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Paper documents will first need to be converted into digital form, and important documents will need to be integrated into business processes, if a true electronic workflow is to become a reality. In a sales situation, the most efficient place to convert paper documents into digital ones is on a customer's premises. Scanners play a major role here. Since individual requirements always differ, there are many diverse solutions available for capturing data; it all depends on the industry.

ON THE ROAD EDM
The insurance industry as a whole is lagging behind most other industries in the digital transition. Digital is a known area where customers are increasing demand and service costs can be reduced, but there is still slow progress in adoption.

Insurance brokers and agents typically face the same problem. Many potential customers nowadays simply go to the internet and do not require a personal visit by an insurance agent. For some policies, such as homeowners' insurance contracts with low three-digit premiums, this may be an acceptable alternative. Customers can't go wrong and it no longer pays for an agent to visit due to the minimal commission earned on such business.

More complex policies such as life, automobile or fire insurance require intense selling effort - and thus generate higher commissions. These types of contract include a lot of details which require attention. Therefore customers usually appreciate personal input from an insurance broker.

Brokers everywhere, however, are coming under enormous cost pressure nowadays. Declining demand for sales assistance is causing fees and commissions to diminish. Agents thus need to work as efficiently as possible when visiting a client. Many agents already have notebooks which are connected to the Internet, often in conjunction with mobile printers. That allows them to print out a contract immediately, and complete it on the spot.

But what typically follows is 'data discontinuity!' The agent takes the completed, signed contract back to his office with him and then sends it via the head office's mailroom for further processing. The mailroom is typically the first place where documents are scanned. Legal receipt occurs, the insurance company signs the document, prints it out again and sends the paper document back to the client by post.

MAKING PROGRESS
But there is a much more progressive way of doing things, one that has advantages for everyone. An agent could scan signed contracts while still with clients and send them to the home office. The head office would then check them over quickly, sign them electronically, and immediately send them back. The agent could then print out the completed policy while still with a client and present it to him. The whole electronic process need not last any longer than the time it takes for a pleasant coffee break with the client.

Once the contract comes back, the insurance broker can print it out immediately and hand it over, much to the satisfaction of his client. In fact, the coffee break presents still another opportunity to explore what other needs a client might have and to sell add-on products accordingly.

This procedure is similar in quality to a customer concluding an insurance contract directly via the Internet. Everyone is satisfied: customers because they quickly receive a legally binding contract; sales associates because they may receive more commission than they originally expected; and the head office because the contract immediately enters into its document management system. From there it can proceed to further processing, review or to the archive.

There are still more advantages for insurance companies. Electronic documents originate on site and proceed seamlessly to the accounting department and into the document management system. This process is much less prone to error. The only thing missing from this head office scenario would be to classify the electronic documents so that they can be retrieved when needed, and then to provide them with a date stamp for archiving purposes.

A detailed document lifecycle management tool, which many insurance companies have already introduced, assumes a completely different character when one realises that such a system is much cheaper to implement on a day-to-day basis. Introducing an affordable scan solution at the source (i.e. the agent) greatly simplifies one link in the chain.

The result is a low-priced, external solution. An investment such as this would amortise itself for an insurance company within a few months. There are lower mailroom costs and less manual correction of errors, whilst the entire transaction gets processed faster.

In summary, while many insurance agents in the field still work with paper documents, 'business at the speed of paper' is no longer cost-efficient and acceptable to customers. The cost pressure alone, under which agents work today, demands more efficient workflows based on electronic documents.

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