Established in 1973 by John W. Arbucho & James F. Rosen, Suburban General Insurance (SGI) is a mid-sized, family-owned insurance company that is committed to serving their customers' total needs with both commercial and personal lines of insurance. The company represents the country's leading insurance carriers all of whom meet high standards for quality products, prompt claim payments and sound business practices.

The Challenge

SGI operated with a paper-based file system, like many companies using a manual system, they dealt with the frustration of having both on and off-site storage locations, misfiled and lost documents, and long retrieval times. These issues hindered SGI's agents from making the best use of their time, including pursuing new business. Customer files were large and complex. As an example, a small $500 policy generated 50-100 pages of documentation while a complex commercial policy could have hundreds of pages. Furthermore, inconsistent filing procedures meant customer files were never in the same order. This made locating a particular document within the file very time consuming.

Processing a claim, or changing policies for existing clients, required agents to retrieve three to four different files, spend time locating the needed document, make the change, fax a copy of the change to the insurance carrier, place a copy of the fax in the file, and enter the change in the policy management system - all very paper and time intensive.

Enterprise Content Management Needs

The company wanted to implement an electronic storage system that would eliminate the need to file and re-file customer files. They wanted a system that was cost-effective to maintain and that would be easy for their employees, ranging in ages from 21-60, to learn and use.

The Solution

Working closely with SGI, a plan was developed to implement the Enterprise Content Management solution. The process included examining document storage/retrieval methods, indexing criteria, hardware sizing, scanning methodology, and user training needs.

The company wasted no time in moving towards a paperless office, scanning both current documents and their backlog of older information simultaneously. Using select lists, documents are indexed by client number, policy type, document type and effective date, providing the company with many different methods for quick and easy access to information.

The Benefits in Detail

User Benefits

Since implementing the system, the mundane task of hunting for information then re-filing it has been eliminated. Employee productivity has increased dramatically and employee stress levels have gone down now that information is readily available and the office is no longer visually cluttered with customer files. Requests for a copy of an entire customer file are easily met. The agent simply performs a search by client number, places the results list in date order and prints a complete chronological copy of the customer file.

Departmental Benefits

On a department level, SGI's employees' new efficiencies allow them to devote much more time towards generating new business. In the past, 75% of the company's efforts were devoted to servicing customer's accounts. With ECM, the sales side of the business is the new focus and revenue is increasing.

"It's now a joy to come into the office. Employee stress levels are down and it has changed the entire mood at work. We've freed up so much time that we can now really concentrate on the sales end of our business versus the service side. I'm very happy that we've reached this goal! Because we've had more time and effort to dedicate toward sales, we've increased our billable premiums by $3-4 million with only two years of effort, "said DeBonis.

Corporate Benefits

SGI's Return on Investment (ROI) was felt immediately. The change in the mood at the office and the increase in productivity were the first contributions to the ROI and SGI felt the investment in system was justified on that basis alone; however, with the reduction in needed office and storage space, the company was able to eliminate off-site storage fees and move to a smaller office saving close to $30,000 annually.

"We finished scanning our backlog one month before our move. Amazingly, we moved to our new office without any paper files. A year after we implemented the system, we could really see the impact ECM had made for us. Our company witnessed a dramatic 180 degree turn financially," said DeBonis.
Additionally, the solution helped SGI meet state and federal records retention regulations and ensures crucial documents are available if ever needed for a court case, thus reducing their legal liability.

With a scanner at almost every desk, the company is more organized and has less errors and omissions, reducing the cost of SGI's own omissions insurance policy. Fred DeBonis feels that SGI's adoption of electronic document management solidified the company's position in New Jersey for another 15­20 years by putting the company in control of costs and on the leading edge of technology. SGI has witnessed other insurance agencies not willing to update their business practices with electronic document management, simply being left behind and/or going out of business. The big picture - ECM is the key component in Suburban General Insurance's ability to maintain their commitment to providing their customers with quality insurance products, prompt claim payments and sound business practices.