Hi and welcome. In this video we’re going to look at the concept of triage and how it plays a crucial role in classification.

Firstly, let's explore what we mean by the word triage and how it applies to insurance.

Triage is a term that was originally used in medical care but is now used in many areas, including customer service and document management. So, what exactly does triage mean? 

The term triage comes directly from the French verb ‘trier’ which means to ‘pick, sort, separate or select.’ So in essence, triage is simply the process of prioritising tasks, cases or items based on their urgency or importance.

For example, in a medical setting, triage would involve assessing patients to determine the severity of their condition and prioritising their treatment accordingly. 

In customer service, triage might involve categorising incoming emails based on their complexity or urgency to ensure timely responses. 

Essentially, triage helps ensure that resources are allocated efficiently and that critical issues are addressed promptly. This is a crucial process in situations where there is limited time or capacity to handle multiple tasks immediately.

When it comes to insurance, triage is essential for managing incoming requests and inquiries effectively. This process ensures that the request or enquiry gets to the right person, team or process first time.

For example, when a natural disaster occurs, insurance companies may receive numerous claims related to property damage. Efficient triage allows the company to prioritise cases where customers are in dire need of assistance, such as those with severe property damage or personal injury. 

These claims are then escalated to experienced adjusters who can provide swift resolutions and support. Meanwhile, less urgent inquiries, such as minor damages or requests for policy information, can be handled by other team members or through automated systems.

In the world of underwriting the process is similar. The insurance provider must ensure that the right underwriting team and the correct underwriter work on a particular submission. Typically, insurers tend to route their risks based on brokerage company, insured business description or claim experience, to ensure the risk goes to the underwriter with a sufficient level of expertise to quote.

When the benefits of the first routing step are realised, we help insurers focus their underwriters on the likelihood of binding risks. One of the common use cases is “auto decline” which is based on each insurer’s custom-configured rules, risk appetite and portfolio strategy. A broker can be automatically notified about a rejection without a manual intervention from an underwriter.

Depending on the line of business, product and the complexity of the submission, automatic triage will allocate it to the right person within seconds. Typically, triage happens manually, meaning a senior underwriter usually uses their experience and knowledge to manage the submissions before they go to the appropriate underwriter. This manual approach can often lead to loss of efficiency and delayed response time to brokers.

By implementing a robust triage system, insurance companies can enhance their responsiveness, improve customer satisfaction and ensure that resources are allocated efficiently. This approach not only speeds up the claims and underwriting processes but also helps maintain a high standard of service.

In the next video we will look at Accuracy in Classification and how we can calculate and measure classification accuracy.

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