Insurance agencies are still struggling continuously to tame the paper tigers hampering the efficiency of their operation. Fortunately, marketplace and technology trends mean agencies can now do more with less—less information technology involvement, less capital investment and fewer headaches.
As far back as the late 1600s, when Lloyd’s of London drafted its first contract on a piece of parchment, paper has dominated the insurance industry.
Today, insurance companies are still notoriously paper-intensive, and guilt by association dictates that distribution channels—including independent agencies—handle the same mountains of paper in the form of letters, reports, referrals, contracts, submissions, renewals, endorsements, claims and more.
To avoid costly mistakes caused by duplicative work, data-entry errors and overcomplicated processes that can exponentially increase customer disappointment, document management should be an integral part of any insurance agency’s technology strategy.
Keep in mind that the systems available today are not based on your father’s definition of technology. The current trend is toward systems that are user-friendly, intuitive, and able to be configured and implemented by business users with integration options for multiple platforms and existing IT environments.
Unfortunately, when it comes down to the actual implementation, many technologies fail the test. Document management, however, can actually help insurance agencies reduce dependence on paper, improve customer service, and comply with regulatory and disaster recovery requirements.
KICKING THE HABIT
Think of your agency’s reliance on paper as an addiction—one that is costing you time and money.
At this very moment, you have employees looking for misplaced files, retrieving information from file rooms, completing files that will need to be replaced, copying information for carriers, printing new paper documents, writing down messages and sorting through paper statements.
Document management can eliminate the high labor and operational costs associated with paper-based tasks.
In addition, once existing files are imaged and an automatic process is established to enter new documents into the system, document management eliminates the need for costly physical storage. That can free up real estate for additional employees, workstations, conference rooms and other productive space.
Like it or not, the fact is that carrier-to-agency commissions are dropping and wages for existing agency employees continue to increase all the time. That means agencies need to write more business without increasing employees, overhead and workload, in order to stay profitable in a highly competitive marketplace.
Imaging—a key component of any document management system—can make a significant difference here. Instant access to policyholder information—application, policy, quotes, submissions, renewals and correspondence—means tasks are completed faster, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and the ability to lock new submissions faster.