many smaller claims on cost, cycle time and service quality remains substantial, which is why insurers are looking for new ways to meet these expectations while staying profitable.”
A single small claim rarely poses a challenge but when thousands of these files arrive each month, the system feels the strain. Administrative work increases. Manual data entry consumes time. Missing or inconsistent information triggers repeated follow-ups. Each of these steps may seem minor on its own, but together they create significant drag.
Hughes has seen this pattern often. “Variability and incompleteness in claim submissions slow down assessment and settlement,” she explains. “Traditional systems struggle to scale with rising frequency, and that creates backlogs and longer cycle times.”
There are accuracy concerns as well. More self-service tools invite more variation in the quality of documentation. Some submissions may be incomplete. Others may be misleading. Ensuring fairness and accuracy across thousands of low-value files becomes a daily challenge for adjusters and managers. These pressures reduce service quality and compress margins, especially as frequency continues to rise due to weather trends, inflation, social inflation and aging properties.
For many carriers, the central question has become unavoidable: How can they maintain sustainable operations when the growing weight of many small losses begins to shape the entire claims environment?
From edjuster’s perspective, the workflow challenges inside high-volume environments have been consistent for years. Manual data entry is slow and prone to errors and documentation varies widely across policyholders. Legacy systems lack flexibility when claim volumes spike. Even strong teams end up pulled into unnecessary back-and-forth communication simply to fill missing information and keep files moving.
These operational realities guided the design of exclaim, Crawford’s proprietary SaaS claims platform. Rather than offering a generic software solution, edjuster focused on solving the specific inefficiencies inside its own processes first. The platform now brings automation, validation, analytics and workflow management into a single environment that reduces friction for both adjusters and policyholders.
Hughes says. “By integrating advanced automation and workflow management, exclaim improves efficiency, accuracy and responsiveness at scale.”
What once took days can now be turned around in less than a day. “Ninety-nine percent of claims are returned within twenty-four hours,” Hughes says. “Less than one percent require supplemental work.”
Lower manual involvement has translated into an average return on investment of forty percent for clients. Accuracy also improves with AI-supported validation, reflected in accuracy results of 13.4 percent. And because the workflow is built to scale, carriers can absorb rising claim volumes without losing settlement speed or weakening customer satisfaction.
Carriers and brokers are increasingly asking whether their current systems can keep pace with rising claim frequency. They want to know where manual bottlenecks still consume time and are questioning whether their vendor partners have the stability and capability required for long-term operational needs. Many are also asking whether they are using AI to its fullest potential, not only for speed but also for accuracy and fraud prevention.
Hughes believes the direction is clear. Carriers, she says, should place their trust in scalable AI partners with a track record, not tools still finding their footing. Established, proven platforms are far better positioned to streamline workflows, control costs and support the increased volumes that are on the horizon.
She also emphasizes that technology alone is not enough. “Automation must be paired with empathy. The carriers that succeed will balance advanced tools with compassionate service so claimants receive both swift resolutions and the reassurance they need during stressful times.”
As the volume of everyday losses grows, the question becomes unavoidable. Can insurers build claims operations that thrive on frequency instead of being overwhelmed by it? For those who avail themselves of the best-in-class solutions, the answer is a resounding yes.
