Insurance Adjusting Firm Goes Paperless with Flowfinity Mobile Solution

Region:  Ireland
Company Size: Medium Enterprise
Industry: Insurance
Function: Dispatch, Inspections, Data Collection, Insurance Claims Adjusting

At a Glance

Thornton & Partners is the largest firm of insurance loss adjusters in Ireland. Acting on behalf of major insurance companies nationwide, the company investigates and settles domestic and commercial claims in property, jewellery, technical, marine, liability, and other areas.

Thornton replaced paper forms with a Flowfinity mobile solution for handling dispatch, data collection, insurance inspection reporting and team management in the field.

Results:

• Higher quality data collected in the field - Electronic forms and streamlined communication have improved data consistency.
• Better visibility for management - Consistent, real-time data and automated reporting deliver new insights to management.
• Reduced delays in delivering reports to clients - Inspection compliance rates have increased from 42% to almost full compliance.
• Increased staff productivity - Inspectors save an hour a day now that many manual processes have been automated in the field and at the office.
• More agile and scalable inspection processes - New business rules can be updated on mobile devices immediately.

The Challenge

Previously, when inspectors in the field were using paper to record information at site inspections, each form was re-typed at the office and several follow-up letters were written manually. This led to delays and inconsistent information, and also made it challenging to create reports for management.

Thornton had the additional challenge of making regular changes to inspection processes as government regulations or client requirements would shift. Without a structured way to communicate these changes and ensure that all the required information was collected in the field, it was difficult to remain compliant on inspections.

"There are a myriad of individual client requirements that vary from one client to another, and the adjuster had to remember all of them," said Kate Gordon, Business Application Support, Thornton & Partners. "These challenges led to non-compliance, and we wanted to improve the existing compliance rate."

Software Selection

Thornton wanted a more efficient way for the office to dispatch and process over 1300 inspections each month, and a more accurate, transparent way for adjusters to collect and retrieve data in the field.

"We were looking for a mobility tool that would enable us to dispatch information quickly to our field staff, to allow them to capture details relating to inspections carried out, and to return the resultant information in a timely fashion to multiple stakeholders," said Gordon.

"We had looked at a number of enterprise mobile applications, but most fell short on some aspect of our requirements. Some were weak on dispatch, others were cumbersome to complete in the field, and others were poor on the level of reporting they provide back from the field," she said.

Thornton's requirements for an enterprise mobility solution included:

• Easy to customize and functionally rich mobile inspection forms
• Intelligent data capture including calculated fields, fields with conditional display, mandatory fields, photo capture, sketches
• Ability to send multiple customized email notifications upon completion of inspection
• Easy to build multiple reports from an inspection form
• Database-driven solution to facilitate custom reporting and integration with Enterprise Claims Management systems
• Shared electronic file as a readily accessible “single source of truth” that both office and field staff could view and update

"Of all the enterprise mobility products we evaluated, Flowfinity was the most flexible and stable."

"Of all the enterprise mobility products we evaluated, Flowfinity was the most flexible and stable," said Gordon. "Flowfinity has completely changed the way we run the business."

The Solution

Using Flowfinity software, Thornton created a custom, cross-platform mobile system for dispatch, workflow management, data collection, and integration with existing backend systems. The solution also works offline without any network connectivity, so adjusters can stay productive no matter where they are.

Now throughout the day, staff in the office dispatch new claims to adjusters in the field, who complete the inspections on their mobile devices and send real-time information back to the office, clients, and policy holders. This has created better transparency and reduced delays in processing claims.

Productivity

With more automation and less paperwork, field adjusters now save 5 hours each week, and have more time to spend on high-value work. Travel time to and from the office has been reduced, and Thornton has automated a range of tasks including sending follow-up reports, letters, and emails. Photos that used to be uploaded can now be embedded directly into the mobile inspection reports.

Adjusters also no longer need to remember to send notifications of special circumstances, such as underinsurance, to certain clients because notifications can be automatically triggered according to pre-set business rules.

Agility

Since regulations and service level agreements can change often, Thornton needed an agile mobile solution that could be updated quickly over-the-air. Updates to Flowfinity apps can be easily made without programming to implement new business logic, required data, or notifications. Changes are automatically updated for all users, and immediately supported on cross-platform devices.

"We need to implement business changes at least once a week, if not more often," said Gordon. "In the past management would have to issue new instructions, but now if we want to make something mandatory because a particular client has asked for it, we can just implement that logic in the mobile form itself. That means we can comply with our clients' wishes much more quickly."

"If we want to make something mandatory because a particular client has asked for it, we can just implement that logic in the mobile form itself. That means we can comply with our clients' wishes much more quickly."

Compliance

Since implementing Flowfinity, Thornton has increased inspection compliance rates from 42% to almost full compliance. The ability to create reports automatically, respond to clients faster, and fully document activity in the field in a structured and consistent way have led to the improvement.

Customer Service

Thornton takes advantage of automatic email notifications to update clients and other project stakeholders as soon as an inspection is complete. This has improved transparency and reduced delays in getting information back to clients, who now receive updates immediately rather than several days later.

"We have about 30 notifications configured to send out with each inspection form," said Gordon. "These go out to different customers, customers of customers, and service providers, and are also used to disseminate information to managers within our own company."

Management Insight

Inspection data is now sent directly to a private cloud-hosted database, which Thornton can access anytime to create reports for management.

"Previously, most of the information on the inspections would not have been available in electronic form to managers," said Gordon. "We are running some reports directly from the database for management information purposes, none of which were possible before implementing Flowfinity since it would have been cost-prohibitive to compile such reports."

The increased visibility also saves critical management time during catastrophic loss periods such as large-scale floods. The new system helps management track initial reserves and better manage cash flow.

Summary

Flowfinity enabled Thornton to increase productivity, management insight, and customer service by replacing paperwork with a flexible mobile solution for automating inspections in the field.

"The staff at Flowfinity have been massively responsive to every question we have. The support has been great, and the product has helped us transform our business," said Gordon.