Sharing policy information and communication
Has never been easier
Homesteaders Life Company works with funeral homes to help make a difficult day in a person’s life a little easier. Since 1906 Homesteaders has provided insurance funding for advance funeral plans, or “prearranged funerals.” The company is committed to the success of its funeral home customers and to providing long-term security for policy owners. Carolyn Strawn, Manager of Imaging and New Business, knows that nothing pleases customers (and employees) more than enjoying immediate access to policy information. She also recognizes that the company’s microfilm records system is no longer capable of delivering the speed and quality of service their customers demand and deserve. Since implementing a Digitech Systems Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system, Homesteaders has increased efficiency, saved $62,800 in the first year of use and improved the customer service process overall.
Documents and files
Were hidden everywhere
Homesteaders Life Company (www.homesteaderslife.com) is the nation’s leading pre-need insurance funding provider, offering funeral planning solutions to consumers through partnerships with more than 3,000 funeral homes in 44 states. The 106-year-old mutual insurance company is owned by its policy owners and employs nearly 170 people. In 2010 it generated approximately $425 million in revenue with nearly $2 billion in assets. In the 1980s and 90s, Homesteaders managed its insurance policies on paper and microfilm. With millions of documents to maintain, a separate storage room was needed to house all the records. Remote paper files and shelves of microfilm made information retrieval a burden to employees. The storage room was crowded with files and microfilm jackets stacked high and out-of-reach.
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Storage and search was made easy and compliant for all employees
During her search she spoke with Imagetek, and we suggested we start here on our Radix platform as soon as possible. After a demonstration, she selected it, because it offered a flexible solution that could change as the company’s needs transformed over time. “Everything could be converted in the timeframe we needed. They were able to convert paper, microfilm and microx records and do it for a price we were willing to pay,” said Strawn. To help them get started, the reseller provided services to convert the stored archives to electronic records. Millions of microfilm documents were scanned and exported into PaperVision Enterprise, where employees could instantly search and retrieve electronic records. Later, Homesteaders installed PaperVision Capture so their own employees could scan new and incoming documents. Implementation was fast, because the software is easy to use. “Training didn’t take long at all—just one week for all 165 people,” said Strawn. “Even the scanning and imaging team was trained in less than a day.”
“With electronic archives, employees no longer have to find, copy and fax microfilm files. As a result, the company saves $45,000 in personnel costs each year. Today, just two employees are needed to scan and index 18,600 pages of incoming mail each week.”
SHARING POLICY INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
Is handled digitally
The scalable ECM system was easily expanded to accommodate the new department and Workflow was added to accelerate invoice processing. Using the point-and-click graphical design tool, Bendickson set up WorkFlow for their unique business process. “As an add-on component WorkFlow was pretty straight forward to configure. Users don’t need an extensive programming background. I can handle changes myself, which helps with Flexibility,” he said. Today, the freight payment services department has increased Worldwide’s revenue by 30% — thanks to the fact that employees have the technology they need to handle invoices and provide a valuable service to customers. Using Radix and Workflow, the freight payment team electronically routes invoices to the proper person, alerts users of pending work assignment sand tracks progress step by step. With just a handful of people, they quickly handle hundreds of invoices each day dnd process all incoming payment documents by the end of the week. There is no backlog of work on Monday!