Kennedys launches ‘market-first’ portal for insurers

We are pleased to confirm the launch of Portal Manager, the latest product in our award-winning innovative product suite aimed at helping clients use lawyers less.

Portal Manager, an easy-to-use dashboard, generates real-time information on the number of claims an insurer has in the Ministry of Justice Claims Portal at any one time.

By extracting live information from the Portal, Portal Manager not only provides complete visibility on how many claims an insurer has in the Portal, but provides in-depth and real-time insights on how long each stage is taking, which claims are falling out – or are close to falling out - and leakage points. We are the first law firm to integrate with the Portal in this way.

Portal Manager also provides live information on claimant firms’ activities, allowing insurers to identify trends, and can also assess the performance of claims handlers. The tool seamlessly integrates with all of our innovations, including our award-winning KLAiM tool and our Ai-based fraud detection products, some of which have been developed with the University of Manchester as part of our Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership.

We have so far been piloting this with a major global insurer, which has realised substantial savings in both indemnity spend and operational efficiencies through its trial of the tool.

Leading the implementation of Portal Manager is Alan Collins who has joined us from the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) where he was responsible for the design and build of the new whiplash claims portal which serviced roughly 600,000 claims a year.

Alan will be responsible for leading the development of various projects including Portal Manager, alongside Head of R&D, Karim Derrick and Partner, Martin Stockdale, who led on the creation of the tool.

Prior to the MIB, Alan spent seven years at Allianz Insurance where he was responsible for the operational management of the company’s personal injury claims teams in Milton Keynes, as well as the build and implementation of Claimcenter, a motor claims handling system, across the UK and India. Alan also spent four years at Rubicon where he provided claims services and software to the insurance industry.

Alan joins a team that has made huge strides in innovation for clients in recent years, driven by our strategy of helping clients to use lawyers less.

Karim Derrick, Head of R&D at Kennedys, commented: “At Kennedys we have a huge focus on driving innovation to improve business and provide efficiencies for our clients. Many in the industry talk about the need for innovation, but at Kennedys we have been investing in people and technology to make this a reality for our clients today, not in the future.

“Alan’s appointment serves to underline the value that is placed on the innovation team and how it is important that we stay abreast and at the forefront of the latest developments.”

Partner Martin Stockdale, who worked alongside Karim Derrick on the creation of Portal Manager, further commented that: “It may seem counter-intuitive to many that we place such emphasis on automating and creating technology that removes lawyers from legal work. Our point of view, however, is that if lower-value work can be automated, then it should be. This provides efficiencies for our clients and for us to provide the knowledge and support on complex and technical legal work where we can really add value to a client’s business.”

Alan Collins added: “Kennedys holds a great reputation in the industry for innovation and I’m looking forward to being part of developing client-focused products and innovations with the team. In particular, Portal Manager is realising considerable benefits for clients and I look forward to driving this forward to its full potential.”

In October, we announced that we were partnering with University College London to develop an emerging risk analytical tool for insurers, after securing funding from the Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership. We also confirmed that a newly-appointed data scientist, Damla Arifoglu, would lead this work.