Claims transformation 2030: Building customer trust and protecting value

How insurers can turn events and information into action

Today’s claims process is technology supported but still feels more like a process checklist to complete rather than a source of support and comfort for customers that is handled for them. The future of insurance claims will be an ecosystem that can help them do that. As connected and autonomous vehicles, smart devices and sensor-enabled structures become more common, there will be a claims transformation. Insurers will develop new ways to proactively offer support and respond faster. They can use richer, more integrated data to tailor actions to individual insureds.

In the future, AI will be able to help turn events and information into action, and action into reassurance. The claims process won’t just settle losses; it will shape how customers build lasting partnerships with their insurer.

It’s a truism that many people only think about insurance when something goes wrong, or when they’re hit with a policy renewal with a higher-than-expected rate. That’s a transactional relationship, and it leaves room for distrust to develop or customers to look for the next cheapest option. In contrast, the emerging AI-driven future of insurance claims will give insurers a chance to build a stronger relationship with their customers, via trust that grows before, during, and after a claim. It will also give them a chance to position themselves as protectors of customer value.

The evolving role of claims 

For years, claims has been on the path from becoming more than just a processing and payment function. AI-powered claims modernization is turning claims into an asset that insurers can use to reduce customer stress, protect value, and provide human empathy and support through an unsettling disruption. That means insurers need to think beyond the moment of loss to how to improve the experience around it. 

This shift is in response to what customers expect in all of their service interactions even beyond insurance. They shouldn’t have to repeat themselves, ask for updates, or try to discover next steps on their own. They also shouldn’t have to feel they’re responsible for doing much of the work in processing their claim. Instead, they should experience a claim event like their insurer is a partner that understands what happened and is already helping quiet the disruption.

Future adjusters will work with AI-enabled systems, including those for claims analytics, that can provide them with enriched information that will allow them to automate manual tasks or activities. Other AI-powered systems will enable insurers to provide care that is already-sourced, matched, and organized insights to enable better and faster decisions. This gives the claims professional time to judge the claim on its merits and focus on taking care of the customer.

How technology can enable the future 

Soon, connected and sensor-enabled autos and smart-system enabled homes will help insurers spot issues that may lead to losses earlier. Sensors in vehicles and homes could signal risks before an incident happens. AI could then interpret those signals, confirm what’s happened, and help start the response all before the customer has to think about calling.

This vision of a sensor-enabled, data rich, connected partnership with customers isn’t new, but the ability to connect with embedded sensors and user displays in vehicles or major systems in homes more easily, enabling appropriate regulations and policy language, as well as intake and process this information in near real-time, has dramatically increased and is no longer as cost prohibitive to realize.

The throughline in this future is integrated data and omni-channel support before, during, and after the claim powered by personalized insights and action driven by AI. Carriers that achieve this technological enablement, we believe they’ll  see significant increases in retention.

In fact, in the JD Power’s 2025 US Claims Digital Experience Study, only 4% of customers who rated their digital experience as “excellent” or “perfect” were at risk of attrition.¹ Achieving this claims experience isn’t easy. It requires third-party partnerships with original equipment manufacturers and systems manufacturers, a modernized technology ecosystem that can receive and share information in near realtime, service partners that are able to respond rapidly when the need arises.

It also requires carriers willing to balance the risk of AI-powered decision making and enablement across an even greater number of decision points even when a loss hasn’t yet occurred. However, the result of these challenges are successfully overcome is clear: The customer experience doesn’t just feel more supportive but create lasting connections to customers that can profitably renew year after year.

            Real-world examples

Building trust throughout the claims journey 

Trust doesn’t come from good ads or fast claims payment alone. Instead, it comes from a journey that feels curated, personalized to the individual’s needs and preferences, and valuable. When a loss happens, people want to know they’re being taken care of. However, they also want to know what will happen next without having to ask.

That’s where AI-enabled claims will be different. Support begins before the customer reaches out, or where prevention is possible before the insured is even aware of a potential issue. Sensors and connected data could trigger early action and offer immediate help when needed. The experience would be organized around the customer’s specific situation instead of a one-size-fits-all playbook.

In practice, that could manifest as providing the customer with the right help at exactly the right time. For example, the insurer could quickly arrange a rental car so the customer could still get their kids to school, or emergency cleaning service so they could limit disruption and missed work. Customers would see the insurer as a trusted partner that was helping reduce the practical impact of a loss, not just the paperwork around it.

The claims process would be based on trust, not transactions. The posture would no longer be reactive, i.e., waiting for the customer to act or request services. It would be proactive, acting early on the customer’s behalf, and making the customer’s life easier in ways that have a noticeable, practical impact. Trust is built in these moments that matter.

How insurers can become protectors of value

The future of claims isn’t simply about providing more supportive service when a claim happens. It’s also about protecting what matters most to customers, and to insurers themselves. With a sensor- and data-rich environment, orchestrated by AI, problems that could quickly become larger losses could be managed before they grow more expensive and disruptive. In this new, AI-driven claims model, the insurer acts a trusted partner and protector, not just a payer.

What insurers can gain with AI-driven claims

Insurers can unlock a sharper, more customer-centered claims model with the right change, creating a strong foundation for the benefits that follow.