by Jeff Schmitt, Chief Client Officer, Alacrity Solutions
Thirty years in this industry teaches you things that don’t show up in a technology demo. The biggest one? The claims process is fundamentally a human experience, and holding onto that truth might be the most important thing our industry can do right now.
I spend a lot of time in conversations about AI. As Chief Client Officer at Alacrity Solutions, it comes with the territory. And I’m genuinely not someone who thinks we should be avoiding those conversations. The technology is real. The progress is real. The impact on how we work is going to be significant. But I keep coming back to the same simple observation:
AI has never bought a policy. People have.
People file those claims. People make that first call after a loss, sometimes in shock, sometimes in tears, sometimes furious. They have emotions that shape every single interaction from that first conversation to the moment a check lands in their hands, and that reality doesn’t evaporate because our tools get smarter. If anything, it means the tools must work harder to support the humans on both sides of the process.
Will expectations evolve? Of course. Timelines will compress. What a claim looks like a few years from now might not be recognizable compared to today. But the person behind that claim is still a person. They will want to feel heard. They will want to know someone on the other end actually cares about getting it right.
That’s what we’re building toward with Alacrity Intelligence. Not fewer people. Better ones. How do we get adjusters the information they need before they ask for it? How do we help our reviewer staff catch the things that would become a problem three weeks from now? How do we make every human touchpoint in the claims cycle sharper, more deliberate, more useful?
The technology is here to serve the relationship. Full stop.
I’ve been at Alacrity for 25 years. The carrier relationships we’ve built over that time, brick by brick, are the foundation of everything we do. No algorithm built that trust. People did. People showing up, doing right by each other, year after year. And people are the ones who will carry it forward.
So, when someone asks me what I think about AI in claims, my answer is always the same: I’m genuinely excited about what it can do for our people. And I’m equally clear about what it will never do. It will not replace the human connection at the center of this business. That’s not pessimism about technology. That’s just an honest read of what this work actually is.
The tools get better. The mission doesn’t move. Take care of the people in front of you and everything else follows.
Alacrity Solutions is one of the largest independent providers of insurance claims management services in North America, delivering property, auto, and casualty claims adjustment, staffing support, temporary housing services, plus subrogation and recovery solutions. With more than 50 years of experience, Alacrity combines skilled adjusters with data intelligence to deliver faster, more accurate, and more consistent outcomes. For more information, please visit www.alacritysolutions.com.