In today's market, insurance providers are under pressure to cut costs and deal with a multitude of issues that are threatening operational efficiencies. Claim departments are being pressured to reduce operating costs even further while minimizing leakage and improving customer satisfaction, cycle time, and compliance. This is changing the approach to hiring, training, and managing knowledge, which is sending providers on the hunt for new solutions.

In the past, because of the nature of what is sold — risk mitigation — the insurance industry has been a conservative technology adopter. However, new pressures and trends show that a shift is occurring. Driving business innovation and finding flexible solutions through technology is becoming increasingly important. Highest priority investments are those that provide increased efficiency and productivity.

One of the new technology buzzwords in the industry is performance support, an advanced knowledge-management approach that addresses major training and knowledge-management concerns of claim departments globally. In a nutshell, the system gives employees access to information that they need to assist them with their jobs. This means new employees hit the road running faster, errors in claim processing are minimized, and the process of dealing with customers is faster and smoother.