Motorists began looking for a new claims system about two-and-a-half years ago, according to Karen Schwartz, vice president of claims for the insurer. We were operating off a mainframe system that was built in the late 70s or early 80s, and we wanted a comprehensive claims system, she says.

Kaufman, who oversees the claims division, says the search began with the intention of finding a client/server system, but about 18 months into the search, the carrier changed direction and instead began looking at browser-based systems. The flexibility of the browser-based system is what turned Motorists around. Essentially, with a computer and a phone line you can adjust claims, he says.

The claims function was important, Schwartz adds, but so was getting a system that would fit the long-term technology direction of the company. In order to meet the requirements of having in-house adjusters, field adjusters, and to be able to do the technology things we needed, we really needed to go browser based, she says.

What Motorists found, though, was the same companies that were the leaders in the client/server arena were not leaders in the browser field. We were looking for a solution that was live and had some customers already deployed, says Kaufman. There were very few of them. Siebel stood out because it also met Schwartzs need of giving her claims adjusters the ability to work offline.

With claims expenses accounting for two thirds of every dollar Motorists brings in, Kaufman points out it was important such funds be managed with new tools, not 1970s-vintage technology. We knew there was a lot of leakage, and we had to enhance our service level, he says. When we did the ROI on it, we were looking at a 27 percent to 28 percent return, and we think thats pretty conservative, he says.

In addition, Motorists also installed a new imaging system that will take the carrier from being paper intensive to a paperless environment. This offers benefits for agents and home-office employees. Instead of calling in to find out what is in a paper claims file, the agents can point and click to any document in the file electronically. As far as in-house users, Kaufman adds, when we would hire in new staff, especially if they came from an automated environment, we were looking at a huge learning curve to get them acclimated to our environment, and its not the environment anybody wanted to gravitate to.

Integration was a key point for the Siebel system. Motorists was operating with five policy systems and 27 different interfaces. [Siebels] lead manager developed the unique solution we are using for those interfaces, says Kaufman. It has gone from being the area we were most concerned with to the point where everyone is really comfortable with the interfaces. That was due to Siebel being creative and aggressive to put that in place.
The Siebel system is helping the Motorists growth strategy, as well. Our lead growth strategy is what we call affiliation, says Kaufman. We take smaller mutual companies, and we bring them into the group. They keep their identity, but we try to get all the synergy within the group. As we affiliate with other companies, weve got a state-of-the-art claims system were using to consolidate all the companies onto one common system.

There are several aspects of the new system that will make life easier for everyone at Motorists, according to Kaufman. The portability of the system is as strong [a benefit] as the paperless, he says. There are 250 claims personnel distributed through a number of states. They can check into a server, and it doesnt matter where they are located. This gives us the ability to attract the top talent thats out there. ROBERT REGIS HYLE

THE PROBLEM
Old mainframe system was built in the late 1970s.

THE COMPANY
Motorists Mutual
Web Site: www.motoristsgroup.com
Net Written Premium: $550 million

THE SOLUTION
Siebel Insurance
Web Site: www.siebel.com