In this blog series, we’re looking at how enterprise content management brings modern technology to the insurance industry to streamline:
- Content capture
- Business process management (BPM) or workflow engine
- Case management
- Content management
- Integration with existing systems
- Enterprise file sync and share (EFSS)
- Mobile access
Part 4: Content Management: Red Flags are Flying!
Have you been to the beach this summer? Have you seen those flags at the life guard station indicating a strong undertow and massive waves? Noted any rough surf? “Not safe for swimming” is their message.
Are your content management processes waving red flags?
If you’re like most insurers, you’re on your second or third generation imaging and capture solution, trying to keep your legacy administrative systems afloat. You’ve got multiple silos and repositories of documents, content, forms, and data. The red flags are flying and it’s time to call the life guards.
Insurers looking to stay agile, automate functions, reduce costs, improve customer engagement, and concentrate processes on one platform are looking at enterprise content management (ECM). It’s the smart thing to do. A modern ECM solution accelerates insurers’ digital transformation by managing documents, cases and processes that legacy admin and document management systems can’t handle.
Here are the most common warning flags that it’s time to upgrade to an integrated ECM solution for content management.
Flag #1: Yesterday’s Systems Can’t Meet Today’s Needs
The most obvious warning flag is that your outdated document management system isn’t providing the features your organization needs today, and your business processes have evolved beyond the limited imaging and capture functionality from yesterday. Manual workarounds are time-consuming and inefficient.
Often, legacy systems interfere with new product launches, stymy collaboration among lines of business and obstruct the intuitive user experiences customers, agents and employees all expect.
Insurers need workflow management, document capture, records management and integration with email systems and mobile devices to drive information access. Modern ECM solutions for life insurance and property and casualty insurance deliver improved customer experiences, ease of use, transparency and content accessibility.
What lurks in the dark is the secret that many modern core admin systems do not possess: the ECM features needed to automate offline processes and provide that 360-degree view of an insured. It’s why modern ECM platforms offer integrations with modern core insurance systems. Replacing your legacy core systems does not eliminate the need for an enterprise content management system.
Flag #2: Siloed Information = Limited Communication and Content Access
Outdated and siloed systems can’t integrate with each other, leaving key documents, forms, notes and emails poorly managed and inaccessible. Employees need easy access to information, documents, cases, and data to make decisions and provide high quality customer service. Too often, knowledge workers have multiple applications open that require jumping from screen-to-screen and rekeying in the same information to retrieve or update data.
Legacy document systems with their piecemeal, slow and overly patched functions don’t deliver a full view of the data needed to open a new policy, process a claim or pay a commission.
Flag #3: Throwing Good Money After Bad
It’s costly to maintain an outdated legacy system. The total cost of ownership (TCO) keeps driving up when insurers are paying for third-party services, custom development and administrative overhead for a system that’s outlived its usefulness. The situation worsens if you’re locked into older hardware or operating systems that are well past their useful life. The scenario of adding costs without adding value is not one insurers can maintain.
Flag #4: Liabilities in Human Errors and Security Threats
Legacy solutions are breeding grounds for human errors and security threats. The problems are endless, from missing audit trails to misplaced customer information to documents misfiled or mishandled. Liabilities are everywhere. Similarly, most legacy systems were never built to withstand the current level of cyber-threats and breaches affecting all industries. Vulnerabilities in outdated solutions come with price tags in the thousands and millions.
These are the most common warning flags that your legacy document management system isn’t working. A modern ECM reduces costs, drives significant efficiencies and mitigates risk, while meeting the needs of the organization today and well into the future.
Next Up
Our next blog in this series will highlight how modern ECM integrates with existing systems.
But for now: are you seeing red flags about content management?
ImageSoft can guide you through the selection of enterprise solutions for insurers to achieve the efficiencies and cost savings you need. Our industry-leading solutions for insurance offer automated workflows, improved speed and efficiency, reduced costs and proper compliance. ImageSoft is ready to help your company reap the benefits from integrated enterprise content management.
Look for more information about our solutions for life and property and casualty insurance, plus workers’ comp.
Follow ImageSoft’s Insurance Solutions LinkedIn Showcase page for more details about ECM.