Communication quality becomes a competitive factor
Centralising customer-related communication processes by mail, fax or e-mail and optimising them with the aim of obtaining a prompt response from skilled consultants is the task of what is currently probably the most modern logistics centre in the insurance industry in Germany. InoTec high-performance scanners are demonstrating their impressive abilities at HUK-COBURG, where they are used to process incoming mail.
With the construction of the computer centre, input and output centre and a central inventory control division, the HUK-COBURG insurance group has established a logistics centre of excellence. A system for the seamless combination of all mail received at all German branches, its processing and transmission to a branch has been in place since the spring of 2006 and is unique in the financial services industry. More than 80 million Euros was invested in the logistics centre, which employs more than 440 people and is equipped with the most modern environmental technologies such as a block-type thermal power station and geothermal energy system.
In recent years, the pressure placed on the insurance industry has been increasing steadily. Legislation such as the Solvency II directive, which is similar to Basle II in the financial industry, is aimed at helping the regulatory authorities in their attempt to evaluate the overall solvency of an insurance company. This forces the company to document and assess all its business processes with great accuracy and consistency. At the same time, competitive pressure has increased as companies vie for clients.
"In the past, clients were associated with the same insurance company for many years or even decades, whereas now they have become more critical and much more demanding. The willingness to change service providers is high. Insurance companies therefore have to offer more than just attractive conditions. There are increasing calls for excellent service", Björn Schwabe of HUK-COBURG (Central Services Division) explains the situation of the insurance company.
According to him, achieving success in this market is only possible by using the most modern information technology and by implementing a consistently paperless, electronic process with clearly defined work flows. As a central component of the ambitious communication concept of HUK-COBURG, the logistics centre plays a key role.
More than 60,000 letters and 15,000 faxes a day are received by the logistics centre at peak times, which provides a hint of the administrative challenges faced by the company. In the words of Björn Schwabe, it is not just a matter of operating an infrastructure with various communication channels that can cope with this enormous document volume. The decisive factor is the service level behind it. "For example, we are currently working on a concept that ensures that faxes are made available to a consultant within five minutes of receipt and in a properly prepared form. Within the framework of our pilot operation, this is already possible in more than 90 percent of cases", Schwabe says.
As faxes are received in electronic form already, as are e-mails, their further processing (analysis and prioritisation) in accordance with a certain work flow procedure is a less complex task than processing traditional mail. This still constitutes the bulk of the documents received, which must be digitalised in several work steps.
The preparation of mail, which is received sorted by insurance category such as composite, life or medical insurance, starts with the opening of the envelopes. Depending on their format and thickness, most letters are opened by a mail-opening machine. The content is then separated, staples are removed, the pages are smoothened out where necessary, and they are bundled in batches according to the type of document and other fixed criteria. The individual processes are separated by so-called patch code sheets.
Once the documents have been prepared in this way, the batches are sent to the scanner workstations. A total of 11 M03 Type 421 high-performance scanners made by the specialised scanner company InoTec are used, controlled by HP scan servers. The decision to use InoTec scanners was made after an extensive evaluation of the products offered by well-known providers. "The scanners are of great importance, given the fact that 65 million pages are digitalised each year. Scan quality, flexibility, reliability - but especially our close cooperation with the InoTec development team, which supported us in the optimal adaptation of the scanners to our special operating conditions - were in favour of InoTec", Björn Schwabe explains the choice made by HUK-COBURG. Thanks to its sophisticated upgrade concept, InoTec high-performance scanners can be flexibly adapted to changing production conditions. It is possible to increase the speed or to convert from black and white to colour just as easily. As a result of the reliable feeding and transport system, the two SCAMAX scanners process even the most complex documents, from business cards to very thin copy paper and even file covers. Reliable feeding, even if the paper surfaces differ, is ensured by using Paper Surface Control (PSC). Paper Flow Control (PFC) is used to check the paper throughput, from feeding to ejection, and provides graphic information in the event of a fault. Ultrasound sensors can be used to detect double-page feeding.
Scanning takes place at a speed of 150 pages per minute, using a duplex process, in black and white, with a resolution of 200 dpi. "We are currently in the process of converting various procedures from black and white to colour scanners, despite the higher memory requirements, thereby making paperless on-screen processing even more ergonomic", Björn Schwabe plans.
After this preparation, the documents - now in electronic form - reach the next part of the work flow process, i.e. indexing. Trained staff members check the documents for completeness and quality, classify and prioritise them, and then hand them over to the company's internal application system for processing. Documents with barcodes have been sent to the application systems used by the customer service divisions in a fully automated process since 2006. The use of OCR/ICR technology has been common practice in some divisions for the purpose of extracting data and will be further extended in future in accordance with the company's internal plans.
After scanning, the original paper documents are stored in an ultramodern vertical lift store with a capacity of 24 million pages, where they are made available to consultants in paper form as soon as possible, using a sophisticated bar code system, in the rare event that this is necessary.
"The acceptance of and satisfaction with the work flows in the logistics centre by our consultants is almost one hundred percent. The continuous electronic process enables them to offer our clients an excellent service quality, thereby providing the HUK-COBURG insurance group with a clear competitive advantage", Björn Schwabe sums up the situation.
From the point of view of payback, Schwabe states that the investments made in the processing of incoming mail have paid off. "This has mainly been a matter of a strategic investment in customer care. Nevertheless, retrospective calculations - which are very difficult due to the constantly changing conditions - have shown that we have clearly saved expenditure in the long term by implementing this project", confirms Björn Schwabe.
Schwabe does not believe that the amount of traditional mail will fall drastically in the years to come because of the increasing importance of electronic communication via fax and e-mail. "On the one hand, the clients' trust in paper-based communication when it comes to subjects such as 'retirement provision' or 'medical insurance' features strongly, while on the other hand new legislation such as the recently promulgated Insurance Contract Act has rather increased the demand for paper".
In his opinion, the importance of high-performance scanners for processing incoming mail will remain unchanged for at least the next eight to ten years. This is also due to innovative new technologies, such as those already being used to some extent in the serial production of the new InoTec Model M06 scanners. "The fact that scanner hardware is becoming increasingly intelligent and computer-intensive, and that software-based image correction will in future also be performed automatically, using integrated processes, holds great potential for a further increase in the efficiency of scanning processes", Björn Schwabe assures us.
