Disaster Management Systems critical for insurance companies

Published 30 August 2006

Off-site, on-line lockboxes hold claims information, lists of assets submitted by customers

Executives interested in business continuity should divide their attention into two distinct parts: how to recover basic business operations, that is, communications among employees and with vendors and customers; and how to recover valuable but intangible company assets, that is, documents and files. For insurance companies, close attention to the latter problem may make the difference between smooth claims processes and a future of lawsuits. The best way to approach the problem, says V.A. Tommy of Gulf News, is with a Disaster Management System (DMS), a secure computerized database of all customer information.

Consider the most horrific case of all: after the Second World War, many life insurance beneficieries were unable to file claims because any useful documentation had been consumed in the fire and chaos of war, leaving needy refugees without any assets with which to begin their new life. Only in 1998 did the International Commission of Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims begin trying to find a way of solving the issue. This was too late, however, for many rightful claimants.

A good DMS system should allow insurance companies to process both basic claims information as well as amended data provided by customers, especially property inventories and updated beneficiary information.

-read more in V. A. Tommy’s Gulf News discussion