Vanguard's Case Study |
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'Vanguard's objectives were to increase the efficiency of their accident and repair operation in order to increase bottom line profits, and enhance cash flow. To achieve this their preferred solution was FigtreeARM,' said Paul Hammerton, Managing Director, Figtree Systems. Facts at a glance in an executive minute... 1. FigtreeARM is a sophisticated electronically based motor accident claims, repair, and debt recovery management system. 2. Figtree Systems' claims management solution, FigtreeARM, can immediately boost bottom line results with fewer man-hours spent on each claim. 3. When an accident occurs the claim can be handled entirely electronically from initial photographs, to final payment processing. 4. FigtreeARM ensures a dramatic, demonstrable reduction in the time taken to settle a claim. 5. Agile, powerful search tools enable real time responses to client telephone inquiries. 6. No time wasted searching, as all forms, notes, web site entered data, photographs, quotes, docs, and e-mails are attached to each case file. 7. FigtreeARM is a proven claims management tool that supports the claims made, claims pending, and claims closed report generation needs for a wide range of users, at all levels of management. Background on the customer... Vanguard Rental owns the car rental firms Vanguard Car Rental, National Car Rental, Alamo Rent A Car, and Guy Salmon. National and Alamo were bought from ANC Rental Corporation in October 2003. This newly formed conglomerate makes up a $US 3.2 billion dollar company with 14,000 employees in more than 83 countries, with 3,200 rental locations, and a fleet of more that 375,000 vehicles. These vehicles range from standard self drive sedans, to four wheel drives, the fun Mini Cooper S, to the racy Audi TT, to luxurious Jaguars and Porches, and even large chauffeur driven Mercedes saloons. Results achieved with the Figtree Systems solution... 1. Demonstrably faster vehicle repair and payment. 2. Reduced man-hours per claim. 3. Reduced management costs of the claims process. 4. Faster recoveries. 5. Reduction of age of debt. 6. Fewer write offs. 7. Increase in the opportunity to pursue more claims. 8. Demonstrably improved bottom line. 9. Paperless process improved potential disaster recovery times. Metrics by which competing solutions should be judged... 1. Do they have demonstrable results in authorised case studies? 2. Is their configurability richly featured, and built in, or only later coded by expensive consultants? 3. Does their solution integrate with other management solutions for further efficiencies? 4. Does their solution integrate with repairers, and other third parties for automatic data and information capture? 5. Does their solution interface with major financial institutions for speedy payments? 6. Can their solution run on your present legacy system? 7. Is support provided by the people who built the solution? 8. Is their code exotic and fragile, or standard and robust? Claims are way too expensive, and the bottom line suffers... Who does not think that claims are too expensive? Large firms look at their claims book in exasperation and try unsatisfactorily to whittle away at the cost of each claim. In the search for reducing claim costs we think that most firms overlook the cost of the claims process itself, and yet it is here that the biggest reductions in costs can be made, and made immediately. Transforming the slow and complex, into the fast and simple... Vanguard Rental is one of the world's biggest car rental groups that shows no sign of easing up on its global expansion objectives. Already owners of the Guy Salmon brand, 2003 saw the purchase of National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car from ANC Rental Corporation. 2005 has already seen the securing of $US 4 billion in financing, provided by Capital Bank, to grow the Alamo and National brands in the United Kingdom and Germany. In the United Kingdom the claims management team wanted to build on the expertise of their staff, and deploy a claim management system that would allow the same size team to process many more claims, and do it more efficiently. They wanted a solution that would transform the slow and complex claims and repairs paper based process of last century, into a fully electronic modern workflow. Vanguard chooses FigtreeARM... Chosen Solution: FigtreeARM (Figtree General Insurance Claims Management System) Spurred on by the successful deployment of FigtreeARM in many other claims processing operations around the world, Vanguard chose FigtreeARM as their preferred solution. With Figtree Systems' thorough knowledge of claims management processes, deployment of the solution was quick. FigtreeARM's rich fully featured configurability meant that Vanguard's unique workflow quirks could be fully encompassed by the solution. Training of Vanguard's claims' staff was equally as quick. Also within FigARM is Task Manager. This is a built in tool that ensures staff understand the next steps required in processing a claim. It also records the steps carried out. » Please click here to learn more about FigARM Automating the tedious... One of the major advantages of FigtreeARM is that I not only speeds up claims workflow, but can fully automate many of the common time consuming business processes. In a simple example, a letter or e-mail can be automatically generated on the acceptance of a claim. As another example, a diary entry can be created for the staff member to ensure particular statutory notices are completed, or completion dates by repairers are adhered to. This means that a single staff member can be managing many more claims, and being in far tighter control of each.Towards a paperless office. There are two modules that further facilitated Vanguard Rental's move to a paperless office:
Increased claims adjuster productivity... For the less experienced members of the team FigtreeARM brings with it the tools to create daily to-do lists and reminder of important actions that should be taken with claims. For the experienced team members the increase in productivity is even more marked. The benefits that FigtreeARM bring to experienced team members like claims adjusters include: 1. Faster workload balancing according to volume. 2. Profit orientated workload balancing according to client. 3. Skilled workload balancing according to accident severity. 4. Task automation. 5. Intelligent workflow. 6. Using just one system versus learning and using many. 7. Risk base case management. 8. Easier risk profiling. Increasing risk management, decreasing the risk... One of the oft forgotten benefits of a digital workflow is that not just claims staff have access to all the documentation, figures, and data. Senior management can also have real-time access. This is particularly important if senior management wants to keep tabs on flagged cases to ensure their exposure is properly managed, and to take immediate action if it is not. Figtree is highly configurable... Initial deployment and custom fitting the solution to Vanguard Rental's unique needs was done without the hordes of expensive consultants climbing in and out of their systems. This was made possible because of the rich features that are built into its configurability functions. This important functionality often goes unnoticed during the initial deployment. It is only when the client comes back to Figtree Systems with change request bought about by system upgrades, changes in claims process workflow, or rationalising of staff responsibilities, that this is appreciated most. The future... Claims departments can initially start the digital workflow by scanning in the initial paper documents and then handling the claim electronically. For those departments that want to eliminate even this cost in the claims process, FigAPP facilitates the deployment of web forms over the internet. So the initial forms to start a claim, and input from remote uses, can be self entered via a browser. As Vanguard Rental has discovered, FigARM can evolve in ways that extend far beyond its original application. It can open up a whole new world of bottom line improving opportunities, to streamline the tedious, and to provide unparalleled insight to the financial risks inherent in each claim. |
Vanguard Case Study 
