The insurance industry in South Africa is not unlike other industries affected by New Economy rules. Insurance companies today are continually faced with the task of enhancing the efficiency of their operations and providing a higher level of customer service to set them apart from their competitors.
Nedcor Group Insurance Brokers (NGIB), the insurance brokerage division of Nedcor Bank, knew that in order to be competitive in the market they would have to streamline their business processes, and chose to implement Staffware`s automated workflow system to help improve employee efficiency and eliminate paper based processes.
"NGIB selected Staffware`s workflow solution due to its ease of use, robustness and scalability as well as its ability to integrate into all existing legacy systems," says Mark Ehmke, managing director of Staffware SA.
The main problem faced by NGIB was the excessive amount of paper that moved through the organisation with little or no control.
"The insurance industry is renowned for the extensive amount of paperwork that needs to be done for each transaction - whether that may be an endorsement, new business, cancellations or a refund," explains Annette Church from NGIB.
Before implementing Staffware, NGIB handled all its processes manually.
Ehmke describes the initial implementation as: "A generic process set up to cover all areas of the business from new business, policy maintenance, and managing lead generation through to sales.
"Once we implemented Staffware`s workflow solution, a Return on Investment (ROI) was realised in the first three months of implementation," says Church at NGIB.
"In addition, the time taken to complete tasks was considerably reduced."
"The generic process gave NGIB control of all the paper coming into and moving through the organisation. All incoming work is distributed from the WfMC (Workflow Management Centre) to the various teams and/or individuals and is centrally controlled."
Ehmke explains however, that there were definite flaws in having a generic process, as there was no way of monitoring individual processes, such as identifying how many of the documents distributed were service requests from existing clients (i.e. requests for changes to existing policies), and those which were new business.
There was also no reporting on each of the specific areas of business, which lead to the decision to implement separate processes for each area of business.
The New Business process now covers any client who needs cover on their new or existing homeloans, vehicles or any other personal insurance.
Those who apply for a home loan through any of the Nedcor brands (Nedbank, Permanent Bank or Peoples Bank) automatically get offered cover from NGIB when applying for a homeloan - this cross selling is handled automatically through the Staffware workflow system.
Once the initial new business contact is made, the system automatically passes the request onto a multi-function technician. A quote is generated which is sent back to the client. Once the client accepts the quote, they are officially covered and the information is placed onto NGIB`s legacy system. A policy document is automatically generated by the system and sent to the customer," says Church.
The Maintenance process is now also fully automated. "Maintaining customers in today`s competitive environment is vital to the success of any Insurance business," believes Church.
NGIB`s policy Maintenance process is used when an existing client wants to make a change to an existing policy, or wants to claim from a policy as a result of an accident or theft.
The entire process from initial client query, to changing the records or initiating a claim, as well as providing refunds and quality checking the request, is handled automatically through Staffware workflow.
In conjunction with its process software, NGIB has also implemented a Staff Performance Measurement System called NEMESIS. This system sits on top of the Staffware database, and using the information captured in Staffware, the software can assess the amount of work completed by each staff member. Staff are remunerated accordingly via a point allocation system, which was set up by rating the work performed in NGIB.
"This system has been beneficial to both management and staff. We are able to track productivity levels through Staffware`s Work In Progress (WIP) monitor, while staff are able to see exactly what work is required of them using the Staffware INBOX facility. This means that they are able to respond to the client timeously and reduce the time it takes to process any request," says Church.
"The combination of having implemented workflow and the "pay-for-performance" (NEMESIS) systems has brought about a productivity increase within the first three months of in excess of 200%. What better way can we have of improving our customer service?" asks Church.
She adds: "To remain customer focused and provide the best possible service, we are constantly refining and improving our business processes at NGIB. Our future plans include integrating the Staffware workflow system with an image/document management system to try and cut down further on paper based and paper-intensive processes."
NGIB has implemented Staffware 2000 for MS/SQL on an NT4 Server with a dual 733 MHz processor and 512 MB of RAM. Staffware is integrated with NGIB`s fax software, OM Tool.
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