It is no surprise to find that, in most lines of business,claims managers are assuming heavier caseloads. With 250 or moreopen files to manage, mastering the multitude of timelines involvedwith litigated claims drains precious time.

The claims manager's law firm and staff counsel partners providecritical support and expertise in shouldering the added burden.Even with this assistance, the claims organization is ultimately accountable for managingcritical dates and growing legal expenses in an environment wherecarriers demand ever-increasing transparency and greater controlover operational decisions. Often, technologyis expected to offer answers. Of course, technology alone can onlydo so much. To answer all of the questions involved, one mustexamine the impact of applying technology to the litigation management process andwhat considerations must be met in order to reach a successfulapplication.

The task management, calendaring, and information procurementinvolved with litigated claims necessitates the precise application oftechnology. Reaching key milestones, applying expertise at eachpoint of decision, falls to the claims manager, his or her staff,and/or panel counsel partners. Project management is a necessaryevil when dealing with an increasing caseload, but often one thatis not a natural skill for claims managers or counsel.

Although many organizations still rely on email as their primarylitigation management workflow tool, automated workflow technology can more efficiently trackcrucial tasks using the naturally occurring triggers in the claimsmanagement process. When a claim is moved to litigation, theprocess of assigning counsel can be triggered and timed to includenotice to selected counsel and scheduled tasking of formalacceptance of the case after completion of a satisfactory conflictscheck.

Acceptance can then trigger notice and creation of a task tocomplete an early assessment of the case, along with the proposalof a budget. A workflow engine may then be used to manage thestatus reporting process—both timing and content. In fact, theprovision of the firms involved in the process should also beincorporated within the creation of tasks and timing that can bemonitored by claims management. Therefore, when counsel is assigneda task to provide an early case assessment and budget, a trulyhelpful addition to the process should not simply place a task orreminder in someone's inbox.

Eliminate 'Busy Technology'
Moving beyond simply placing a task in an inbox, what is morebeneficial is for a task notice to include the information beingrequested so that the process advances without the intervention of"busy technology." If counsel is asked to provide assessment of acase, then the particulars of the request should be presented aspart of that request, along with offering the ability to providethe response within the same package. In effect, the goal should befor counsel to receive a request that is transparent and can beprioritized by both counsel and claims, and further incorporatesthe requested information, as well as the capture of thatinformation without requiring reference to separate forms ordocuments. Meanwhile, an automated workflow will track, monitor,and remind the parties of outstanding tasks. This process shouldcarry through to all milestones and information required in thelitigation cycle, and be flexible enough so that, as information ona case changes, automated workflow can help move the case projectforward. If a trial date is set, then the completion of a pre-trialreport ensues. If counsel proposes an increase in budget, then anupdated assessment of the case necessarily must be offered.

The efficiencies of automated workflow are best realized whendeployed in a truly shared environment. In the mainstream, thismeans leveraging secured cloud or Software as a Service (SaaS)technologies that are purpose-built to enjoin parties aroundmatters for focused collaboration, regardless of geographic ororganizational structure. Importantly, and unlike many portalofferings, administrative and security control should still restwith the primary consumer (the carrier). Litigation managementworkflows frequently involve collaboration across systems or, at aminimum, through a firewall. Panel counsel frequently has no directaccess to the claims system, thus leaving the adjuster and counselto manage workflow through email.

SaaS-managedand delivered workflow reduces adjuster workload and enhances theprocess through the sharing of information within a single system.Pushing that information automatically to the claims system andcentral file or document repositories can similarly be managedthrough integration, leaving the adjuster to focus on case strategyinstead of data management. Deposition summaries, invoices, andemails, for example, may all be included in the case file throughan automated push of data from the collaborative application to thecarrier's document system—again, without asking adjusters oradministrators to "upload" and "download" material for the sake ofimproved collaboration. 

Benefits Overflow
Applied business intelligence (BI) tools should also offer addedtransparency and exception reporting to claims management. Suchtools can serve to provide the aggregated trial docket for anadjuster, a supervisor or a region and also the contextualintelligence to assist in counsel selection. Upcoming trials andcritical discovery deadlines, for example, can come into sharpfocus for adjusters and their managers as these dates andmilestones approach. Combining robust e-billing and case managementtools, this data can be overlaid with severity, expense, and evenprojected outcome data so that limited resources may be used mosteffectively. After the closure of a case, counsel's performance canbe subjectively evaluated through scoring, which should be capturedand used throughout the BI process to evaluate performance at anaggregated level.

Since workflow tasks and deadlines are captured throughout theprocess, including the information required in budgeting andassessment, performance may be measured on a three-dimensionallevel and include key indicators such as budgeting behavior,expense management, and total case cost (expense plus outcome).This highlights perhaps the most important part of an intelligentlyapplied workflow and technology: the ability to aggregate, use, anddeliver information once relegated to the adjuster's desk,individual claim files or even the adjuster's inaccessible datawarehouse. This information can now be used for the greaterbusiness benefits of the company.