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RRisk managers are
discovering that a new type of software providing electronic links
between distant users is making it easier to find insurance coverages.
The software, called groupware, allows many users to simultaneously
communicate from worldwide locations, and it has caught on with large
insurers and brokers. Now, risk managers are starting to make the
connections with brokers and insurers.
Risk managers are
turning to groupware primarily as a way to communicate with and supply
data to help brokers and insurers complete coverage-related projects.
Users can swap information and track the status of tasks performed by
a number of individuals while communicating easily across worldwide
time zones.
``It's a highly effective communications tool,''
said Pat Evers, director of risk management at James River Corp. of
Virginia in Richmond, Va. The consumer products company uses groupware
to communicate with its broker, Johnson & Higgins, outline
projects and track them.
Groupware eliminates much of the
telephoning, faxing, mailing and waiting that traditionally have been
a part of buying coverage. Groupware's appeal also lies partly in the
ease with which users can add new databases-in hours rather than weeks
needed for traditional methods that require extra programming.
The
market leader in the groupware field is Lotus Notes, a product
Cambridge, Mass.-based Lotus Development Corp. introduced about six
years ago.
James River Corp. installed Lotus Notes about two
years ago after discovering Johnson & Higgins was offering the
hookup to its clients. ``We found they had the most advanced
communications tool being offered at the time,'' said Ms. Evers.
James
River has three Notes users in its risk management department and is
linked with J&H personnel in Richmond, New York and San Francisco.
Ms. Evers explained that she turns to Notes with coverage requests or
other projects that need her broker's input by first assigning an
action plan through the system to a particular person or people. The
plan describes ``exactly what it is we are looking for,'' she said.
A team is formed among the users and a completion date is
set. Team members post their progress and the project is tracked
through the system until ``we reach a consensus as to what we are
looking for,'' Ms. Evers said.
Ms. Evers said the system's
discussion database, which allows users to post problems and topics
and receive input from anyone on the system, provides ``definite
efficiencies.'' ``Say James River has a problem, something we need
coverage for,'' she said. ``That can be typed in, and everybody can
come in and comment'' until a solution to the coverage problem is
found, Ms. Evers explained.
While programs like Notes allow
for easy discussion among users, it is much more than a sophisticated
electronic mail program, its users say, because it allows risk
managers to use database applications to swap data and participate in
projects. The number of users will depend on the company, but
groupware can be used companywide for a variety of functions.
``We're
trying to manage processes, rather than using it as a glorified
e-mail,'' said David Strode, corporate director of risk management at
aerospace and electronics firm Northrop Grumman Corp. in Los Angeles.
After moving to Notes through J&H last year, Mr. Strode now has
links with J&H and Alexander & Alexander Services Inc., as
well as Northrop Grumman offices in other cities. He has built
databases to share information with the two brokers, enabling him and
his staff to help manage projects.
For example, he
explained, insurance renewals are handled over the system. ``There
will be a number of projects and tasks associated with those
projects,'' he explained. A schedule of activities related to the
renewal is established, and each person working on the coverage can
see exactly when the tasks are completed and exchange pertinent data.
``The key is to utilize it but to keep it as simple as you can,'' Mr.
Strode said of the groupware system.
There may be some
resistance by individuals who are skeptical or unsure of a new system,
he added, and they will have to be shown the advantages. ``The system
is only as effective as the people using it.''
At Johnson &
Johnson in New Brunswick, N.J., the risk management also uses the
Lotus Notes link with Johnson & Higgins and is taking the first
step towards hooking up with other in-house departments. ``We are
currently putting the finishing touches on our risk management
manual,'' said Wayne Klokis, department manager. Once completed, the
manual will be available by Notes throughout the company. Other
manuals eventually will find their way online, Mr. Klokis predicted,
saving time and cost associated with printing books that take up shelf
space and have to be updated with supplements until a new edition is
created.
Other users also consider groupware more than just
e-mail. ``We are interested in focusing Notes on applications, sharing
data,'' said Gary Lasko, senior vp of information technology for
Sedgwick James Inc.'s North American operations in Memphis. Other
Lotus products and Internet tie-ins can be used for tasks as simple as
swapping electronic messages with clients who aren't Notes users, he
noted. ``We have a risk management department at a (large) account in
New Jersey that is participating in the management of its bond
portfolio'' through a Notes hookup with Sedgwick James, Mr. Lasko
said.
And the risk management departments of three clients
with worldwide operations are planning to link with the broker via
Notes. Other departments at those companies, which he did not name,
already swap information with Sedgwick James. Risk managers at the
companies will be able to retrieve policy forms and coverage
information, property schedules, correspondence related to their
accounts and any other related data, Mr. Lasko explained.
J&H
is one of the pioneer groupware users, embracing the technology in
1990 as one of the first Lotus Notes customers. With about 4,000
employees using the system, the broker is broadening its links to risk
manager clients. J&H is involving about a dozen of its risk
manager clients in a pilot project that will test their interest in
connecting with the broker through Notes. Risk managers in the project
participate as part of a ``virtual team'' with J&H, explained Bill
Wilson, senior vp at J&H in New York.
Like James River
Corp., other users have the discussion database and action plan
database capabilities. ``The discussion database is an open forum to
hear the hot-button issues of the client,'' explained Ellen Walker,
assistant vp at J&H's New York headquarters. That allows J&H
employees from across the country to collaborate quickly and easily
with the client, identifying goals and projects to be completed.
From
there, the plan is developed, where tasks are outlined and assigned
and due dates are established, Ms. Walker said. A risk manager can
participate in the project by providing data like payroll information,
for example, to the file J&H develops as it hunts for coverage,
Mr. Wilson noted. As team members make progress, the file can be
updated and all participants can track the project's status.
While
J&H won't require its clients use a Notes linkup, the broker plans
to make the technology available to all its account teams. ``It will
be the J&H standard,'' with clients able to make the hookup easily
if they desire, said Ms. Walker. The groupware connection is most
common between risk managers and brokers, but at least one insurer is
providing a hookup with its policyholders.
Some insurers,
like Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., ITT Hartford Group Inc. and The
Travelers Inc., already use groupware internally or to link up with
agents and brokers, but hookups directly with policyholders are not
widespread.
American International Group Inc. has developed
a proprietary product called IntelliRisk that bundles together tools
from Lotus Notes and Microsoft Corp. It allows risk managers to
retrieve information related to their accounts, policies or claims and
to generate standard or customized reports. IntelliRisk has about 300
users, according to John R. Flynn, senior vp in domestic
claims-technology at AIG in New York.
AIG provides users
with training and technical support, and once the system is up and
running, risk managers are able to communicate with underwriting,
claims and cost containment departments at AIG subsidiaries. An e-mail
hookup allows the insurer's policyholders to communicate with their
own brokers.
The ability to move data between users is
important, Mr. Flynn stressed, because ``more and more risk managers
are wanting to take data locally and add to it. Our strategy is to
bring them the tools'' that will allow data to be manipulated in-house
and sent out electronically to a number of people, he noted.
Beginning
next year, AIG plans to increase the offerings in the toolbox,
expanding its groupware offerings to make Lotus Notes available to
risk managers. ``We're building Lotus Notes around the whole work flow
of risk management services,'' said Mr. Flynn. Linking up with clients
through Lotus Notes will mean new data-sharing and reporting
capabilities, he explained, and will be part of the total groupware
offering that includes IntelliRisk.
While Lotus leads the
market in groupware technology with Notes, Redmond, Wash.-based
Microsoft followed with a 1994 entry called Exchange. It uses the same
principle as Notes, integrating electronic mail, scheduling,
electronic forms, document sharing and other functions. Risk managers
who don't need the comprehensive data-swapping capacity of Notes or
Exchange can turn to other products that offer some groupware
features.
A product called FirstClass, developed by SoftArc
Inc. in Markham, Ontario, provides e-mail features but allows users to
do more than just swap messages. Users can collaborate or disseminate
information about their business, explained Scott Welch, vp at
SoftArc. User groups can form ``virtual communities'' in which they
hold interactive or collaborative discussions.
Mr. Welch
explained that FirstClass operates much like forums found on online
services, where users with common interests gather for online
discussions. However, FirstClass allows the forums to be built quickly
and inexpensively without using an online service. While SoftArc
hasn't in the past targeted large companies as users of FirstClass, a
new server developed recently for Microsoft Windows makes the product
more attractive to companies with many users.
The FirstClass
server is available for $95 and a license for five regular users is
$395. That compares with about $275 that companies pay for each Notes
user. Lotus also offers Notes Desktop, a simplified version without
all the Notes features that sells for around $155 per license. Lotus
Notes Express is an introductory version that has an estimated retail
price of less than $100 per license. |
