FFIC Renovates Claims With Accenture

Citing high-performing claims technology as a critical factor in customer satisfaction, growth and profitability, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (FFIC; Novato, Calif.) has selected Accenture's recently upgraded Claim Components solution to handle all claims submitted within the carrier's commercial, personal and specialty lines. "We chose this technology for its scalability and innovative design as well as its track record in the industry," says Paul Stachura, chief claims officer, Fireman's Fund.

Claim Components, which supports core claims transactions from first notice of loss through closure of claims, will replace a legacy system dating back to 1982, according to Adam Cook, vice president of claim solutions. The Accenture solution "is Web-based technology that will help us to improve the efficiency of the operation," he says. "It gives us the capability to automate routine tasks and assist adjusters in doing their job."

FFIC and Accenture will jointly implement the software, along with associated process changes, going live with one phase in the last quarter of 2007, with another more-significant one to follow in the first quarter of 2008, according to Cook.

Cook stresses that the implementation of the technology is only part of the overall transformation associated with the introduction of the Accenture solution. "This isn't just a plug-and-play," he remarks. "We won't simply have put in a technology solution to a legacy system, we will have reinvented or redesigned claims from A to Z."

The decision to implement Claim Components has been followed by an intensive change-management and communications program, according to Cook. "We'll be taking out a road show in early March to all of our major offices around the country," he says. "Part of implementing this is [establishing] employee ownership; we're having the adjusters build it and we're saying that it's 'by the field, for the field.'"

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio