Insurance Marketing Organization Links Document Management & CRM Systems for Maximum Efficiency & Secure Information Access
Now that Brokers’ Choice of America (BCA), a successful insurance marketing organization, has transitioned from paper records to electronic files that can be accessed through a single-sign-on system, BCA’s Controller says the company is managing contracts and other business-critical documents more efficiently and securely.
With thousands of independent agents and multiple contracts for each agent, BCA’s controller says the company was faced with a high volume of paper documents. Keeping up with the filing of hardcopy records was a tremendous effort. It was also very time-consuming to locate and pull files when BCA staff needed them.
In addition to the inefficiencies of maintaining duplicate copies of files in multiple BCA departments, there were risks of overlooking or missing information. There was also a concern about securing sensitive information such as social security numbers, credit scores, copies of errors and omissions insurance and other personal information included in the documents BCA stores.
BCA’s controller was adamant that this personal information needed to be locked down. “We simply needed a better solution for how we archived and retrieved our documents,” she said.
BCA elected to implement a centralized document scanning program using Digitech PaperFlow software and designating a handful of BCA employees to digitize documents stored in file cabinets throughout the BCA building. The imaged files were then tagged with identifiers (also known as indexes) that included a unique agent ID number. Using PaperFlow, BCA employees not only converted paper files stored in file cabinets, but documents received via fax and e-mail.
Once scanned and indexed, electronic files were uploaded to a secure online document repository called ImageSilo. Duplicate paper files were then shredded and discarded, instantly freeing up new office space and reducing the amount of paper files BCA stored onsite.
For maximum efficiency, BCA elected to integrate their online document management system with their line-of-business CRM (customer relationship management) system.
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“Keeping up with the filing of hardcopy records was a tremendous effort. It was also very time-consuming to locate and pull files when you needed them.” |
“Employees are used to working in the CRM system,” the Controller said. “It is our note-taking device and repository for all customer communication and correspondence. Rather than training employees on new software, we linked our CRM and electronic document management system. Our goal was to empower employees to access the information they need to do their jobs from one location.”
BCA provides training, mentoring and a wide array of products to independent insurance agents across the country. Considered to be the building blocks of sound financial planning, annuities, life insurance and long-term care insurance are among the products BCA offers.
Prior to implementing a scanning and electronic document management system, BCA was awash in paper files — storing hardcopy contracts and supporting documentation for more than 6,000 independent agents and dozens of major insurance carriers. At the time, most BCA departments were storing their own sets of agent files and contracts.
“Today, employees log into the familiar BCA CRM system using their CRM user name and password. Once they open an agent’s record, they can click an icon in the left hand margin of their screen to see a list of all of the documents that have been scanned into the system for that agent. It is so efficient compared to our previous process of searching through multiple file cabinets and across departments.”
The integration of the CRM and electronic document systems provides BCA employees the convenience and efficiency of accessing customer records through a single sign on. The security features built into the document management software enhance data security. An audit trail, for example, is created any time a document is accessed. The audit trail captures the user name, date, time and IP address used to access the record. User permissions dictate what an employee can do once a document has been accessed (e.g., read-only, modify, delete, e-mail, etc.).
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“Employees log into the familiar environment of our CRM system. They open an agent’s record and can instantly access all the documents we have scanned into the system for that agent. It is so efficient.” |
Given their initial backlog of hardcopy documents, as well as the need to add hundreds of new contracts to the system each month, BCA quicklyaccumulated dozens of gigabytes of information on ImageSilo. BCA decided that it would be more cost-effective to move from their web-based document management system (which is licensed based on volume of data stored) to an on-premise document management system (for which there is a one-time investment in licenses).
D2Xchange, the Digitech Systems reseller BCA works with, was able to install PaperVision Enterprise (PVE) software (the underlying software system for ImageSilo) on a BCA server.D2Xchange configured the PVE system to mirror how documents were organized and indexed on ImageSilo. D2Xchange then exported all of the document images and their associated database of index values and document history off of ImageSilo and onto BCA’s new in-house PVE system. After verifying that all data and documents had successfully transferred, D2Xchange linked PVE to BCA’s CRM system.
The transition was seamless to employees. The on-premise software has the same features and functionality of the web-based software. Because BCA could link PVE with their CRM system, employees were able to access client records just as they had in the past.