The insurance industry has embraced technology in its attemptsto make purchasing and managing claims easier for its customers.Now adjusters are coming online as well.

The number of mobile devices are expected to surpass the world'spopulation in 2020 by a towering 4 to 1 ratio,and insurers have turned to native apps, gaming andinformational mobile websites to help cull more customers to theirbusiness.

"The one that can jump ahead of the path is the one that's goingto be more what I call 'technovative' and appears to be moreinnovative and technologically advanced," said Dr. Kit Yarrow,author of Decoding the Consumer Mind, in a formerinterview with PC360.

But, while insurers have slowly been adapting to these newtechnologies, there has been very little progress in the adjusters'market to help them manage their workloads.

"The demand for the consumer to, I guess, manage their lifethrough their mobile device and their insurance policy, buying apolicy and making changes to their policy is the next logicalstep," said Tom Slimak, Chief Business Development Officer forProperty Damage Appraisers (PDA). But adjusters, Slimak said, havenot been afforded the same ease.

"Trying to fit my schedule with the vehicle owner's schedule wasalways a challenge, and that's not just on the auto side butparticularly on the heavy equipment side. Trucks just can't affordto be down that long," said Slimak, speaking also as a formeradjuster, himself.

It's that timing problem that gave PDA the opportunity todevelop a mobile option that could ultimately circumvent the timingissue, giving clients who work with heavy machinery more power inthe process.

PDA has introduced a "game changer," they say, for adjusters andtheir clients, with a web-based application called "PDA Xpress." Itallows for clients to take pictures of their damage and send off toa network of 600 appraisers and get a response to their claimwithin hours.

Similar apps are available for clients to take pictures, makenotes and send to their adjusters after an accident, but most areantiquated at this point.

Besides PDA Xpress, though, there are no other mobile toolsreadily made available for adjusters, specifically, and theirclients.

"The key differentiator between PDA Xpress and other solutionsthat are out there is that in not all situations is there a viableoption to write the appraisal off of those notes," says Slimak."What PDA has in place is our nationwide network of appraisers, sowhen you have those situations that just aren't that adequate towrite the estimate, we will dispatch one of our field appraisers tohandle our assignment."

PDA is also expecting to increase their technology efforts, bypartnering with businesses that work directly with appraisers, suchas salvage yards that can submit information on parts through PDAXpress. The process can help expedite the claims process by pushinga totaled vehicle into a salvage yard that can take pictures of thevehicle, send them to PDA which then adjusters can use to estimatefurther claims.