Common Features of an Effective Property and Casualty Insurance Software System

Today's Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance software systems utilizing modern technological platforms have gained popularity in the insurance industry. All carriers in the P&C insurance industry need comprehensive software solutions to manage their home office, agents and customers. The following are some common features to look for when looking to upgrade or purchase a modern P&C insurance software system.

Integrated policy administration - One of the most effective features of a P&C insurance software system is its inclusion of a comprehensive policy administration system. This feature automates the entire policy's lifecycle - initial application, quoting, rating, underwriting, issuance, endorsements, cancellations, reinstatements, etc. This kind of automation enables underwriters, agents and customers to quote/bind/issue policies in real-time via Internet, helping them to drastically reduce processing time and increase operating efficiency.

Claims administration - From automating the first notice of loss to the settlement/recovery process, a comprehensive claims administration system manages the entire claim lifecycle, seamlessly. It automates all claim processes, such as setting up initial reserves, making claim payments and adjusting expenses, generating correspondence for all the parties involved, maintaining separate loss adjustment/legal defense expenses, validating all reinsurance arrangements, and generating all reinsurance recoverables.

Accounting and billing - Every business has its own way of doing accounts and billing. Effective P&C insurance software systems employ user-defined business rules and customizable maintenance tables. Some of the functions of this service include auto-generated invoices, revised bills, reminder notices, user-defined billing parties, automated renewals, reinstatements, cancellations and agency/broker accounting.

Data warehouse and reporting - Effective P&C insurance software systems aggregate all data in an easily accessible warehouse facility that can be reported against, in real-time, anywhere, anytime. This data warehouse facility allows the system to produce statutory, management and ad-hoc reports. All policy, claims, billing, reinsurance data is easily accessible in real-time. These reports can be distributed over the Internet and exported to any number of formats.

Document/image archival - P&C insurance software systems allow users to easily scan or e-mail images and documents and store them in legally compliant WORM format. Current systems use high-end imaging software and the latest archival technologies to enable users store greater amounts of data, and upload/download at higher speeds. These applications provide simplified user interfaces, and offer the ability to handle unlimited number of formats and support for various devices like phones, PDAs and other handheld devices.

Security - Effective P&C insurance software system’s security features allow system access control on various levels - by module, sub-systems, applications and reports. You can provide access to various users like employees, agents/brokers, customers, outside adjusters, etc. At the same time, the system can filter access based on the desired functionality. Administrators can define the user group that can access data, and thus the security feature of the system ensures authorized access.

User-defined workflow management - The software enables user-specified workflows. Information is communicated automatically between users based on those pre-defined workflows; it helps in eliminating wasteful redundancy and maximizing operating results.

Disaster recovery - Effective P&C insurance software systems utilize advanced disaster recovery technology to deliver secure data replication in real time. This feature not only minimizes the risk of data loss but also enables instant and transparent back-ups to ensure the reliability of your business.

Thus, an effective P&C insurance software system not only enables insurance carriers to improve operational efficiency but also increases the profitability of the business by enhancing the agent and customer experience.

To fully realize the benefits offered by P&C insurance software systems, it is advised to buy solutions from reliable and experienced IT vendors with proven track records of successful P&C implementations and experience utilizing modern technological platforms.

PCMS, a leading provider of property and casualty insurance software to the insurance industry, provides comprehensive, modern software applications that empower carriers to provide insurance their way. Our product suite spans the entire P/C insurance lifecycle — underwriting, P&C policy administration, billing, claims, reinsurance management. Check out our website to see how our P&C software can help you.