Companion Property & Casualty Moves into 10 States, Adds Four Lines of Business with CSC’s Software and Bureau Reporting Services

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina created Companion Property & Casualty Insurance Group in 1984 to offer workers' compensation insurance and capitalize on BlueCross’ extensive distribution channels and health-based relationships with employers. Two decades later, Companion is doing business in 15 states throughout the Southeast, plus the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern regions. In addition to workers’ compensation, Companion added four new lines of business, and between 2000 and 2004, the company grew from $74 million to $140 million in net written premium, building a surplus of $86 million by 2004.

Simplifying Bureau Reporting through Outsourcing

To support its growth plan, Companion needed a technology provider with systems and services tailored to the P&C commercial market. For years, Companion has used CSC’s systems and services for policy processing, an Internet portal and bureau reporting. Companion in 1991 was among the first P&C companies to license CSC’s POINT software. CSC’s Bureau Reporting Services have been an integral part of the company’s operations. The scope of those services has grown as Companion has moved from minimum to intermediate to full plan status with the Insurance Services Organizations (ISO). CSC, which each year submits more than $1.4 billion in premium reports for 32 U.S. carriers, also handles ISO’s special calls for data elements and annual statements to ISO.

"ISO has had so many changes and released so many new edit packages that if we had to handle the edits and monthly data validation ourselves, it would tie up two full-time programmers and one full-time member of our actuarial staff," said IS Director Lyn-Ellen Maass. "CSC fixes all coding mistakes for us.

"Another thing I like about the service is that it’s the same amount every month, so I can budget appropriately for it."

Once-and-Done Internet Processing for Agents

In 2000, Companion became the first Southeastern carrier to offer Internet-based workers’ comp processing to its independent agents in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia using CSC’s iSolutions software, now called POINT IN Agency Link.

POINT IN Agency Link enables 1,000 agents to log on to a secure area of Companion’s Web site to submit an application, obtain an automated underwriting decision, check the status of a policy, submit a first notice of loss or request an endorsement. Over five years, about 80 percent of Companion’s new business has been submitted electronically, which has helped control the growth of its in-house staff while it expanded into new states.

Simplifying Processes for Changing Rates and Rules

Companion adopted CSC’s POINT IN Underwriting tool to simplify the process for moving into new states and rolling out commercial auto, business owners and condominium (HO-6) coverage. POINT IN Underwriting, an easy-to-use graphical user interface that creates the underlying code for new rules, enables insurers to externalize their underwriting rules and rates and shortens time to market.

"POINT IN Underwriting turned out to be a perfect fit," said Helmut Tissler, Companion’s director of e-commerce. "We found someone who is technically capable but had previously worked in claims, and we trained him on the tool so that we now maintain all of the underwriting rules ourselves — without the use of a programmer."

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