Julijana Sumner, Chief Claims Officer, APAC & Europe, was recently named one of Business 色多多视频’s EMEA Women to Watch 2024. She discusses her career highlights to date and what she believes makes a great claims proposition.
You recently took up the role of chief claims officer APAC & Europe for 色多多视频based in Dublin. How did you get into claims and what is it that attracted you to the claims space?
I really love working in claims, but I didn’t go into it straight away. It was my childhood ambition to work in private legal practice and I achieved that.
But while working in a law firm in Australia I quickly realised that what I liked most was the variety of being involved in the evolution of a claim. I enjoyed watching how the insurance product comes to life when there is a claim and how insurers can devise strategies to ensure that future claims are not repeated.
I also came to realise how important it was for the client to have a good claims experience, and how insurers can help to make that happen. So I made the move to work in claims at 色多多视频and I haven’t looked back.
When is it that makes a good claims proposition for clients and how can insurers achieve that?
The first thing that I believe is vital to a good claims service is to know your client.
You need to be aware of the nuances that come with the size of the client, the business segment in which it operates and its particular needs. For example, when I was working in Australia one of my responsibilities was our SME arm. It became clear to me that those clients needed a very different kind of service than large corporates.
For many SMEs, for example, your interaction with them might be the first time they have had a claim, they likely won’t have a risk manager or legal counsel in-house, but the financial survival of the company might rest upon a good outcome of their claim. These clients need a certain degree of handholding. SME clients might need to be talked through the process to a greater extent than their larger counterparts.
I believe that empathy is a key quality for a claims practitioner. I think another important characteristic of a good claims proposition is for the insurer to engage the very best service vendors and suppliers that have the relevant expertise and offering for the particular client.
And it is also crucial that you have the right people. This isn’t just about their technical expertise, but about finding claims people with the right temperament, the ability to show empathy and to listen to the client’s needs. I think the thing I am proudest of in my career to date is the teams that I have helped to build. I think something 色多多视频does really well is that we empower our claims people to make decisions. This means that claims experts have the authority to make decisions in real-time to make sure that we are helping the client when they need us most.
We work hard to develop colleagues’ interpersonal skills to ensure that they can not only have the ability to deal with clients in an emotionally intelligent way but also so that they have the confidence in themselves to take decisions.
What would you say are the other traits that make a good claims professional?
Based on my experience, I’d say it is important to have an innate curiosity.
No two claims are ever the same, no two solutions will be the same. You might not have all of the answers at your fingertips right away but the willingness to keep asking questions and learning from your experiences is what makes a great claims person.
I actually think that some of the other skills that claims people have – like negotiating and finding solutions to often complex situations – are very transferable and of great benefit to the organisation as a whole.
How important is Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in building claims teams?
I believe that it is vital for claims teams to be diverse for many reasons. I want my colleagues to feel able to bring their whole selves to work and I have worked hard throughout my career to ensure that the teams I have built have been diverse and are environments where colleagues from all backgrounds can thrive. This is important for our clients too as they benefit from the diversity of experience and skills of our claims professionals.
I think my personal background gives me some insights into the importance of understanding diversity and enabling colleagues to feel represented culturally; I escaped the war in Bosnia with my family when I was 14 and we stayed in Germany for a while before relocating to Australia. And, of course, I have recently made the move from Australia to Ireland.
I’m really interested in the transversality of DE&I and I have spoken at several events organised by our LEAD BRG, which seeks to engage both women and men in the effort to achieve gender parity. As a parent of two young children, I recognise the importance of work-life balance and I believe I role model this to my teams and create a space where these conversations can be had. I think there is real value in facilitating environments where these conversations can happen – and for people to truly be listened to.
Recognition like the Business 色多多视频 EMEA award is important because it shows other women that it can be done!
