For many years now, the insurance industry has been highly reliant on paper files. In an article published on the website for Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, Inc., Susan LaBerre, a high-ranking insurance expert with Liberty Mutual, wrote that insurance carriers probably “generate and distribute more paper than any other industry”—save maybe publishing. Between copies of policies, contracts, claims, and other paperwork, most insurance companies are constantly storing hundreds, if not thousands, of papers of paper documents for each of their individual clients.
Going Digital
In her article, Susan LaBerre spoke about how “electronic policy delivery” could save insurance companies from having to waste so much paper. Wastefulness isn’t the only problem with the current way of doing things in the insurance world, however. On the contrary, while using tons of paper is not great for the environment, a company’s green sustainability is just one factor that would be impacted if insurance companies decided to deliver all policies electronically. In fact, most insurance carriers could go one step further and completely digitize their filing systems.
What would going digital do for the average health insurance or auto insurance company? First of all, it would be a huge space-saving initiative. When insurance companies produce pages upon pages of documents, they have to go somewhere. Sure, some of those files get mailed to clients. The bulk of them, though, go into filing cabinets or drawers. These physical filing systems, in turn, take up entire rooms or even warehouses—space that costs money to rent, lease, or buy.
By digitizing their files and organizing everything into a smart digital file manager, a health insurance company could get rid of all of those physical files. The saved space could then be used for other purposes or removed from the company’s expense sheet entirely.
File rooms are also simply not a great way of organizing files. If a health or auto insurance had to access an old client document, they would have to send a person into the file room to dig it out. Finding specific documents in physical filing systems is almost always difficult—and sometimes impossible, given the tendency for physical folders or pages to be misplaced or misfiled. As for accessing documents quickly or remotely, it’s almost always impossible: file rooms can only be accessed in person and always require a time commitment.
How Digital File Managers Could Help Insurance Companies Everywhere
By implementing a document management system like eFileCabinet, an insurance company could cut down on virtually all of the problems posed by a paper filing system. With eFileCabinet, it’s easy to set up a filing hierarchy that mimics your current filing system. This system makes it easy to drag-and-drop new files into different drawers and folders. It’s almost as easy to scan old paper documents into the system. Sharing different contracts or policies with specific clients, using secure, user-based permissions is a breeze, and it’s also just as easy to find certain files or folders using text search—even files that were scanned into the system from old paper pages. Accessing files remotely is seamless, as eFileCabinet is mobile-friendly.
To review, the features described briefly above solve all of the major problems that insurance companies face with their paper filing system. eFileCabinet cuts down on ongoing paper usage, helps digitize your filing system to save space, allows for seamless document sharing with clients, and makes it much easier to find and access specific files. In short, by adopting eFileCabinet as your insurance firm’s document management system, you will increase firm efficiency, shareability, and, believe it or not, security.
Many high-profile companies, insurance firms among them, are often reluctant to switch to digital filing because they fear doing so makes them more susceptible to hacks and cyber threats. But with eFileCabinet, you get 256-bit encryption on all of your files, role-based securities, built-in compliance with HIPAA and the SEC, a secure client portal (called SecureDrawer), and redundant file storage across numerous servers. In short, when you use eFileCabinet, you will be as safe from cyber attacks as feasibly possible.
Third-Party Insurance Software Integration
In recent years, we at eFileCabinet have also been working to add various third-party software integrations to our program. One of these is Sage, a business management software firm whose products are used by many accountants and insurance companies worldwide. Sage allows users to manage everything—from payroll and accounting to business lead generation—in a single “central hub.”
As of July 2015, eFileCabinet and Sage are partners. Sage’s software is now directly integrated with eFileCabinet’s document management system. The combination of accounting and business management software with document management software is a seamless one. By making it easier for companies like insurance firms to complete a wide range of employee and client management tasks in one computer program, we at eFileCabinet—and our partners at Sage—hope to reach a whole new subset of customers. Hopefully, we can be a part of the insurance industry’s move away from paper filing and toward digital document management.
Are you interested in learning more about eFileCabinet? Fill out the form on the screen to try out our free 15-minute demo.