The insurance industry is experiencing a period of upheaval. Large insurance players are making acquisitions to achieve economies of scale while an abundance of other non-traditional companies outside the sector are entering the market.
To remain competitive, the array of insurance products is expanding and becoming more complex. In parallel, progressively knowledgeable commercial and consumer claimants are applying downward pressure on margins.
According to Mark Ehmke, MD of Staffware SA, in this increasingly global and commodity-driven market, insurance companies are coming under greater pressure to differentiate themselves and to recognise the need to improve traditional procedures such as claims and renewals. "By streamlining these business processes, companies will achieve operating efficiencies, reduce cycle times and decrease costs," he emphasises.
"The arrival of technologies and the influence of the Internet have not only helped traditional players to grow and increase their market share, they have at the same time created opportunities for new entrants.
"As a result, many insurance companies are turning to the Internet in the realisation that online applications can help automate the creation and servicing of insurance contracts, thereby reducing the amount of paper-based processes and removing the requirement to re-key documents."
The real challenge comes from having to be able to seamlessly transact with external parties, while maintaining margins and remaining competitive. Relationships with customers, vendors and intermediaries need to be streamlined in order to meet the business-to-business and business-to-consumer challenge.
For insurance companies, going online will bring about benefits such as reducing costs and controlling expense ratios. This will come about primarily by reducing the industry`s reliance on paper-based business processes.
Ehmke adds that processing times will also be decreased by eliminating re-keying and seamlessly integrating with legacy systems. "An improvement in controls to enable the tracking of work will lead to improved customer service levels and response times while, at the same time, e-commerce demands will be met by providing on-line, high quality, self-service, claims submission and case status," he explains. Together, Tower Technology and Staffware have developed a solution to help insurers automate complex, process-bound customer applications. The Web Claims Manager is a Web-based application which enables policy holders, agents and brokers to participate fully with insurance organisations over the Internet.
"Allowing insurance policy holders and brokers to start, view, process and track claims via the Internet, the Web Claims Manager saves time, and ensures greater customer service and tracking capability," says Ehmke.
By filling in an on-line claims form through a Web browser, which is automatically routed to the broker via the Internet, the policy-holder can automatically instigate the claims process. This can be done any time, day or night, and from anywhere.
Using a document portal, office documents, images, e-mail, invoices and statements are held in a single repository and can be accessed on a variety of levels by different users. Subsequently, the system removes the requirement of endlessly re-keying documents and reducing the paper trail as all parties, including the initiator (be that customer, broker or agent) are able to view the relevant documentation directly on their computer screen, including photographs, forms and transcripts.
The Web Claims Manager runs on all platforms and can be accessed using any Web browser. Access and viewing are password-controlled, allowing restriction to single document level. In addition, policy-holders can create their own personal "folders" which can be amended and further information added.
"As well as providing business benefits, the Web Claims Manager provides the vehicle through which insurance organisations can meet their business objectives, thus contributing to a high return on investment," he adds.
"Taking productivity improvements alone, by deploying the Staffware/Tower solution, insurance companies are able to process more new business without increasing headcount, thereby increasing business volume whilst reducing unit costs leading to improvements in profitability."
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