Enhancing the Enterprise

Insurers are rethinking ECM strategies to benefit the entire enterprise rather than business silos, resulting in customer service, productivity and compliance improvements.

Converging ECM and CRM

Many insurers are exploring similar consolidation efforts. Craig Weber, senior analyst with Celent (Boston), predicts that over the next five years insurers will work to consolidate ECM systems and integrate them with customer relationship management systems to maximize their investments and optimize customer service. "The goal at the moment is to integrate components like forms repository, workflow, automation, use of imaging and recording of call center phone conversations all into an enterprise-level strategy," he says.

"[ECM] is the same thing as CRM," suggests Robert E. Nolan's Travers. They're both about "integrating data to better serve customers," he explains.

When CIO Craig Lowenthal helped launch New York-based Integro Insurance Brokers ($300 million in private placement) in 2005, he placed a premium on a content management system that would support customer service. "We are a client-centric organization, and we planned to integrate it to our customer relationship management system to provide superior customer service," he says.

In mid-2005, Lowenthal began looking for a solution that could process both paper-based and electronic content, and organize it for easy retrieval. "We wanted to leverage our investment, and what we found was that most content management systems assume paper-based inputs even though 75 percent of communications are coming in via e-mail, fax, voice mail, Web or through some other electronic system. So we knew we needed a system that could handle all [channels] well," he recalls.

Subsequently, Lowenthal conducted a proof of concept with three vendors: ImageRight, Perceptive Software's (Shawnee, Kan.) ImageNow and Q.Know (Reston, Va.). Because of Q.Know's ability to integrate with Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.) Outlook, according to Lowenthal, Integro signed with the vendor in December 2005 and installed Q.Know's Information Management software that same month, integrating the ECM solution with Integro's CRM system. The solution was rolled out in July 2006. "Anybody on a client team can see the content specific to that client, which services the client and creates transparency," says Lowenthal.