Case Study: Digitizing the Claims Assessment Workflow at Generali

Imagine a claims adjuster standing in front of a fire-damaged roof structure or a property affected by water damage. They take photos, scribble notes on a clipboard and collect business cards from the people involved.

Yet while the adjuster is on site, the core system in the back office knows nothing about any of it. The real 'damage' often only emerges after the site visit, in the form of days of idle time, illegible handwriting, missing photos and frustrating back-and-forth between claims handlers and field staff.

In a world where customers expect real-time responses, the traditional claims report has become one of the biggest bottlenecks in the insurance industry.

The goal is no longer to replace paper with a static PDF. It is to transform the moment of claims intake into an intelligent, orchestrated flow of data that reduces processing time from days to seconds.

This case study shows how Generali moved from channel-based thinking to true workflow excellence, and why structured data has become one of the most valuable assets in the drive for profitability and customer satisfaction.

The Starting Point: Why 'Digitalisation' Often Does Not Go Far Enough

Generali Deutschland AG operates in a highly complex environment. With millions of policyholders and a dense network of claims adjusters, the volume of data is enormous. The central challenge, however, was not the amount of data, but its aggregation and quality.

Existing processes suffered from the classic 'channel problem':

• Information reached the company by phone, email or postal documents. The problem: this data was unstructured.
• A claims handler has to read, assess and manually transfer it into the core system. While a document is sitting idle, no claims settlement takes place.

Generali recognised: True efficiency does not come from 'sending PDFs', but from designing data flows.

The Pain Points in Detail:

• Fragmented Intake Channels: Information from different sources had to be painstakingly assigned to the relevant claim.
• Lack of Validation: Incomplete claims reports led to time-consuming follow-up questions with policyholders, negatively affecting customer satisfaction (NPS).
• Manual Report Preparation: Claims reports were often prepared some time after the site visit, unnecessarily extending the time to settle.

The Paperfly Solution: From Claims Report to Intelligent Workflow

Together with Paperfly, Generali radically transformed the on-site claims intake process. Instead of simply giving claims adjusters a digital clipboard, the company implemented a guided end-to-end workflow.

1. Structured Data Capture

The claims adjuster uses a tablet on site. The Paperfly interface acts as an intelligent guide. Using conditional logic, only the fields relevant to the specific claim are displayed.

• Benefit: No more missing required fields. The data reaches the system cleanly and completely.
• Real-Time Validation: Photos and supporting documents are uploaded directly during the appointment and immediately assigned to the case.

2. Automated Process Orchestration

Once the adjuster completes the appointment, their work on the case is finished and manual follow-up is eliminated. Paperfly takes over in the background:

• Report Automation: A professional claims report is generated from the structured data within seconds.
• Direct Integration: If required, the report is transferred to Generali's systems without manual intervention, creating straight-through processing potential.

Deep Dive: The Three Pillars of Process Optimisation

To understand the impact of the solution, it is necessary to look at the three levels on which Paperfly has changed the process at Generali:

Pillar 1: Standardising Communication

By standardising the input forms, everyone involved, from field staff to the back office, communicates in the same 'data language'. This reduces misunderstandings and almost completely eliminates the need for clarification calls.

Pillar 2: Transparency and Auditability

In a highly regulated environment, traceability is critical. Every change, upload and status change in the workflow is documented in an audit-proof manner in Paperfly. This digital audit trail not only simplifies internal audits, but also provides legal certainty in the event of recovery claims.

Pillar 3: Scalability Through Automation

Because the data is now available in a structured form, Generali can handle significantly higher case volumes with the same number of employees. Eliminating manual work frees up back-office capacity that can now be used for complex case reviews.

Business Impact: Measurable Results

The introduction of the digital workflow is not an end in itself, but contributes directly to profitability.

Strategic Outlook: AI and Group-Wide Scaling

The Generali case is only the beginning of a broader digitalisation strategy. The infrastructure that has been created provides an ideal foundation for future innovation:

• AI-Supported Validation: In future, uploaded photos could be analysed by AI models during claims intake to estimate loss amounts in advance or identify fraud patterns.
• Multi-Channel Integration: Expanding the model to subsidiaries such as CosmosDirekt and Dialog Versicherung will further maximise synergies across the group.
• Self-Service Options: In the future, the logic of guided workflows could also be extended to customer apps, allowing policyholders to report minor claims entirely independently while still providing information in a structured way.

Conclusion: A New Paradigm for Claims Management

The Generali case study shows that succeeding in the digital age requires moving away from a document-centric mindset and thinking in workflow-centric processes.

Paperfly acts not merely as a tool, but as an orchestration layer that breaks down silos.

The result for Generali is a system that combines speed with precision. This is a decisive competitive advantage in a market where the quality of service during a claim has a major influence on long-term customer loyalty.

FAQ: What You Need to Know About Digital Claims Handling at Generali

How Does Paperfly Automate On-Site Claims Intake at Generali?

Paperfly transforms claims intake into a guided digital workflow that leads claims adjusters through the documentation process using logical prompts. Real-time validation of data and photos directly at the point of experience creates structured datasets instead of unstructured documents, significantly reducing processing time.

What Are the Benefits of Integrating Paperfly with Core Insurance Systems?

The seamless integration enables bidirectional data exchange, with claims reports and attachments flowing directly into the insurer's core systems without manual intervention. This eliminates media breaks, reduces rework to a minimum and creates the data foundation required for efficient straight-through processing of standard cases.

How Does Generali Ensure Compliance and Auditability in the Digital Workflow?

By digitally logging every process step within the Paperfly platform, a tamper-proof audit trail is created. Role-based access controls and GDPR-compliant processing ensure that regulatory requirements are met and that every decision relating to a claim remains transparent, traceable and legally robust at all times.

Why Is Data Quality Critical for the Use of AI in Claims Management?

Structured and validated data is the essential foundation for effectively training and deploying AI models for automated image analysis, fraud detection or loss estimation. Only when information is classified accurately at the point of capture can downstream AI systems generate reliable predictions and sustainably improve profitability through optimised loss ratios.

Mini Glossary: Digital Claims Communication & Workflow Design

Smart Input / Guided Data Capture: A technology that guides users, such as claims adjusters, through the data capture process using intelligent form logic. Only relevant fields are displayed, required fields are validated and incorrect entries are prevented in real time to ensure maximum data quality.

Conditional Logic: Programmable 'if-then' rules within a digital workflow. They dynamically control the process flow, such as which documents are requested or which review steps are initiated, based on the details entered previously.

Media Break: An interruption in a digital information chain caused by manual or analogue intermediate steps, such as retyping notes into an IT system. Media breaks are a major cause of idle time, transfer errors and high process costs in claims management.

Audit-Proof Audit Trail: A complete, chronological record of all activities within a digital process. It provides tamper-proof documentation of who added or changed which information and when, forming the basis for compliance and legally robust recovery reviews.

Orchestration Layer: A software layer, such as Paperfly, that acts as a link between different systems, such as policy administration, and stakeholders, including customers, claims adjusters and partners. It manages data flows and communication without requiring the existing IT infrastructure to be replaced.

Time-to-Settle: A key insurance metric that measures the time from the initial claim notification to final settlement. Digital workflows aim to reduce this metric significantly through automation and real-time communication.