Case Study: Spartan Insurance and onClick Corporation – Building Each Other’s Business

Client:
Affiliated Spartan Insurance Agencies, Inc.
For more than 30 years, Spartan has been providing low cost auto insurance to the Texas marketplace, with main offices in Houston, San Antonio and Corpus Christi.


Analyzing the Problem.
The people at Spartan Insurance are hard workers. But they were going nowhere fast. How can that be? Because all their effort was going towards trying to overcome a useless 35 year old paper system.

What is even more important is that they lacked any competitive edge. Thousands of hours were being wasted in production and there was never any time to even develop a proper growth strategy. Spartan was definitely stuck in a rut without any direction.

When onClick found Spartan Insurance, they were battling the woes of endless file cabinets and a monthly supply of printer paper. So many daily processes were being delayed and complicated because of a lack of proper document organization.

On top of all else, the costs were skyrocketing. Spartan was paying $50,000 to $60,000 on paper storage annually just to make their jobs more difficult. All that money was being spent on the outdated method of manually searching and accessing files was cumbersome and inefficient. On average, Spartan lost roughly 120 production hours a month because of it.

Like most insurance companies, Spartan’s storage system was paper-based, labor intensive and was costing Spartan thousands of dollars in storage, labor & production. There was also the cost of paying claims due to missing files. For example, documents like 515A (rejection of coverage) must be produced in the event of a claim and failure to recover the document results in payment of that claim. Several times such filed documents were lost, could not be found in a timely fashion, or ignored.

They needed a fast and easy way to eliminate paper cost and storage so they could quit working hard and start working smart.


Identifying the Solution.
Spartan Insurance interviewed several companies in search of a saving grace. Someone had to have a cost effective solution that would solve their complex business challenges and offer growth potential. It was a lot to ask for, but necessary if they were to avoid a continual purchasing of products to resolve each individual problem.

Their answer came in onClick’s DigiPad – a signature capture device that binds and verifies handwritten signatures electronically using the concept of biometrics. DigiPad lets Spartan electronically store legal documents, allowing not only employees to access and search these documents, but adjusters and agents as well.

Spartan’s vice president of operations, Robert Miller, explains that they went with onClick's DigiPad “because of its long history and proven track record” within the insurance and technology industry.

A possible dilemma arose from incorporating a new technology into an established system. Spartan runs its back office systems on a reliable AS400 platform. This meant that any such solution must integrate with AS400 systems and existing programs without the need of major changes. The onClick team accepted the challenge and created a server-based program that runs on AS400 and is responsible for communicating with its DigiPad devices.


Success.
The DigiPad assisted in solving all of Spartan’s paper troubles. But more importantly, it gave them opportunities to move forward. Before, they couldn’t even keep up with the competition, and now they have the means to surpass them.

Instantly apparent was the return on investment. Now 98% of Spartan’s underwriting is paperless, effectively saving $5,000 monthly in postage since signed documents can be printed at point of sale for agent, policyholder, and corporate office. Another $4,000 is being saved monthly because all the data is stored electronically in data systems. And printing costs? Documents are now printed on plain paper versus preprinted forms, a savings of $10,000 monthly.

DigiPad increased production by 85% due to streamlined process of binding, storing and accessing of documents. No more alphabetical misfiles to get in the way. Instantaneous automation of documents requires minimal time and effort to save and later retrieve a particular request.

Finally, the security that a biometric device offers separates the DigiPad from regular POS devices. Statistically, in the high-risk insurance market, the majority of policyholders provide false information. Spartan and companies alike depend on technologies like onClick’s DigiPad to verify such information. Also, Spartan sells insurance via agents whose single source of income is commission. It is a common occurrence in the industry for documents to be tampered with. There was little or no accountability on agents or policyholders. DigiPad solved such incidents since the binding mechanism made sure that the legal binding contracts couldn’t be tampered. As a biometric device, the speed and pressure at which a signature is written is considered into a process of determining if this particular signature coincides with the unique handwriting of the individual.

onClick offered more than a signature capture device. DigiPad gave Spartan the key to building customer relationships. The resulting extensive improvements freed up time for better and more efficient customer service. There is no doubt these technological advances eliminated the strain on performance and breathed new life into Spartan Insurance.

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