Inspecting Gadget

Processing an inspection was a time-consuming task at Quincy, Mass.-based Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company ($1 billion in total assets). Underwriters for the P&C insurer filled out inspection orders manually and then faxed them to inspection companies, each of which had a different inspection form. There was no tracking system to follow the progress of reports, and underwriters had no access to a report's status during the inspection process. Only when the process was complete could underwriters review the reports, which were manually imaged into Quincy's internal proprietary document imaging system.

All of these steps resulted in a process that could take up to six weeks. "This was not the most efficient process. We were striving to become a paperless office, and finding an efficient solution to reduce the paper-inspection process and implement a more sophisticated means of managing our inspections was important," says Paula Laberge, Massachusetts' personal lines territory manager for Quincy Mutual.

In June 2005, Quincy Mutual started searching for a customizable system that would streamline the inspection process and track reports. After looking at a few vendors, which it declines to name, the carrier chose Myriad Development's (Austin, Texas) Risk Manager, a Web-based property inspection processing and management platform that automates the inspection process and helps insurers manage multivendor inspection programs. "Myriad was the best selection for us because the product would streamline and manage reports," says Laberge. And Myriad does "most of the work on their end."

In November 2005, Myriad began extracting policy information from its proprietary policy administration system and transferring the data to the vendor's system, which is based on an Enterprise Class Oracle (Redwood Shores, Calif.) Database, where the address on the policy is verified and standardized. Once integrated into Myriad's system, Quincy Mutual is able to access and track all of the data through a Web portal.

Risk Manager automatically routes Quincy's policies through Myriad's proprietary business rules engine, where an inspection company is chosen based on location and policy. That company completes the inspection on a standardized form, adds any photos and electronically sends the report back to Myriad, where the policy is run through another rules engine to verify that it's complete. The form is then routed to the proper Quincy Mutual underwriter.

Since going live with Myriad's Risk Manager in February 2006, Quincy Mutual has seen an increase in productivity and workflow efficiency. Inspection reports that had taken over a month to complete are now taking three weeks. Plus, underwriters now also can retrieve inspection documents and see where inspections are in the underwriting process. "There is no more hunting for information. Documents that could potentially have taken a day or two to find can now be found in seconds," says Laberge. "Myriad was key in making this a simple and easy process."

company

Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company (Quincy, Mass.; $1 billion in total assets).

lines of business

Property and casualty insurance.

vendor/technology

Myriad Development's (Austin, Texas) Risk Manager inspection processing platform.

challenge

Automating the carrier's inspection underwriting process.