Such an operation is not for everyone, and Malinowski says companies considering such a plan should be careful. We are an insurance company, so we want to focus on the business of insurance, he says. But we had an opportunity to move into the technology arena and do some service and support on our equipment.

Obviously, at $40 million, the savings are substantial, but Malinowski says the program actually has other benefits, too. The ESU technicians understand the equipment and find out what works and what fails. Its to the point now that we are part of the selection process for new technology that is coming into some of the business areas, he says.

The work is not confined to the computers used in State Farms Bloomington, Ill., headquarters. The same service is offered to all of the companys agent and claims locations. The remote employees work through the help desk. If they are unable to resolve the problem with their piece of equipment, they go to a Web form and identify the piece of equipment that needs to be replaced, he says. If we receive the order by 5:30 p.m., we guarantee we will ship a replacement product of similar or at least compatible model type that day.

When employees receive the replacement unit, they remove it from the box and put the broken piece of equipment into the box, repackage it, and ship it back to the home office via a prepaid shipping label. Our goal is to get our business partners in the field up and running so they can better service our policyholders, Malinowski says. We just transfer ownership of the problem back to [the support unit]. We love solving problems.

Of course shipping expenses can be high, so Malinowski says he encourages the remote offices to check with local vendors to see if the work can be done cheaper somewhere else. If our price is not lower, we encourage them to do business with the other company because we need to do what is best for the policyholder, he says.

Technicians in the ESU have a minimum of A+ certification from CompTIA (Computer Technology Industry Association). The technicians then work with manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and IBM and get involved in the manufacturers maintenance programs. Once the technicians have demonstrated their technology competence online, the companies will allow the State Farm unit to perform warranty work on the products State Farm has purchased. This way we dont have to send warranty products outside the company, Malinowski says. The manufacturers provide any replacement parts and reimburse State Farm for the labor.

For a company the size of State Farm, the electronic support unit is a solid way of stretching IT dollars, according to Malinowski. Its pure economy of scale, he says. Once you develop that support system to fix that first unit and then get the second, third, and fourth, you leverage some of your business processes like we have. It proves to be a very efficient business model. Robert Regis Hyle

For more on getting the most out of every IT dollar, see Stretching Exercises,

Online Service
CIGNA Offering Prescription Drug Information

CIGNA HealthCare hopes to unravel some of the mystery surrounding prescription drugs for its customers through the launch of a new online service, PharmaAdvisor, available to 14 million CIGNA members. The companys Web site (www.mycigna.com) allows consumers to make comparisons between prescription drugs, with information on costs, side effects, and alternatives. This will allow consumers to hold more informed discussions with their physicians about medication alternatives, according to Joseph Mondy, CIGNA systems communication leader. If you have a particular ailment that requires ongoing medication, Mondy says, PharmaAdvisor will tell you different drug classifications used to treat the malady; allow you to do comparisons; tell you what food, drug, and tobacco interactions with the medication will do; and give you the retail price of the drug. CIGNA gets its data on prescription drugs from SUBIMO, LLC, a medical board with 800 clinical advisers, according to Mondy. Thats the beauty of the Internet, he notes. Customer satisfaction has been almost immediatea survey of users found 80 percent believe PharmaAdvisor is a valuable benefit, and 70 percent indicate they will be returning to the site.

Headquartered in Philadelphia, CIGNA Corp. is one of the largest publicly owned employee benefits companies in the U.S. Its CIGNA HealthCare provides medical care through managed care and indemnity programs to approximately 14.2 million people.

The expanded myCIGNA Web site offers other medical information to members and allows those who are taking part in the companys mail-order system to order their prescription drugs online and get refills shipped directly to their home. This gives consumers the kind of information theyre clearly looking for, says Eric S. Elliott, senior vice president of CIGNA HealthCare pharmacy management. It takes some of the mystery out of prescription drugs by giving people the information they need to make side-by-side comparisons of medications used to treat specific conditions.

Elliott adds that there is a potential for costs to decrease, as consumers become more aware of the cost implications of these decisions.

Agency Interface
The Hartford Building Bridges for Faster Personal Lines Coverage for Auto, Home

Quote-to-issue (QTI) has been offered by The Hartford for homeowners insurance, and now auto insurance coverage has been added to the service to make for faster, easier agency interface with the carrier. The new interface gives The Hartford the ability to bridge with the agency management systems and comparative raters, says George Thacker, senior vice president for personal lines marketing with The Hartford Financial Services Group, headquartered in Hartford, Conn.

Quite simply, QTI is a big step toward making our processes easier for an agent to conduct business with ushelping to deliver greater value to our agents, says Thacker.

The interface provides a huge advantage for the independent agents selling The Hartford personal lines, Thacker notes, especially with many customers purchasing auto and homeowners policies from the same agent. Having home and auto on the same system makes it easier to sell the customer, he claims. But the bridge also means agents dont have to double-key entry in their own management systems. Customers expect convenience in shopping for auto insurance, and the quote-to-issue system provides that. Customers have come to expect an immediate response. They want to be able to stop by their agency and leave with a proof of insurance card on their way to accept delivery on an automobile, Thacker says.

Initially, the system has been rolled out in 10 states with additional states added throughout 2003. It is accessed through The Hartfords Electronic Business Center, a secure extranet used by the carriers 36,000 producers and customer service reps.

Thacker believes the QTI system makes the value proposition much stronger for agents. They can spend more time helping the customer understand why the coverage they are recommending is right and developing the needs of their customers. QTI also allows less time administering and taking care of paperwork. We can take that off the shoulders of the agents and allow them to focus on adding value to their customers.

Users have been delighted with the benefit, says Thacker. The Hartford has gone from being known as somewhat of a labor-intensive company to do business with to being one of the easiest carriers to do business with, he asserts.

Thacker believes The Hart-fords independent agencies will appreciate the effort. We spent quite a bit of time and capital on this.

The bridges between carrier and agency are based on ACORD XML standards and enable straight-through processing. Data bridges allow for what is virtually single entry, says Thacker, and transfer customer information between systems.

The Hartfords customers can receive quotes directly online or through an independent agent. By visiting the companys Web site (www.thehartford. com), customers can click to the get a quote page and have their choice of securing an automobile or homeowners quote online, over the telephone, or through an agent.

Documents Center
New Access for IT Documents Available Online to Prudential Group Customers

The Prudential Finan-cial, Inc., group insurance business unit is providing group insurance clients with Web-based access to a range of benefit plan documents through its new Online Documents Center (ODC). More than 1,000 employers are now able to view benefits programs online since the program began in July, says Bob Patience, vice president e-commerce in group insurance for Prudential. Eventually, the entire book of business will be available, he notes, adding the group insurance market offers value to the companys products.

The ODC is a secure Web site application that lets clients use an ID and password to access client-specific documents, including administration manuals, contracts, certificates, summary plan documents, enrollment packages, and forms. The ODC is available at http://gidoccenter.prudential.com or through www.prudential.com/gi, Prudentials group insurance public Web site.

The ODC is the latest addition to Prudentials Group Insurance list of applications. For employers, it includes disability claims reporting, claims submission and tax reporting, and evidence of insurability status. For employees, it includes disability claim and payment status, enrollment for optional term life, dependent term life, and short term.

Web Site Functionality
Gmez Analyst Says Carriers Need to Bring Agents Onboard to Improve Customer Service

Since independent agents have figured out the Internet is not some curse upon their house, a research analyst for Gmez, Inc., says carriers now have the job of convincing agents to use the Web for more self-service functionality that will save both the carrier and the agent time and money. The idea that carriers would change their business model fundamentally as a result of the Internet was never a reality, says Tim Carpenter of Gmez, the Internet quality measurement firm based in Waltham, Mass., and author of a Gmez brief, Best Practices: How to Make Self-Service Requests, Document Imaging Pay Off.

Carpenter believes agent-affiliated carriers have been unable to address the issue because of the agents fear that the Internet channel would undercut their business. But, he adds, carriers have no desire to change their distribution channel, and therefore they must focus on finding a way to get that message to agents so the agents will become more open to promoting the online channel. The only way you are going to do that is by showing directly that the online channel is a supporting mechanism for the agent, he says.

Carpenter believes the ad-viser/broker space is a good model for agent/carriers to follow as an example of how it panned out and how it continues to pan out. Brokerages were forced to address the Internet sales channel earlier than insurance carriers, although he claims carriers have an advantage in that demand for online functionality has been greater in the banking and brokerage space than in the insurance space. Carriers have bought themselves some time to address the agent/online channel conflict issues, he says.

He thinks consumer online demand in the insurance field will increase as individuals come to rely more and more on the Internet for their daily lives.

An earlier Gmez survey showed 40 percent of registered investment advisers noticed an ability to manage more business when clients perform more administrative tasks online.

The initial challenge for brokers was to get as much information online as possible so greater attention could be paid to the adviser and the role the adviser plays in the process. He says investment advisers have been able to spend less time performing administrative tasks because of online self-service functionality.

The first step for carriers, Carpenter says, is to bring agents within the online experience and promote them as a crucial component of that experience. Online tools such as agent locators are an excellent help in this regard, he claims.

With agents in the middle of the self-service functionality, they can easily identify specific policyholders who are higher priority to them. They then can take follow-up steps, either by phone or by e-mail, to let a policyholder know that requested changes were made and they are available to assist the policyholder in any way. By tying agents into the self-service functionality, they can select which customers they want to follow up with.

Reluctance to participate in the online process falls squarely on the shoulders of the agents, according to Carpenter. On the carrier side, there is a wealth of reasons this is something that is desirable, he says. First and foremost, its a cost-savings opportunity. He also thinks loyalty and customer satisfaction come into play. Surveys done by online bankers show more loyalty to the bank by online customers than by the mainstream customers.