Accident Fund Goes National with Fast, Web-Based Services to Agents

Accident Fund Insurance Company of America had been Michigan’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance since 1912 when the company embarked on an aggressive, nationwide expansion.

Accident Fund had the experience and products for expansion, but the company’s processing system needed a major overhaul to enable the rollout into other states. A core part of that strategy involved recruiting independent agents throughout the country and providing them with leading-edge services over the Web.

The company turned to CSC to take advantage of CSC’s POINT IN® policy administration software, combined with CSC’s Agency Link™, a suite of browser-based insurance services that give approximately 900 Accident Fund agents fast quotes and online approval, plus access to detailed policy information.

Supporting Rapid Expansion

Initially, Accident Fund relied on CSC’s outsourcing services to provide Web technology for newly recruited agents to enter new business, plus insurance staff to handle processing and customer service, and an integrated back-office system to administer the new policies.

Within four years, Accident Fund licensed CSC’s full software suite and brought the business in-house. CSC now keeps the system up to date with IT hosting and application management services.

One of the advantages of CSC’s software is the ability to adjust underwriting rules quickly through an easy-to-use component, POINT IN Underwriting, which integrates with Agency Link to provide automated underwriting decisions over the Web.

Bridging Agency and Carrier Systems

Agents can typically submit new business to Accident Fund and receive an accurate, online quote within 5 to 10 minutes. But the company worked with CSC to make the process even smoother and faster.

By creating a real-time bridge between Accident Fund’s Web portal and the agents’ in-house systems offered by vendors such as AMS and Applied Systems, CSC helped to dramatically streamline the process.

Agents don’t need to leave their in-house systems to submit business through Agency Link. Customer information is automatically uploaded into Agency Link, leaving only six additional fields to fill in. Agents can get a quote in just 2 minutes — much faster than the competition.

Helping Agents Do More with Less

Agency Link gives agents the ability to make real-time inquiries on policies, billing and claims. Agents can also download policy documents on a self-service basis, rather than contacting Accident Fund for assistance. And the system lets carriers track business activities, such as new business applications or policy issuance, based on parameters set by the company.

Accident Fund, recognized by Celent as a model carrier for its innovative approach to agency services, used its expansion program to grow revenues from $200 million to more than $500 million in premium.

An active member of CSC’s POINT IN users’ community, Accident Fund participates in CSC advisory councils, boards and forums to influence the ongoing enhancement of the software. Currently, more than 110 carriers and MGAs use POINT IN, making them part of the P&C industry’s largest users’ community.

“We get a great deal of value in working with other members of the community,” Dibean said. “We’re always very interested in what other carriers are doing with the system and how we could take advantage of it at Accident Fund.”

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