May be you don't think too much about your workplace; it's just the place you go every day, filled with phones and files and people who process the information to keep your business running. Still, it's interesting to look at how the workplace has changed over the years.

As a business driven by clear-cut processes and the need for very specific, wordy documents, insurance is known as the realm of the proverbial paper-pusher. But although technology has shifted the workplace to the cloud and remote work situations, few agencies can claim to be truly paperless.

“The 'paperless' office is a myth, at least for the near future,” says tech guru Steve Anderson. “I spoke with a large bank-owned agency just yesterday and their legal counsel will not allow them to use an electronic signature process for clients. It is this type of legacy thinking that is holding back the industry from continuing to realize the customer satisfaction opportunities and productivity improvements a full paperless environment allows.”

“Though many are at some level of paperless, I would hazard a guess that the truly paperless are a smaller percentage,” agrees Ron Berg, executive director of the Agents Council for Technology (ACT) at the Big I. “It's absolutely a commitment from the top down, as we all know how much of a habit it is to jot things down on paper. But it can be done—and it is being done.”

One paperless success story is Ericson Insurance Advisors, an 85% personal lines firm based in Washington Depot, Conn. In 2003, President Peter Houldin hired summer help to scan the paper contents of the agency's file room and attach the client files to the TAM agency management system.

The move had an immediate impact on the agency's workspace by eliminating filing cabinets, freeing up the file room and eliminating one clerical position.

The process wasn't without hiccups. “We hired a producer after the transition who was running a dual system [entering data but still hoarding paperwork] until we caught him because he wasn't comfortable using image documents,” Houldin says.

Since then, the agency has added three to four monitors to each staffer's paper-free desk, and conducts business worldwide because employees can “work from anywhere,” Houldin adds.

Being paperless also helped the agency grow without having to move to a bigger space. Ericson recently celebrated its first year in a new building, after 40 years in its original location. Another paperless benefit: after the move, the agency was up and running in a single day.

Ericson's new offices are based on a collaborative work environment, with the service team arranged in pods of six units separated by low walls. “They don't need a lot of surface space because there's no paper,” Houldin adds. “Everyone got a two-drawer cabinet on wheels—for their personal items, not for paperwork.”

The average agency can become paperless “if you rid yourself of your paper dependency,” Houldin says. “It starts with the agency management system and download. Why wouldn't you want insurance carriers to download that directly into your management system?”

Special Reports /

The Paperless Office: Myth or Reality?

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