Global Adjusting Technical Services
The Drivers of Immaculate Experience-Packed Loss Adjusting Services

Thailand, a crowd-favorite holiday destination, is known to often suffer f loods across the nation owing to its extremely harsh monsoons. The season lasts between July and October every year with varying, yet expected, levels of f looding. However, 2011’s monsoon was simply too severe, resulting in an overwhelming deluge that affected over two-thirds of the country and lasted 175 days. The damage to life and property were both immense, with 815 deaths and 1.4 trillion baht, respectively. The damages sustained by Thailand’s largest industrial estates amounted to 70 percent of the total.

Acknowledging the extent of damage and recuperating financially after such a catastrophic event involves the intervention of thousands of insurance professionals to help the residents of Thailand recover from their losses. More specifically, loss adjusters are called upon to visit, investigate, and draft accurate reports on each site, empowering the insured to regain what they lost.

One particularly large international loss adjusting firm housed some of the most experienced personnel in the field at the time. Each of them played a vital role in ensuring that the people of Thailand enjoyed a convenient and simplified claims processing experience where all parties were satisfied.

The f loods of 2011 marked just one of many such instances where these loss adjusters helped customers get through difficult situations.

Paul J. Rabbitte, a very accomplished insurance professional, is one of those individuals who was an active member that provided much needed assistance to Thailand’s residents, allowing them to overcome their insurance challenges efficiently. With over two decades of experience in this space, Rabbitte recognized the latent potential for growth in loss adjustment and modern-day claims processing, leading to the establishment of Global Adjusting Technical Services (GATS) in 2014.

GATS was founded with 50 employees from the aforementioned international loss adjusting firm, each bringing their extensive claims management experience to help clients tackle any and all insurance process impediments. Rabbitte and his team of highly-qualified chartered loss adjusters maintain very high standards of service delivery and several years of training to address emergency scenarios such as tsunamis, f loods, and fires as well. Having worked on loss adjustments across the globe, each member of the company carries with them nuanced insights about what to look for when on site, and document accurate reports that present insurers and the insured with an array of valuable information. Moreover, the confidence with which insurers welcomed GATS into the market speaks to the company’s immense value as an independent service provider.

“Insurers were keen to embrace a new international adjusting firm, and they knew our management team having been assisted with various catastrophes, such as the tsunami of 2004, numerous fire events in various shopping malls, and widespread flooding across Thailand in 2010 and 2011,” says Rabbitte, Managing Director of GATS.

The company undertakes a streamlined approach to provide its clients with end-to-end and seamless claims management services.

It is able to drive forth claims process productivity via its innovative GATS Clarity platform that provides a ‘clear line of sight’ that covers every aspect of the loss adjustment from notifications all the way through to the final report.

Once a claim is notified by the insurer, the company’s team immediately establishes contact with the insurer and visits the loss location within 24 hours of the appointment. Equipped with the company’s GATS Clarity Mobile, a part of its proprietary suite of mobile field tools, GATS’ claim professionals capture real-time video, images, and data for immediate reporting of pertinent information directly from the loss location. These tools especially prove to be beneficial for clients that need quick turnarounds on claim assessments and issuing of payments.

Insurers were keen to embrace a new international adjusting firm, and they knew our management team having been assisted with various catastrophes, such as the tsunami of 2004

“We implement stringent standards of service which are monitored throughout the lifecycle of a claim to ensure compliance on the agreed criteria with the clients,” expresses Samuel So, DMD. Additionally, through its centralized Clarity platform, the company ensures endto- end and hassle-free claims processing, which enables its team to capture, monitor, and review each step in the claims process. The platform is always live and monitored by a group of senior industry professionals, guaranteeing the best quality of service, 24/7.

After surveying the loss location, the GATS team issues immediate advice to the client within a day of attending the loss location. Subsequently, the GATS team issues a preliminary report within five working days. It follows up with both the parties—the insured and insurers—after every 14 days to notify them about the progress of their claims. GATS also updates the insurers every two months with detailed reports about the status of their claim and issues a final report within three working days after receiving the completed Form of Acceptance from the insured. Notably, the company adapts to any additional requirement from the clients to fit their bill. Its f lexibility in its insurance services delivery truly sets it apart in the APAC marketplace.

Rabbitte and his team are wellaware of how the insurance claims landscape is prone to continuous change and, consequently, ensure to modify GATS’ services accordingly, improving client satisfaction.

For instance, after the implementation of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), the company educated all its staff on the rules and responsibilities, all while investing heavily toward bolstering the security system of its database to enhance data protection. Each employee intensively studied every facet of PDPA’s requirements and related issues that will affect claim processing.

GATS also enabled the insured to conduct a guided ‘virtual site visit’ when adjusters were prevented from visiting the loss location due to the many protocols and restrictions imposed after the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the innovations created to circumvent the gaps created by the global lockdowns continue to be a part of GATS’ active portfolio owing to their customizable and f lexible nature.

To further elucidate the company’s capabilities, its collaboration with an organization that owned a powerplant in a remote area perfectly serves the purpose. The client was facing postpandemic tremors when its turbines suffered a mechanical breakdown. Due to several travel restrictions imposed by governments across countries, the organization was struggling to procure the necessary staffing and spare parts from their original equipment manufacturer, increasing the reinstatement lead time significantly. This impacted the powerplant’s business to a great extent, amounting to huge losses for them. The team of adjusters at GATS bailed the organization out of its predicament by contacting and negotiating with alternative contractors and suppliers from other countries to source the required spare parts for the powerplant. More importantly, GATS succeeded in procuring all the materials within the stipulated timeframe without increasing the lead time for the client.

In another instance, in 2016, various provinces of southern Thailand fell victim to severe f looding. GATS subsequently developed rapid response report formats for key clients in order to deliver damage assessments within one hour of its professional’s attendance on site. Timely receipt of its report enabled clients to release immediate payments to their policyholders on the same day as GATS' expert attendance at the loss location.

Such a driven and industry-agnostic approach to loss adjustment is not easily found in the market. It is also important to mention that after only two years since its inception, GATS’ revenue ranked third largest amongst the loss adjusting firms in Thailand, owing to the robust competencies of its portfolio. Rabbitte additionally states that clients, and their reinsurers, display a high level of trust in the company’s services by continuing to support the MD and his team every year. When the company opened an office in Yangon, it became the first international loss adjuster to receive a license to operate in Myanmar. Encouraged by its success, the company also opened offices in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan to assist clients in the seamless management of regional assignments. Moving forward, the company intends to continue delivering the same dedicated claims management services via immaculate loss adjustment that benefits its clients and insurers on all fronts.