Insurance ECM: Speed, Control and Understanding Risk

There has been strong growth in the uptake of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) in the past decade, fueled in large part by data. As the collection of data by companies has continued to grow, so has the need for managing that information so it can be organized, searched and used by the enterprise. Hyland Software has been one of the fastest growing Enterprise Content Management (ECM) companies in the industry. In 2009 its financial services revenue placed it in the top 100 technology companies in the IDC Financial Insights & American Bankers Association Annual FinTech Survey. Windows in Financial Services spoke with Ruth Fisk, Hyland’s director of insurance to gain insight into drivers for ECM in the insurance industry.

WFS: What are the emerging trends you see in the industry?

RF:  There is a continual interest in speed and the ability to process new business and pay claims more responsively. There is also a need for insurance companies to enhance their internal controls, providing measurements on how they are doing and how they are going to do business, whether it’s claims processing or determining what risks they are going to accept or reject. It’s all about maintaining profitability and sustainability in the market.

WFS: Ruth, tell us about the ECM value proposition Hyland Software brings to financial services and the insurance industry.

RF:  First, when we refer to the insurance industry, we are speaking to all segments and all product lines – commercial, personal lines, life and accident and health (A&H). In this arena, we provide solutions that help insurance companies more effectively manage their enormous quantities of business information. Our value proposition reaches across agents and brokers, carriers, reinsurers and all levels from a size and scope perspective. Ultimately, we help companies access information more effectively internally, as well as by their agents and brokers, policyholders, claimants and third-party providers.

WFS: What’s the value SharePoint provides to your insurance customers?

RF:  SharePoint provides that ease of information access through different portals, and most importantly helps our customers move to the next level of customer self-service. SharePoint can help provide access to information 24 hours, 7 days a week, when consumers want it, and it enables insurance companies to share information across regional and branch offices, at point-of-sale and across distribution channels.

All of this helps companies take the customer experience to a whole new level. This is important in light of the loss of confidence in the industry that has occurred in the past couple of years.

WFS: How does Hyland, together with SharePoint, deliver value in the insurance industry?

RF:  We develop solutions that address the needs of the consumer and insurance company through components that we build in SharePoint. These components provide the ability for insurance companies to be more responsive to their customers’ needs and to provide more effective communication both to the policyholder and distribution channel.

WFS: How would you describe Hyland’s differentiation from its competitors?

RF:  We provide solutions in all of the main core areas of insurance, from claims to underwriting, both external and internal components of ECM across the spectrum of insurance. Our experience and expertise includes personnel with direct knowledge of and experience within insurance. This allows us to develop solutions that are much more specific to the needs of the industry, whether it’s a point solution or a general ECM solution.

Our solutions manage policy origination, new business, product development, underwriting, claims, audit, legal, loss control, as well as HR, sales, marketing, and all of the general functions of business. To our customer, this nets out to improved competitive advantage and reduced expense ratios, allowing them to produce more business while not having to grow headcount.

Hyland was built on the premise that it would provide a superior solution to the challenge of capturing, organizing, maintaining, controlling, locating and archiving business information, and combine it with business process management. We are now one of the largest independent software vendors in the world of ECM delivering an award-winning suite of document and process management solutions.

About Hyland:  Hyland Software was founded almost 20 years ago, when enterprise content management (ECM) was in its early development as a methodology to capture, organize, maintain, control, locate and archive business information. Since then, Hyland has grown into an international firm with offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Hyland is now one of the largest independent software vendors in the world of ECM, delivering an award-winning suite of document and process management solutions.

For more information on ECM, SharePoint and the many companies that cover financial services, refer to our 65 page report:  Content and Document Management in Financial Services – SharePoint and Beyond

For more information Hyland, ECM, SharePoint and financial services, please refer to:  Corporate Insights – Hyland Software