8 Steps to the Paperless Office

We spoke with the principals of several "paperless" agencies about how they achieved this mystical state. Here are their recommendations.

1. Examine your processes.

For established agencies, going paperless involves rethinking existing processes and workflow. "If you have processes that are iffy, that don't demand or necessarily require technology, then you don't have paperless," Page says. "You may not have efficiency, and you may end up with substandard customer service."

Going paperless centers on breaking the paper habit. "We went cold turkey and started migrating everything we touched into digital form and attached in our agency system. We did not go back and scan old files unless we needed them for the transaction," says Angelyn Treutel Zeringue, president of SouthGroup Insurance-Gulf Coast in Bay St. Louis, Miss. "We use front-end scanning. As paper mail comes in, it is converted to digital to be distributed…Because we have multiple offices, it is easier for us to share all of our documents electronically." The conversion took a year, "but it was very manageable with no backlog–and we will never go back to the paper way!" she says.

"I'm in the habit of processing whatever documents hit the companies' websites overnight, like endorsements and renewals, the next day in real time," says Marcie Cary, owner of Peak Insurance Group in Erie. Colo. "I'm so happy to no longer have that looming stack of paper staring at me."

And some newer agencies have bypassed paper from the start. Tom Davenport, president of Blue Marsh Insurance in Birdsboro, Pa., started his agency in 2008 as paperless, with all documents scanned into the agency management system and downloads from almost all its carriers to update client information. The addition of DocuSign electronic signature streamlined processes even more, cutting postage costs, saving time, and providing a better customer experience, he says.

2. Get insurer buy-in.

Needless to say, carrier support is a must in the quest for paperless. "All of our carriers and a good number of our clients prefer digital correspondence," Zeringue says. "All of our carrier communications are either downloaded to our agency management system or emailed. We are hoping soon that more of our carriers will adopt the activity/note communications that will be routed automatically into our agency system."

Adds Cary: "As of this week we are even now turning off receiving paper copies from all but one of our companies. All our companies have ecopies available online, so we don't bother with scanning."

However, there is still some resistance to electronic signatures, a process which eliminates document printing, Davenport notes. "Only one or two of our carriers still want 'wet-ink' signed documents, but I expect they'll eventually join us in the 21st century."

3. Get employee buy-in.

Believe it or not, this can be tricky, even in today's high-tech agency. "You need employees to fully embrace the process, but the problem is we're dealing in a world that still believes in the fax machine," Page says.

This was the case at Ericson Insurance Advisors, where a recaltricant producer ran a "dual system" of entering data but still hoarding paperwork, "until we caught him because he wasn't comfortable using image documents," says president Peter Houldin. The producer was retrained and got rid of his paper files.

Then there are teams like Davenport's that embrace technology and look for ways to use it to improve business efficiency and customer service. "Our clients love that we can help them quickly with whatever they need, whenever they need it," he says. "Carriers overall have been very supportive as well, although there are a couple that still need to get on board with electronic signatures."

4. Technology rules!

Scanners, dual monitors, mobile tech and other advances are converging to render paper obsolete, and smart agencies are finding ways to leverage it. Agencies like Ericson have multiple monitors and scanners for each employee.

Rethinking old processes with new technology is another step toward paperless. Replacing fax machines with efax accounts allows you to receive and send documents via email and attach PDFs created in the process to the client files in the agency management system, Page says. Similarly, voice mail systems can send .wav files for after-hour calls that are emailed immediately and can be forwarded via email and attached to a client's file. "That's technology followed by process and the combination creates efficiency," he says.

5. Your AMS is critical–or not.

A solid agency management system is an important part of the paperless process.

In launching his agency, Tom Davenport relied on his Hawksoft agency management system, which has since grown with the firm, he says.

But the type of system is not as important as the ability to design processes and workflows to work around its confines, Page says. "There is no silver bullet for the small independent agency," he says. "Much as there is not one tool that a woodworker uses to do their job, we use a combination of tools and they work pretty well."

 6. Start with personal lines.

Many agencies find it simpler to launch the paperless process with personal lines, which led the way on automation. "We have been paperless starting in 1999 with personal lines; a couple of years after that, commercial lines went paperless and in 2008 we took our accounting system paperless," says Rosi Przybilla, owner of Marshik Insurance Agency in Little Falls, Minn.

7. Consider the cloud for remote working.

Part of the paperless revolution involves the ability to work anywhere without having to truck files or documents. At Ericson, the agency can conduct business worldwide because employees can "work from anywhere," Houldin says.

Another major benefit is that the agency's paperless status renders it "disaster proof," as long as the server is backed up, Houldin says. "Our files can't burn or get wet, and that's a huge positive."

8. Clear the desk(s)!

The final step in the paperless process is enjoying all those clear surfaces and extra square footage in your office. 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. "And they don't need a lot of surface space because there's no paper," Houldin adds. "The running joke was that everyone got a two-drawer cabinet on wheels–for their personal items, not for paperwork."

And recognize that paperless is a process and a state of mind. "The only file cabinets in the office are for health insurance supplies/marketing materials," Przybilla says. "The final step will be to get our desks paperless. Several of us have been in the business for 20+ years, and that is the final mountain to climb."