How Innovated Holdings Inc. is Innovating the Claims Experience

For Innovated Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries, combining local, personalized service with technological advancements ensures the best possible customer service experience for its policyholders.

­­­­”We’re a small company,” said Kent Peterson, Assistant Vice President of Claims at Innovated Holdings, Inc. “But our goal has always been to give our customers the same tools and experience that larger companies offer.”

As part of this goal, Innovated Holdings adopted Guidewire InsuranceNow as its core claims system.

“We are in InsuranceNow entirely—we use it for quoting, underwriting and managing all claims,” said Kent. “Our investment in InsuranceNow includes identifying tools that integrate with the platform to further enhance communication and service to policyholders. And Hi Marley is at the forefront of that.”

Experiencing the Power of Hi Marley First-Hand

Kent experienced the power of Hi Marley first-hand when one of Innovated Holdings’ offices in Columbia, Missouri experienced a significant loss when the roof and part of the building collapsed under heavy rainfall in July 2024.

“There was a 25-foot hole on the side of the building, and 100,000 gallons of water came through,” recalled Kent. “Innovated Holdings is insured by Auto-Owners and they use the Hi Marley platform. So, I had the chance to be on the other side of the tool as the policyholder and use it to interact with my adjuster. I could quickly send information, receive updates and respond quickly, even while in a meeting or away from my desk, and it just made everything easier and more efficient.”

He continued, “It was like when the doctor becomes the patient. I could bring that experience back to my team and implement our own best practices to ensure more of our policyholders could take advantage of everything Hi Marley offers at the onset of the claim.”

Since then, Innovated Holdings has made it a standard practice to introduce Hi Marley during the first contact, informing the policyholder that they’ll receive an invite and need to opt-in to texting by replying “yes.” By incorporating this step into their workflows, Innovated Holdings created a high opt-in rate, allowing the carrier to text with the policyholder, share documents, answer questions, schedule appointments, and provide updates, streamlining communications and creating a smoother and more efficient claims process.

Adjusters Can Manage their Workloads Better, Improving Efficiency and Customer Service

Since introducing Hi Marley, Innovated Holdings’ adjusters have commented on how easy it is to use, and they appreciate that they can provide outstanding customer service even with a packed schedule and lengthy to-do list. “Our adjusters experienced immediate benefits and positive results when they introduced Hi Marley into their workflows,” said Kent. “It’s one of those tools that makes you wonder how you ever handled claims without it.”

The integration also allows adjusters to take advantage of advanced features like sharing documents, scheduling reminders, using message templates, and the potential to invite third parties, like contractors or agents, into the conversation with multi-party texting to enhance collaboration with others in the insurance ecosystem and help resolve claims faster.

Kent continued, “Hi Marley allows us to control our day better. For instance, let’s say you’re on a phone call. If someone sends you a quick text with a yes-or-no question, you can quickly respond and keep things moving forward. You don’t get caught up playing phone tag. That’s what it’s all about—delivering exceptional service without missing a beat.”

Real-time Documentation, Enhanced Security and Compliance

Hi Marley documents all case conversations in detailed transcripts, including compliant translation, and automatically uploads and syncs messages to InsuranceNow.

“With the Hi Marley and InsuranceNow integration, everything flows into the file notes in real time,” said Kent. “This means that adjusters won’t need to toggle between systems or manually input information—everything is captured seamlessly.”

Not only does this integration save the adjusters time, but it’s also beneficial from a security and compliance perspective.

“The integration automatically captures all of the information in the file notes as you’re working through the claim, so our adjusters no longer need to worry about manually documenting conversations in the claim file,” said Kent. “It allows us to stay on top of everything and ensure we don’t lose any important details along the way.”

An Innovative, Integrated Future

Looking ahead, Innovated Holdings is in the final stages of fully integrating Hi Marley into their Guidewire InsuranceNow system and is excited about what’s to come.

“Technology like Hi Marley is putting us in line with the biggest companies out there,” said Kent. “Our customers may choose us because we’re local, but with tools like Hi Marley, they stay with us because we offer the same high-quality experience as any of the big players.”

He continued, “We’re just getting started, and I’m excited to see how our tools can help us deliver exceptional customer service, not just now, but as we continue to scale. With our partnerships with Hi Marley and Guidewire, we can easily build for what the future looks like.”

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