Patriot Risk Management Pilots iPad

The "latest and greatest" technology can be a be a hard sell for insurance CIOs, but sometimes it provides not only better performance but also superior economy. That is the thinking behind Patriot Risk Management's Apple iPad pilot, according to Judith Haddad, SVP and CIO of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based holding company, which sells workers' compensation insurance through its Guarantee Insurance Company subsidiary. By early fall, she reports, Patriot's iPad pilot will put the mobile devices in the hands of several of its field loss control and marketing personnel, with an ultimate view toward reducing costs and improving efficiency.

Haddad ties the company's iPad experiment to the entrepreneurial spirit of Steve Mariano, CEO of Patriot Risk Management (about $200 million in premium). "Steve looks at things differently and has a vision for how we can take a unique approach to writing and servicing workers' comp business," she explains. "With that vision, I'm trying to look at innovative solutions to keep costs down and equip our field force with the best tools."

Matters were helped by Mariano's preference for Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple's iPhone over Research in Motion's (Waterloo, Ontario) BlackBerry mobile device, Haddad suggests. "I had him use an [Apple] iPhone, and he loved it, so I implemented iPhones for senior management," Haddad says. "Having done that, the iPad pilot implementation was relatively easy."

Practical Pilot

Haddad stresses that the move to the iPad was not undertaken for aesthetic, fashion or even ergonomic reasons. The goal of the iPad pilot, she insists, is to prove the practical viability of a solution that has clear cost advantages over the alternatives.

The most expensive iPads cost about $700, compared to a cost of about $1800 for field-suitable laptops, including a docking station and ongoing support, Haddad explains. Patriot waited for the release of iPads that were 3G communications network-ready, making the comparison between the alternatives even sharper, she notes.

In addition to hardware costs, Haddad expects to save on help desk costs. "These devices just don't have the same issues as laptops - not even close. With laptops, controlling viruses alone is a daily battle," she remarks.

"The iPad is a 'dumb terminal,' which limits the downloads users can make, which reduces maintenance costs," Haddad continues. "Unlike laptops, which have to boot up and connect to a network, iPad connectivity is instant with 3G, and access to the web is immediate, so web-based apps are accessed easily and quickly."

According to Haddad, Patriot also considered netbooks - essentially stripped down laptops - but found that iPads provided greater ease of use, principally because netbooks had the same booting and connectivity issues as laptops.

In May Patriot conducted a kind of mini-pilot prior to field testing, supplying senior executives with units that they began using for remote communications when out of the office. Use of network vendor Citrix's iPad download enables easy access to the home office, as well as to Patriot's newly implemented web-based self-service portal for the carrier's policy and claims administration system. "A Citrix Zen platform upgrade was required on our server side," Haddad notes.

Patriot plans to test remote printer apps from Apple's iStore. But ultimately, Haddad reveals, she is looking to have internal developers build a variety of iApps, including one that will enable users to leverage a portable printer.

Being able to offer the opportunity to develop iApps to prospective employees is yet another benefit of the iPad initiative, according to Haddad. "The innovation it drives is another wonderful thing, and the fact that Apple is open to developers is great," she comments. "We control what's on the desktop so it fits our requirements."

Patriot will review the pilot after three to four months of testing in the field and decide whether to undertake a rollout to replace all laptops for mobile employees, reports Haddad, who defines success in relatively simple terms: "I am trying to reduce expenses while keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive," she says. "If we determine that using iPad technology meets that objective while increasing productivity at the same time, I think we can deem the pilot a success."

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