Background
Using paper copies of policy declaration documents had become a costly roadblock to brokers working to improve customer service. Now with the support of Crawford Technologies software and services solutions, The Dominion can easily transform pre-formatted print streams in to efficient images for paperless presentment and archive. The result? Happy brokers and more satisfied policyholders, plus reduced reliance on paper and print processing thanks to the expanded capabilities from CrawfordTech.
The Challenge
The Dominion is one of Canada’s largest property and casualty insurers. Outstanding claims service is standard, and ‘doing the right thing’ is the test the company judges itself against. The Dominion believes strongly in independent, professional advisors who provide advocacy and choice, which is why the company distributes its products exclusively through independent brokers.
According to Adisa Lazetic, Information Technology Architect at The Dominion, continued reliance on paper was becoming a burden for both the company as well as their network of brokers. “All of our brokers receive a paper copy of each policyholder’s policy declaration documents for their reference,” explains Lazetic. “Updates can be sent throughout the year making filing a chore, especially for large brokerages. Brokers were looking to reduce costs and improve customer service by replacing their paper copies with electronic images that could be read online.”
Lazetic was responsible for defining a solution that would enable brokers to access an electronic version of their clients’ policy declaration documents. The responsibility also included an architectural analysis and selection of the final software. “Enabling brokers to view electronic versions of policy declaration documents meant that we needed to leverage the current print stream in order to capture an electronic image that mirrored the printed version,” says Lazetic. “The opportunity was to increase broker satisfaction and experience by providing the documents electronically while going green and saving on paper, printing and mailing costs.”
Solution
Lazetic, with support from The Dominion chose CrawfordTech for a solution to their online presentment requirements. “It was a rather in-depth selection process,” says Lazetic. “In the end we went with CrawfordTech and we are very pleased with our decision. Their PRO AFP to PDF/A solution has a smart design that is simple and easy use.”
Using the CrawfordTech software, the legacy AFP print files are received from the policy document production system and converted to individualized PDF/A documents along with an associated index file. The images are stored in The Dominion’s IBM Filenet document management repository which is integrated with the broker portal website.
“CrawfordTech was the best solution for us,” says Lazetic. “Plus the CrawfordTech team was very organized; all our interactions were extremely well managed.”
Results
The launch of the online document repository for brokers was well received. Brokers are now able to find documents quickly and easily, which translates into better service for their clients. The Dominion’s operations team is seeing reduced expense in paper and production; saving trees and money. “Going paperless is a big win for the environment while increasing customer satisfaction and decreasing cost of operations,” says Lazetic.
Moving Forward
The future looks bright for The Dominion and CrawfordTech, with future plans to extend the solution to other lines of business and provide brokers with the ability to do bulk downloads of the documents.
“When we saw how easy and efficient it was to configure the solution, it was easy to decide to go with CrawfordTech; the product is easy to use at a reasonable price,” says Lazetic. “Plus the experience working with CrawfordTech was extremely positive from initial demos, through training, into production. We are confident that we’ll be able to continue relying on their helpful and knowledgeable staff to assist us in expanding use of the tool.”
