Pitching Paper: The Best Policy

When it comes to customer service in the insurance business, either you're quick or you're sunk.

That's why technology buyers play a major role in customer satisfaction. Excellent customer service in the insurance industry starts with easy, instant access to accurate and complete data. Employees must be able to answer prospects' questions regarding risk and coverage fast — and to quickly address customers' issues regarding coverage and claims even faster.

Take the case of a large California insurance company providing annuities, life and general liability insurance to millions of businesses and individuals/families.

Some years ago, this insurance company was on the verge of being crushed by the weight of its own paper. Customer complaints were excessive, employees felt frustrated, and the company was spending too much money to remedy too many mistakes.

The company now uses 18 Spectrum scanners for two business lines in its mammoth records management facility, scanning approximately 14 million documents per year. Each day workers scan thousands of applications, annuities, policies and claims files with photos and correspondence. The company keeps policies on its server for 10 years and archives older policies on microfilm for future use.

The company also creates document indexing packages, and the images are used for research or evidentiary purposes. By integrating OCR software to the system, the company creates unique files for every customer and when a document is scanned, it is automatically indexed in the proper file. The software extracts the designated data and VRS optimizes that software with the cleanest image output.