Hardware Changes Cut Costs, Boost Productivity ForVirginia Broker New York City

Why would the technology services manager ofa multimillion-dollar Virginia insurance brokerage firm come to NewYork City to shop for a couple of copy machines?

According to Valerie Bailey, technical services manager forThomas Rutherfoord Inc., an insurance brokerage firm based inRoanoke, Va., the reason has less to do with purchasing a copymachine than with finding an imaging systema system that hasalready “increased productivity and reduced costs immensely.”

On April 30 in New York City, Rochester, N.Y.-based Xeroxannounced nine new products, the redesign of almost two dozen more,and a redefined business strategy that the companys head, AnneMulcahy, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer, called a “newway to work and new way to grow.”

Of interest to independent agents is the companys commitment toprovide products and services for businesses of any size aimed tomeet “everyones business requirements,” said Nancy Morris, vicepresident-general manager, office group marketing and productmanagement, in an interview with National Underwriter.

Ms. Morris said Xeroxs services do more than just make documentcopies. They involve document solutions, production, scanning, andcutting down on the load of paper and documents independent agentsare faced with everyday.

The company plans to accomplish this with an array of copymachine products to meet market needs. The machines start at $800for a basic copy machine and move up to sophisticated work centerdevices. These are designed to solve all of an agencys fax,document and copy needs, and cost thousands of dollars.

The company said it is also offering solution services, bothonline and through professional representatives, to evaluate anagencys documentation needs. The purpose would be to cut costs andimprove productivity, said Xerox.

“[Xerox is] looking to stimulate revenue growth with productsand solutions to the small, medium and large business client,” saidMs. Morris.

One of those clients is Rutherfoord.

Ms. Bailey told NU that two years ago, Rutherfoord wasstill doing things the old way. Hundreds of documents wereoverflowing on associates desks and there were stacks of folderscontaining the insurance history of each account. This would mean acustomer calling to inquire about his or her account would need towait until the representative found the folder, or call back afterthe paperwork was hunted down.

Under this system, an important presentation that needed to becopied in color was taken to the nearest Kinkos or got run-offthrough the office ink jet printer, she explained. All of this wasvery time consuming and inefficient.

During this period, client demands were increasing and theoffice was finding it more and more difficult to keep up.

It was at this time, Ms. Bailey said, that the Alexandria officepurchased a Xerox Document Centre 440.

“We essentially fell in love with the machine,” Ms. Baileygushed. There were no more trips to outside copy centers. Qualitycolor document productions could now be handled from the office,and the machine allowed producers to make better presentations toclients. Thanks to the Document Centre, after a client presentationin PowerPoint, clients could be handed packages containing colorcopies of the presentation, meant to impress and done from theagencys office, Ms. Bailey noted.

“Image is very important,” she observed. “A poor quality imagedoesnt sell. Clients see a million presentations not put togetherwell, nor are they attractive, and they all appear the same. Theone that is done well stands out. In insurance, it only takes alittle distinction to separate one from everyone else.”

Within the firm, the quality of the copies became so notablethat other offices within the Virginia firm began sending theirwork to be done in Alexandria. And agents on the road, working fromtheir homes, would send jobs by e-mail to the office one day to bepicked up the next as they made their way to appointments, shesaid.

Another feature of the Document Centre was the scanningcapacity. When the Rutherfoord got their copier, it also allowedfor scanning of documents into the firms computer system. Thebenefit was ease of retrieval of forms when customers calledno morewaiting to find folders.

The firm also began e-mailing documents to customers instead ofmailing them. Ms. Bailey said in one year alone, the Alexandriaoffice saved $16,000 in mailing costs.

Another benefit was carrier forms, which are now filed away inthe computer. The firm no longer needs to mail these applicationsto the carriers. Rutherfoord is now able to e-mail them to thecompanies, because they have been saved into the computer systemthrough the Document Centre.

The Xerox product also proved itself in ease of use, Ms. Baileyclaimed. She told the story that one of the other Virginia officeswanted to be able to do what the Alexandria office did andpurchased a copier, but from another company. Their machine turnedout to be very difficult to learn to use and much slower, evenfrustrating her when she attempted to use it.

“I promote ease of use,” Ms. Bailey said.

Two months ago, Rutherfoord was chosen to test out Xeroxs newWork Centre 440. She noted that the new machine is exceeding thefirms demands, has proven to be a workhorse, and with 75,000 copiesmade over that period60 percent color imagesthe toner has yet to bechanged. She said it is also more economical because consumableslike the toner do not need to be changed as often as in thepast.

Rutherfoord, which handles more than $65 million in premiumannually in property-casualty and risk management services, hasgone to central purchasing and is looking to buy new copiers forall seven offices with all the features of the machines in theAlexandria office, Ms. Bailey said. The firm is also interested inXeroxs other services and equipment that would allow agents toremotely call up documents on their personal digital assistants,she noted.

“We are looking at what else Xerox can offer us,” said Ms.Bailey. “And it looks like they can meet our needs and give us roomto grow without going out again and buying new equipment.”

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.