For the most part, the benefits of technology and workflow are the same for insurance companies as they are for other organizations.

The insurance industry, though, has been slower to adopt workflow technology and other key information technology systems.

The industry's delay in upgrading these types of technology has to do with internal reluctance to adopt new systems or learn new software. Other reasons are more external and are actually industry-wide issues.

How can insurance agencies start adopting new technologies to improve their business process management (BPM) and create better communication and collaboration across the board? The first steps are to embrace document management software and to make it readily accessible and usable for every employee — not just those in the Information Technology department.

Document management software 

Insurance companies are starting to use BPM or document management software (DMS) to automate individual bits and pieces of their operations. For instance, many agencies have set up automated workflows to process employee invoicing, social media posts and more.

However, the problem right now is that these uses of automation in the insurance sector are few and far between and typically focused on only one or two parts of an organization. The result of this spread is what we call "silos." Automation and workflow in the insurance world are mostly isolated into these small, concentrated areas of use, instead of being expanded across entire organizations.

This "silo" system makes DMS and BPM less effective than they could be overall. Ideally, DMS should be able to establish workflows that can span an entire company.

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For example, a DMS allows users to design workflows that can send files automatically from individual employees to department heads, onto supervisors or company higher-ups for approval, and then finally onto clients or customers. When automated processes are locked into these smaller silo-like clusters, there is inherently less they can do to improve a company's efficiency and quality of work.

3 ways DMS can help

How can DMS take the insurance industry to the next level? What can individual insurance firms gain from investing in these programs? Here are three of the many ways that DMS can help to improve the insurance industry:

  1. Going paperless: By not taking full advantage of IT solutions, many insurance agencies are still stuck in the era of paper files and physical file rooms. Not only does it take a long time to find client policies or claims documents when digging through a filing cabinet, but it also costs a lot of money for companies to print and store paper documents. Adopting document management software makes it possible for insurance agencies to go paperless at last — thereby cutting costs and improving efficiency. (Photo: iStock)
  2. Easy collaboration: With a good DMS, files can be accessed anytime, from anywhere, on any device, making it easier than ever before for multiple people to work on the same file or case. One agent can access a client's policy documents from the field while preparing an adjustment, while the other can get the ball rolling on preparing the insurance claim for that client back at the office. This easy collaboration aids efficiency and accuracy and helps ensure that clients are getting the best service possible.
  3. Better workflows: It bears repeating: without DMS, files are typically either being faxed or sent via email — neither of which are secure or efficient methods of communication. With DMS, a file's path through an organization can easily be automated in a secure digital fashion. Whether the file in question is an invoice, a receipt, a claim, an adjustment, a policy document, or a report, you can set up a workflow to make sure that those documents get where they need to go for approval or reception. Add secure client portal technology and e-signature capability, and every step of the insurance claims process is made faster and more convenient by DMS.

Related: 3 questions to ask before automating your processes

Benoy Tamang is the CEO of Lehi, Utah-based eFileCabinet, Inc. You can reach him on Twitter @bxtamang.

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