Colonnade Insurance Transforms Claims Assessment with Remote Video Support

The Challenge: Geographic Barriers and Processing Delays

Serving customers across six Central and Eastern European countries created significant operational challenges for Colonnade Insurance's claims assessment process. Insurance adjusters needed to evaluate property damage, verify coverage, and approve settlements accurately—but the traditional approach of in-person site visits came at a steep cost in time, resources, and customer satisfaction.

The company faced several critical challenges:

• Extended Claims Processing Times: Insurance adjusters traveled extensively across Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Slovakia to conduct in-person property inspections. Scheduling these visits, coordinating with policyholders, and managing travel logistics meant claims that should resolve in days often took weeks to process.
• High Travel Costs: Long-distance travel for routine claims assessments consumed significant operational budgets for fuel, vehicle maintenance, accommodation, and other transportation-related expenses across international borders and vast geographic territories.
• Customer Frustration: Policyholders experiencing property damage, business interruptions, or other losses had to wait days or weeks for adjuster visits before receiving claim settlements. This delay extended their financial hardship and recovery timeline, leading to dissatisfaction and negative customer experiences.
• Limited Assessment Capacity: With adjusters spending substantial time traveling rather than assessing claims, the company's capacity to handle incoming claims was constrained. During peak periods following storms, floods, or other widespread events affecting multiple properties, backlogs developed quickly.
• Communication Barriers: When adjusters couldn't visit properties immediately, they relied on phone-based preliminary assessments. Policyholders attempting to describe damage verbally often lacked the technical knowledge or vocabulary to communicate issues accurately, leading to misunderstandings, incomplete information, and the need for additional follow-up.
• Documentation Challenges: Gathering comprehensive visual documentation required multiple steps—initial phone calls, requesting photos via email, waiting for customers to take and send images, and reviewing submissions that often lacked critical angles or details needed for accurate assessment.
• Measurement Accuracy Issues: Without specialized tools, remote estimation of repair costs and damage extent relied on policyholder measurements that could be inaccurate or inconsistent, potentially leading to disputes during settlement negotiations.
• Scalability Constraints: As Colonnade expanded operations across Central-Eastern Europe and aimed to grow its customer base, the traditional in-person assessment model became increasingly unsustainable. Each new market required proportionally more adjusters and travel resources.

Colonnade needed a solution that could provide immediate visual access to damaged properties, enable accurate remote assessments, reduce travel costs, and deliver the rapid claims service that customers deserved—all while maintaining the accuracy and documentation standards essential for insurance operations.

The Solution: Instant Remote Claims Assessment

Colonnade Insurance selected Blitzz Concierge—an app-free mobile video platform—to transform its claims assessment workflow and deliver immediate visual collaboration between insurance adjusters and policyholders across Central-Eastern Europe.

Key features utilized by Colonnade Insurance:

1. App-Free Access: An insurance adjuster simply sends a link via SMS text message to the policyholder. When the customer clicks the link, the adjuster instantly gains a secure, real-time view through the customer's smartphone camera—no need to download third-party apps like Zoom, Teams, or FaceTime. This eliminates technical friction and enables immediate assessment, even for customers unfamiliar with video collaboration tools.
2. Live Property Inspection: Adjusters can remotely inspect damaged properties in real-time, visually assessing structural damage, water intrusion, fire impact, theft losses, and other claim-related issues exactly as they appear on-site. This eliminates guesswork associated with verbal descriptions and enables accurate evaluation during the initial contact.
3. Augmented Reality (AR) Measurement Tools: Both adjusters and policyholders can use AR features to measure dimensions, calculate areas, and assess repair requirements directly on the live video stream. This ensures accurate damage quantification without relying on policyholder estimates, improving settlement accuracy and reducing disputes.
4. Real-Time Visual Documentation: Adjusters can capture high-quality photos and video recordings during live sessions for claims files, compliance documentation, and future reference. This creates comprehensive visual evidence that supports underwriting decisions, prevents fraud, and provides audit trails.
5. Interactive Video Collaboration: Adjusters and policyholders communicate via live video call, enabling real-time questions, clarifications, and guidance. Adjusters can direct customers to show specific angles, zoom in on particular damage areas, or demonstrate functionality issues—creating a collaborative assessment experience.
6. Augmented Reality (AR) Annotation: Team members can use AR tools to draw, highlight, and annotate directly on the live video stream, making it easy to identify specific damage locations, mark areas requiring contractor attention, or illustrate repair recommendations to policyholders.
7. Easy User Experience: The platform requires no technical training for either adjusters or customers. Its intuitive interface is understandable for all users, regardless of technical expertise or age, ensuring high adoption rates and eliminating support barriers.
8. Comprehensive Reporting Integration: Visual assessments integrate seamlessly with Colonnade's existing claims management systems, providing all necessary documentation for processing, approval workflows, and regulatory compliance without manual data transfer or additional administrative steps.
9. Multilingual Support: Operating across multiple countries with different languages, Colonnade benefits from Blitzz ability to facilitate visual communication that transcends language barriers, with adjusters able to see damage clearly even when verbal communication proves challenging.

Insurance customers need rapid resolution when they experience losses. With Blitzz's live video support, Colonnade can assess claims instantly, provide faster settlements, and deliver the exceptional customer service their policyholders deserve.

— Rama Sreenivasan, Founder and CEO of Blitzz 

The Results: Faster Settlements, Reduced Costs, and Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

By integrating Blitzz Concierge into its claims operations, Colonnade Insurance transformed its assessment process, leading to measurable improvements across multiple dimensions:

• Dramatically Reduced Processing Times: Claims that previously required scheduling site visits, coordinating travel, and conducting in-person inspections can now be assessed within minutes of initial contact. Adjusters see properties immediately, evaluate damage in real-time, and approve settlements faster—getting policyholders back to normal operations or living situations quickly.
• Eliminated Unnecessary Travel: The majority of routine claims assessments now occur remotely, freeing adjusters from hours of daily travel and allowing them to focus on evaluating claims rather than navigating traffic. Only complex cases requiring specialized expertise or physical testing now warrant in-person visits.
• Significant Cost Savings: Reducing travel means substantially lower operational expenses for fuel, vehicle maintenance, accommodation, and other transportation-related costs across Colonnade's multi-country footprint. These savings improve operational efficiency and profitability.
• Improved Customer Satisfaction: Policyholders experience immediate response to claims submissions, instant adjuster availability, and faster settlement approvals. This reduces financial strain during difficult times and strengthens relationships between Colonnade and its customers across Central-Eastern Europe.
• Increased Claims Capacity: With travel time eliminated for most assessments, adjusters can evaluate significantly more claims per day. This expanded capacity enables Colonnade to handle peak periods effectively, respond rapidly during widespread events, and support business growth without proportionally increasing headcount.
• Enhanced Measurement Accuracy: AR measurement tools eliminate reliance on policyholder estimates, providing precise dimensions and calculations that improve settlement accuracy and reduce disputes. Both adjusters and customers can verify measurements together during live sessions.
• Better Documentation Quality: Live video captures provide comprehensive visual evidence that supports accurate underwriting decisions, prevents fraudulent claims, and creates complete audit trails for compliance purposes. Adjusters can document damage from multiple angles in real-time.
• Seamless Reporting Integration: Visual assessments integrate smoothly with existing claims management systems, providing all necessary information for approvals, compliance, and reporting without additional administrative work or manual data entry.
• High User Adoption: The app-free, intuitive platform requires no training for adjusters or customers. Users find it easy and understandable, leading to widespread adoption and eliminating technical support requirements that could hinder implementation.
• Scalable Operations: With geography no longer a constraint, Colonnade can expand into new markets and grow its customer base without proportionally increasing travel resources or field adjuster headcount. The platform supports sustainable business growth across Central-Eastern Europe.

Key Success Metrics

Conclusion

By integrating Blitzz Concierge into its claims operations, Colonnade Insurance eliminated the geographic barriers and processing delays associated with traditional in-person property assessments. Insurance adjusters can now see damaged properties instantly through policyholders' smartphones, enabling accurate real-time evaluation that accelerates settlements and reduces customer hardship.

This transformation has enabled Colonnade to strengthen relationships with policyholders across six countries, significantly reduce operational costs, expand claims processing capacity, and uphold its reputation for transparent products and rapid claims service. With more than 600 employees serving customers throughout Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and Slovakia, Colonnade continues to set the standard for fairness, simplicity, and exceptional customer care in Central-Eastern European insurance markets.

Blitzz has become an essential tool in Colonnade's mission to deliver the rapid, transparent claims service that customers deserve—ensuring that when policyholders experience losses, they receive immediate attention, accurate assessments, and fast settlements that help them return to normal operations as quickly as possible.