Gregg Bieri is manager, new records business development forCanon Business Process Services.

Despite the fast-paced, technology-centered world in which welive, insurance is still a largely paper-based industry. While the use of tablets for data capture is on the rise, the useof paper by providers, partners, and customers is part of thelifeblood of almost any property & casualty insurancecompany.  From mortgage applications and appraisals toclaims forms and third-party reports, paper is not likely to beeliminated from insurance processes for years to come—if atall.

Such a massive paper influx can breed complexity—apolicyholder's file can be hundreds of pages long and consumemassive storage space.  And when a customer calls with aquestion or a claim, finding the necessary information can be likefinding a needle in a haystack.  Multiply that by yourentire customer-base and you are dealing with a significant amountof space, time, and money.

Many p&c insurance providers have implemented a scanningprocess, whereby forms and records are digitized for safe andcost-effective storage and handling.  However, that isonly the first step to effectively streamlining businessprocesses.  The next is to make forms and records'intelligent,' so the information is integrated into varioustechnology systems and properly indexed for simple extraction.

Insurance companies can easily integrate paper-based documentsinto a variety of systems and databases with a few simplekeystrokes.  Optical Character Recognition (OCR) softwareis a tool that makes this possible and is part of a larger processcalled Business Process Imaging, which is a holistic approach tomanaging front-end document conversion activities that support anongoing business process.

Conversion activities, whether managed internally or on anoutsourced basis, can encompass distributed document intake andpreparation, OCR scanning, indexing and validation, related tasks(such as manual data entry), and integration with theorganization's workflow, databases or other systems.  Theinformation is in essence, "brought to life," as it goes from dumbto dynamic data that can be used in a variety of businessapplications, including customer relationship management, sales,procurement, and enterprise resource planning.

The information will also become more easily searchable soemployees can find it quickly and efficiently.  As opposed to sifting through thousands of pages of paper, findinga piece of information can become as easy as pressing Ctrl+F.

Insurance providers can utilize BPI practicesto drive improvements in a few key areas:

• Improving Customer Service and Satisfaction: BPI enables theinsurance provider to improve customer service.  When acompany can process documents and information more quickly, it canrespond to customers faster and more efficiently.  This isenabled by converting paper-based information into digitalworkflows and searchable documents that are stored in electroniccontent management and records management systems.  Thesesystems are connected to relevant ERP, CRM, and core businesssystems.

• Advancing Internal Processes, Products and Services: BPItechnology improves internal processes as well as products andservices by making information, knowledge, and documents availableat their earliest point of entry into the organization—and inmultiple formats to anyone who needs them.  This approachchanges the character and shape of a business process by cuttingdown cycle time, removing processing steps and providing moreadvanced methods of completing the process.
• Mitigating Business Risk: Potential loss from fire damage,natural disaster, and even theft can be easily mitigated by backingup your documents electronically, and the easiest way to do this isthrough the use of BPI.  As a gateway to the organization,this conversion can help reduce organizational risk by gathering,capturing, indexing and channeling documents into controlledarchives and electronic workflow.  Business risk can bereduced through more effective records management and faster accessto critical information that supports key organizationalprocesses.

The process of digitizing paper-based documents and turning theinformation held within into viable data generally undergoes avariety of steps.  These include:

• Pre-scan: Incoming mail reception, sorting and documentpreparation.
• Scan: Capture/Scanning; Optical Character Recognition; or therecognition of printed or written characters by a computer; qualitycontrol and indexing.
• Post-scan: Validation, data entry, data extraction, exceptionhandling, archiving, data lookup, setting up physical files forrecords or documents and copying and forwarding special originalrecords.

These steps constitute the transaction set-up, enabling thebusiness process (e.g. accounts payable, new account processing,claims processing) to proceed more quickly and efficiently.

While the initial activities around the development of aneffective BPI plan may seem daunting, partnering with a providerthat offers expertise in this area will take much of the burden offa company's employees and enable them to focus on the valuable,revenue-generating activities that they do best.  In doingso, the insurance providers will be rewarded with business processmanagement solutions that help improve efficiencies, contain costs,achieve operational excellence and mitigate risk in a complexbusiness world.