Digital Cameras Pay Off, Agents Say

Insurers also want confirmation that an insured has made recommended changes to commercial properties. Mr. Ruchman's firm is able to photograph the property to show whether there has been compliance.

Mr. Ruchman said his firm often takes photographs, even if it is merely providing a quote on a potential new account. This helps "kill two birds with one stone," because if the firm picks up the account, it does not have to return to photograph the property. If the account is not picked up, the images are easily wiped out of the digital camera's memory, he noted.

He also likes to personalize proposals to insureds with digital images of the properties involved, he said. Because the images can be downloaded into his computer, they also can be easily incorporated in a report.

Mr. Ruchman said he likes the professionalism of being able to instantly supply a picture when requested by an insurer. "I can either print [the picture], e-mail it or put it into the client's file electronically, so we always have it on record," he explained.

Robert Franzese, president of Capital Region Insurance Agency Inc. in Albany, N.Y., only recently purchased a digital camera, a Sony Mavica model. "We had spoken to a few other agents who have been using them and realized it was going to be much easier to use in the field than what we had been using," he said.

Mr. Franzese, a past president of PIANY, cited very practical reasons for choosing to use digital cameras. "As you're using them to take pictures of properties and homes, you're not reloading a camera, you're not taking film with you, you're not forgetting film, and you're not having film be subject to the elements, such as the heat or the cold, when you leave a camera in your car or briefcase," he noted.

Not only are digital photos easy to edit, Mr. Franzese said, but in the very few instances where his firm must print the photos for a carrier, even black and white prints are "vivid and can show all the important reasons you took the pictures."

Mr. Franzese's agency photographs automobiles, properties and many types of dwellings. The firm also photographs equipment in connection with its inland marine insurance work, he noted.

Storage of digital photographs also is easier and more efficient than with their film counterparts. In fact, Mr. Franzese said that moving away from the "cumbersome process" of storing regular photographs was another reason for buying the digital camera.

Mr. Ruchman echoed this sentiment. "How many times do you take pictures and then have the envelope with all the pictures? So you put it aside. Or you take these pictures and put them in the client file."

Since, practically speaking, only about a year or two of paper files can be kept in an active office, an agency ends up sending client filesalong with 35mm photographsto dead storage, Mr. Ruchman noted.

But once a digital photograph is in the client database, "it stays there forever," and it will not deteriorate in quality, unlike regular photographs, he said.

Mr. Franzese also likes the fact that it is much easier to document digital photographs. By comparison, he said, if a number of 35mm photographs are shot at one time, "inevitably you neglect to document something."

Both Mr. Franzese and Mr. Ruchman are finding their digital cameras to be a good investment. In fact, Mr. Ruchman said that his "only expense is changing the batteries."

He did admit that moving from his beloved film camera to a digital version was not easy initially. "The first time I used [the digital camera] I was ready to slam it against the wall, because you have to set it up a certain way, press certain buttons, and get into certain programs," he revealed. But "the second time I went out, it was great."

Mr. Ruchman readily admits that he didn't spend much for his digital camera. "But you don't need an expensive camera," he added.

"I'm not concerned about portrait quality. I just want a nice clear picture I can put in the client's file," he stated.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, August 26, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.