NJM Case Study

by Gordon Hoke

The Client

Founded more than 80 years ago, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company (NJM) is the largest workers compensation underwriter and the fourth largest automobile insurer in New Jersey. NJM provides:

lPolicies for more than 500,000 private passenger autos.

l16,500 Workers’ Compensation policies.

Headquartered in West Trenton, New Jersey, the company employs a total of 1,800 people in West Trenton and in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Experiencing rapid growth, NJM is currently adding to its Trenton facility—the fifth addition since 1976. A third location in South Jersey is also being added.

Current lines of business include:

lThree tiers of auto insurance.

lWorkers’
Compensation.

lHome insurance.

lUmbrella liability policies.

Stacking boxes and boxes of paper

In the early 1990s, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance (NJM) was drowning in paper. "We were processing 2 million pieces of paper per year," said Chuck Pekala, image and interface specialist. "We had file cabinets, boxes, and more boxes, but there was not enough space. We even had storage files off-site in warehouses. We were microfilming inactive files, but we still didn’t have enough room."

Space was not the only issue, however. "It took too much time to file and retrieve within that environment," said Pekala. "We pride ourselves on customer service, but when a customer calls and the paper you need could be on one of 200 customer service desks, it’s difficult to provide immediate answers!"

Leadership investigates options

Don Leypoldt, senior vice president, and Paul Beiger, vice president of information technology, decided that a different option was crucial to company success and began investigating electronic imaging for data storage. What interested them, as they read and attended conferences, was the additional possibility of actually using that electronic data in company workflow. "We looked for a five-star imaging solution vendor who could provide the electronic document storage for a safe and easy access by multiple users, along with workflow capabilities," said Beiger.

In the spring of 1996, the two men connected with SolCom at an industry conference, and they realized it was a match. "SolCom was an industrial strength image solution provider that met our requirements," said Beiger.

"As developers of IBM ImagePlus/400*, SolCom people had in-depth understanding of what could be done," said Pekala. "They had the background to help us see the range of uses possible for us. We had not thought of incorporating photos and video, for example. There’s nothing better than going to the source—people who have been with imaging from the ground up!"

NJM also liked the fact that SolCom used a Windows-based viewer and was able to customize the graphical interface to use information from their line-of-business applications.

SolCom quickly provides solution

In June of that same year, SolCom installed its MultiManagerTM, and within a week NJM was scanning Personal Auto Insurance Policy (PAIP) folders. By the following week, document image viewing was available throughout the facility.

Because of the significant paper backlog, the company quickly moved to scanning past flood and umbrella insurance records, as well as Workers Compensation inspectors’ reports. Within two months of implementation, employees were able to view all these records at their desktop workstations rather than trekking from file cabinet to box in order to find and retrieve a piece of paper.

Three months later, NJM expanded its MultiManager document management solution and began using the system to automate and streamline work processes.

Automating the renewal work flow

NJM began by automating the Family Auto Policy renewal process. Whenever an NJM auto policy is due for renewal, a renewal form is mailed to the policy holder. To automate this process, NJM now includes bar codes on the bottom of this form, denoting the form name and the policy number. When the completed renewal form is received by NJM, the form is fed through a scanner and automatically indexed into the appropriate policy folder. Using the information barcoded on the renewal form and on the main frame, the folder is automatically routed by MultiManager to the appropriate electronic in-box, or workbasket, of the person assigned to renew that policy.

Electronic workflow allows the folder information to be automatically routed from person to person as the policy is renewed. For example, if information is missing in the renewal folder, the renewal is put on hold and simultaneously routed to Customer Service. A Customer Service representative then tracks down the missing information. When the missing information is scanned or imported into the document imaging system, the renewal process is automatically restarted once again.

MultiManager is tightly integrated with NJM’s line of business applications, allowing electronic reminders to be automatically sent to the NJM employees responsible for a renewal as that renewal date draws near. If a renewal file is on hold awaiting information and the renewal date is looming, the workflow system will automatically resend the file to the renewal representative’s workbasket for immediate attention.

Improving customer service

Customer service representatives are pleased with the enhanced access. "When a customer calls, I have ready access to the documents for that inquiry," said one NJM customer service representative.

"In a paper environment, the papers floated from desk to desk, and when a customer called with a question, the customer service representative would have to figure out who had the forms," explained Pekala. "Now each of the 200 representatives has instant access to all the forms. They are almost always able to provide immediate answers to customer questions."

Workers Compensation claims immediately paid

Workers Compensation claim processing was also selected as an area to use electronic knowledge management. Now, when Workers Compensation bills from health care institutions arrive, they are scanned, indexed, and processed electronically. About 90% of them are paid within 24 hours. "It’s much easier to process them when the adjuster, bill payer, Audit Department, etc. can all have access to the bill at the same time," said Betty Ullman, NJM imaging project manager. "Access has greatly improved."

Imaging in demand

Within two years of initial implementation, 300 employees had converted to MultiManager as their method to access and view records. Difficulty in choosing the next department to enter the electronic knowledge management world continues. "The time line has gone faster than we originally thought, but frankly, we still can’t get the transition done fast enough," said Pekala. "We are getting requests left and right from departments wanting to use imaging--Homeowner, Auditing, Flood Operations. . ."

Implementation has been fast, furious—and paying off during a time of growth. "We’ve been too busy expanding to measure the results of imaging," said Pekala.

From June of 1996 to June of 1998, for example, the number of NJM Family Automobile policies increased from 258,573 to 293,973, a 14% increase. From 1996 to 1997, the number of customer service telephone calls increased from 1.3 to 1.4 million, an 8% increase.

Betty Ullman commented, "Just the fact that we have been able to keep up with our increase in policy holder activity shows us that electronic knowledge management is working for us."