ARMONK, N.Y., Dec.
22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced
that Westfield Insurance, a provider of personal, commercial and
surety insurance, is working with IBM to transform their claims
operations. In their transformation, Westfield is using business
analytics to increase flexibility, operational efficiency and
effectiveness, enabling Westfield to keep pace with its evolving
customer base and business growth.
According to a study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business
Value, leading insurers are leveraging cloud, analytics and social
technologies to stay ahead of the competition. Specifically, more
than 60 percent of identified leading insurers are focused on
advanced analytics to improve their claims handling in order to
improve processes and increase customer satisfaction. Westfield's
multi-year claims handling transformation initiatives, including
process, organizational and technology changes, focuses on using
data and analytics to better serve customers.
IBM's deep end-to-end capabilities allow the company to improve
customer service though an integrated claims solution that
standardizes operations. IBM brought together the best of IBM, from
software to its strategy and analytics services, to deliver several
of the major components of the program. IBM developed a new
protocol to migrate data for use with predicative models and uses
simulation models to evaluate bottlenecks in the claims process and
develop a strategy for expedited workflow. This simulation
helped expedite organizational changes. The new claims system will
also utilize a suite of IBM counter fraud capabilities to detect
suspicious activity.
"We've been working with IBM for years on multiple initiatives,
in order to become a data-oriented company," said Robert Bowers, National Claims Strategy Leader,
Westfield Insurance. "Our new claims
platform will enable our employees to make quicker decisions, with
greater insight. We anticipate lowered costs and improved customer
service, all while streamlining operations throughout the country
to enhance the customer experience."
"Analytics are the most visionary element to drive a competitive
advantage. Since 2007, Westfield Insurance has been working hard to
build an enterprise view of their data across their business," said
Patricia Hamilton, Vice President,
Insurance Strategy and Transformation, IBM. "This new claims
platform is the next step in their transformational journey to
build a structured process around data governance. By consolidating
and standardizing its claims handling systems, Westfield is able to
increase operational efficiencies, benefiting employees and
customers."
IBM has optimized Westfield's current claims handling process to
provide a seamless, fully-integrated customer experience.
Westfield's claims system with Guidewire is now consolidated to
ensure efficient operations across its network. Through industry
leadership, technology expertise and proven practices, IBM was able
to evaluate current processes and determine a roadmap to develop an
optimized business model, including:
- A fully integrated solution to enable paperless
processing, decreasing errors and increasing efficiency.
Customers are also able to communicate with Westfield
electronically, shortening the lifecycle of a claim.
- Systems integration with third party providers to allow for
automated actions throughout the claims process, improving the
customer experience and creating adjuster efficiencies.
- Controlled and secure access to applications, functionality,
and data. Additionally, IBM's advanced analytics solutions and
services are used to analyze millions of data points and identify
and predict suspicious claims and activity in real-time.
- Conversion of data from legacy claims system to ensure
existing claims are still open and that a record of closed
claims are accessible to agents throughout the country.
For more information on IBM Insurance, please visit
www.ibm.com/insurance.
About Westfield Insurance
Westfield Insurance is a part of Westfield Group, a
customer-focused insurance and banking group of businesses
headquartered in Westfield Center,
Ohio and in business for more than 166 years. Westfield
Insurance provides commercial insurance in 21 states, personal
insurance in 10 states and surety services to customers in 31
states. Westfield is one of the nation's 50 largest property and
casualty insurance groups, represented by a network of more than
1,000 independent insurance agencies. Westfield Insurance was named
to the 2014 Ward's 50 list of top performing insurance companies
and as a Top Workplace in Northeast Ohio. Westfield Bank provides banking solutions for
businesses and individuals, and Westfield Services provides service
and training support for independent insurance agencies. Learn more
about Westfield Group at www.WestfieldInsurance.com and
www.Westfield-Bank.com.
Contact Information
Suzanne Aronowitz
IBM
617.693.1811
saronowi@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM