A Claims-IT Pocket Dictionary

In a perfect world, claims professionals seek the latest claims technologies that can help them boost productivity and quality. In the real worldthe one adjusters inhabitthey are too bogged down with crushing caseloads to welcome interruptions.
Information technology is a staff role. Right or wrong, adjusters often see the well-meaning intervention of the IT staff as a distraction. Adjusters entombed in meetings for hours fret about the work piling up at their desks, the phone calls and e-mail to return, and how theyll have to log extra evening hours to get their real work done because of all the time spent noodling in meetings.

4. Claims people understand ITs role within the insurance company organizational structure. Many claims people still may cling to a Revenge of the Nerds stereotype of someone walking around with a pocket protector and Coke-bottle glasses. Claims people may not understand what projects the IT folks are working on; nor might they care unless the IT folks explain how these projects will help claims people adjust claims better or faster.

Moral: Avoid speaking computer-ese and translate into English to pique the interest of the claims staff. With any IT project or initiative, ask yourself, Why wouldor shoulda claims adjuster be interested in this? If you cant answer that question in 20 words or less, reassess the project or try justifying it to some other internal constituency.

Getting beyond these common myths will help the communication between IT and claims departments. Organizational approaches also can enhance collaboration, though.

Collaboration Strategies

One solution some companies have found successful lies in creating cross-functional teams comprised of claims and IT employees, especially for special projects.

Donna Popow is director of claims curriculum and intellectual property at the Insurance Institute of America. In a past life, she was a claims liaison on several joint IT-claims projects that highlight the communication challenges between these disciplines.

A common trouble spot, Popow observes, arises when IT folks purchase off-the-shelf software that does not fit the claims departments needs. For example: no data field for the insureds address, or showing reserves as negative numbers. IT folks might think this is a small matter, but it may be a big deal for the adjuster and the policyholder.

Generally, in speaking with IT people, Popow says, it helps to have a translator. She adds, There is claims logic, and then there is IT logic.

To bridge the communication challenges, Popow suggests the insurer find a claims person who happens to be a computer geek at home. She advises, Look for the guy whos constantly talking about how you need to improve your claims workflow. How you need to do this or thatthats your candidate to act as the go-between.

Popow concedes another challenge is the time demands on claims people to get involved in IT-related projects that may have distant payoff but represent a short-term bleed of time away from handling claims. You may need to tell the claims people, Popow says, I need an hour a day of your time.

Get them away from their desks to minimize distractions. Or you may need to dedicate a claims person to the proj-ect. To ensure claims still get handled well, she points out, an organization may need to bring on additional temporary claims staff and consider this as a part of the projects expense.

Another problem Popow observes is rolling out a claims/IT project before its finished. Upper management has a tendency to do this, she notes, because it has long since committed to a deadline that was not necessarily realistic. Claims people must have buy-in as to the project and its completion date.

Claims adjusters and IT professionals do not need to exchange fashion tips, learn how to accessorize each other, or swap decorating ideas. They need not reach consensus on the finest wine to order with dinner.

These weighty decisions we can leave to prime-time TV. They do, however, occasionally need to learn to walk a mile in each others shoes.

Pruning jargon, collaborating on ways to improve claims processes, and respecting each others time is a recipe for building bridges between these two key functional areas. Islands cannot be forced together, but bridges can im-prove the flow of information and ideas that benefit an insurance company overall.

Kevin M. Quinley, CPCU, is senior vice president, risk services, at Medmarc Insurance Group, Chantilly, Va. He can be reached at kquinley@medmarc.com or his Web site, www.kevinquinley.com His latest book, Adjusting Adversity: How Claims Pros Handle Worst-Case Scenarios, is published by The National Underwriter Company, www.nuco.com.