On Friday, September 24, a tornado hit the Indianapolis metropolitan area in late afternoon, causing severe damage to homes, property, and cars all across central Indiana. Fortunately for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, the multi-line insurer had just begun leasing new Panasonic Toughbook laptop computers with mobile data wireless display units for its material damage appraisers.

The carrier was hit hard with 320 insured vehicles damaged by the storm, says Joe Marcum, field service manager on the auto claims side for Indiana Farm Bureau. We had the Panasonics for about a month prior to the storm, so [the appraisers] were somewhat experienced with them, says Marcum. But the handhelds really showed up in the storm for what they were able to do. Despite a difficult work environment that resembled a war zone, the Farm Bureau appraisers (42 around the state) were able to inspect, assign to a shop, or handle and close all 320 storm-damaged vehicle claims within seven days.

Coming through in a crisis was not necessarily what Indiana Farm Bureau was looking for when it went searching for a replacement for the Itronix laptops it had been using for the past five years. The insurer uses ADP estimating software, and when the software company brought out an enhanced version of its product, Indiana Farm Bureau was forced to upgrade the laptops for claims appraisers to be able to use the software.