Analysis and Improvement of Information-Intensive Services: Evidence from Insurance Claims Handling Operations

Information-intensive services (IIS), such as financial services, business services, health care, and education, form a large and growing part of the service sector in the US economy. In this paper we present a classification of IIS based on their operational characteristics. We also propose empirically grounded conceptual analysis and prescriptive frameworks useful for the improvement of certain types of IIS. By conducting statistical analyses of a large sample of claims data from one of the largest property and casualty companies in the United States, we isolate key drivers of service performance and identify preemptive actions that can favorably impact performance metrics. Those results demonstrate the direct operationalization of the proposed frameworks with primary data. Our conceptual analysis, empirical findings, and the prescriptive framework that follow, provide an action plan that can lead to a systemic improvement in the performance of information and customer contact intensive services.