Agents Tame The Paper Tiger With Document ManagementTechnology After scanning virtually every document intheir agency and converting them into Adobe Acrobat PDF files,producers in the Thousand Islands Agency, Clayton, N.Y., believethey have tamed the paper tiger.

When an agent wants to find a file, he can do so without havingto leave his desk, said Edward Higgins, president of the agency.That sums up what Mr. Higgins believes is the key advantage of theautomated document system his agency adopted only two yearsago.

“Now, not only can I read any document, but I can also e-mailand fax it without leaving my chair,” said Mr. Higgins. “And sinceall my records are digital, I can connect to my office remotely ifIm visiting a customers business and get any document I need.”

The technology requires an investment not only in scanning andimaging hardware and software, but also in an intranet, to allowdocument storage, archiving and retrieval and to hastenworkflow.

Vendors include Instar Corporation of Kennewick, Wash., whichoffers document management as part of its agency management system;Docucorp International, Dallas of Acrosoft, Columbia, S.C.; andLaserFiche Inc. of Long Beach, Cal.

Although vendors are reluctant to quote prices, Mr. Higgins saidhe has found that high-end document-management systems range inprice from $25,000 to $100,000, plus maintenance.

Lower down on the cost scale is the Online Policy Warehouse fromAnacomp Inc. of San Diego, which offers a Web-basedpolicy-retrieval system.

Although its primary users are p-c agencies, it is suitable toany agency offering widely variable policies, especially involvingfrequent changes of coverage, said Richard Keele, executive vicepresident of global marketing for Anacomp.

Because Anacomp is completely Web-based, users dont need topurchase hardware or license software or hire people to run thesystem, said Mr. Keele.

His company provides an electronic connectionto the agency, so at the time a policy is issued to the client, itis recorded automatically in Anacomps facility.

“If you were a broker or agent, you could log onto our site andyou could see all the policies you were responsible for,” heexplained.

Charges are based on the number of pages ingested by Anacompssystem, but amount to just “a fraction of a penny a page,” said Mr.Keele. “We dont charge to look at the documents or print them fromyour desktop.”

Toward the low end of the cost scale is a scanner/softwarepackage called Paper Port, available from ScanSoft Inc. of Peabody,Mass.

Mr. Higgins of the Thousand Island Agency said Paper Portenabled his agency to go completely paperless two years ago.

“For us, it was relatively easy because we had beentransactionally filing all documents in our computer system for 12years on a daily basis,” he said.

With the ability to convert any document to a PDF file, “anyoneI send it to can read it,” Mr. Higgins said.

Recently, he was visiting a client when he realized that he hadforgotten some reports he needed to discuss. So he had someone onhis staff e-mail them over to him, and his client meeting continuedwithout a hitch.

“Theres a tremendous value in having digital records,” Mr.Higgins said. “Nothings ever lost.”

With every Thousand Island agent equippedwith a scanner and most of its documents already digitized, it tookthe agency less than a week to go completely paperless, said Mr.Higgins.

Most agencies, however, can expect the conversion process totake six to 12 months, he said.

Mr. Higgins has equipped each agent in his office with a $2,000scanner. The Paper Port software costs around $90 per agent.

Documents are placed in files on the agencys intranet so thatall users can call them up as needed, Mr. Higgins said.

Although he has so far found Paper Port to be an adequatesolution to his agencys document-management requirements, Mr.Higgins agreed that more expensive systems carry a number ofadvantages.

“They offer multiple sets of data controls, so if you changeagency management or are acquired by another agency, you can easilyintegrate with the other agencys management system,” he said.“Compared to other systems, Paper Port is clearly a Volkswagen vs.a Cadillac. But it works for us.”

Another agency using Paper Port is LBL Insurance Services Inc.in Los Alamitos, Calif.

LBLs staff shares client documents via its internal network,noted Larry Lambert, chairman and CEO of the agency. It inputsthose documents using 15 scanners. “Everyone who is handlingpaperwork gets one,” noted Mr. Lambert.

“From a customer service standpoint, we can automatically go toany file to answer the clients specific questions,” he said. “Italso allows us to track underwriting efficiently on all cases,allowing us to store notes so we dont have to be turning over paperall the time. That has made us much more effective and efficient.In the customers mind, weve become much more of an expert.”

Its possible, though, that LBL is outgrowing Paper Port. Mr.Lambert said he is considering upgrading to a high-end system thatautomates operations that off-the-shelf software like Paper Portrequire to be input manually.

At least one agency said that it is doing fine without anautomated document management system, thank you.

It is still possible to function profitably with a paper-basedsystem, said Dan McCleary, a principal of McCleary and Associatesin Houston, Texas. As far as document management software isconcerned, Mr. McCleary said, hell take a pass.

“Wed probably be forced to go paperless if wed expect to be atthis another 10 to 20 years,” he acknowledged.

But with both Dan and his older brother Clark McCleary expectingto retire in a few years, the time and trouble of automating seemsnot worth the effort, he said.

Besides, Mr. McCleary said he and his brother hold a decidedlyunenthusiastic view of computer technology.

“It was supposed to save us effort,” he observed. “But wereusing a lot more paper and time” than before the Computer Agedawned at McCleary and Associates.

“When it takes so much time to learn to use new technology, youhave to question whether you want to do it,” he said.

Another executive whose agency has managed to live withoutdocument-management software is Brian Ashe, who heads an agencybearing his name in Lisle, Ill. Unlike the McCleary brothers,however, Mr. Ashe thinks it is inevitable that he will eventuallybuy such a system.

The main barrier to adopting the technology is that his agencyis small and has no internal network.

“But we have talked about it,” he said. “I think the advent ofwireless will bring down the price and increase the simplicity offile sharing. “

Mr. Ashe sees document management software as a way to improveefficiency and simplify record keeping, although hes not sure hisoffice would go completely paperless.

“Theres too much demand for copies,” he said. “Even when wee-mail each other, people often wind up printing out the e-mailbecause they want the information memorialized.”

To go completely paperless requires discipline, acknowledges Mr.Higgins, who, in addition to his duties as head of the ThousandIslands Agency, is chairman of the Agents Council for Technology, aunit of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America,Alexandria, Va.

Mr. Higgins even insists that his producers use virtual “stickynotes” rather than real ones to add reminders to client files.

“You have to make sure every single person in the office acceptsthe notion of digital record keeping,” he explained. “If you allowexceptions, it falls apart, because then you have multiple filingsystems.”

“If you do not develop a consistent agency-wide organizationalmodel about how things will be stored, you can create a colossalmess overnight. If someone takes a different approach to digitalfiling, you may not be able to find their documents.”

He advised agencies planning to use document management softwareto first think through where they would put specific documents inan automated system, from agency performance reports and clientinsurance claims to incurred losses and insurance companycontracts.

Although the system has helped Mr. Higgins trim support staff,he thinks its most important feature is that it gives producersmore time for clients. “We can do policy reviews every year witheach customer because of the time we save,” he said.

Customer service has improved overall, too. When clients calland ask for a document, the service rep can reach for it digitallyand e-mail or fax it immediately, Mr. Higgins noted.

But his agency has not totally banned paper.

“Paper is still a good display medium,” he pointed out. “If youhave a 30-page document to show a customer, we are still going touse paper. But we no longer use it as a storage medium.”

Trevor Thomas is an assistant editor for NUs Life &Health/Financial Services Edition.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, June 9, 2003.Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.