EMC Helps Cincinnati Insurance Reduce Claim Administration Processing Time

HOPKINTON, Mass., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage and management, announced today that The Cincinnati Insurance Company, the nation's 26th largest property and casualty insurer, has implemented a digital media system based on an EMC Documentum enterprise content management (ECM) platform and EMC Centera content addressed storage (CAS). The digital media system is part of the company's Claims Management System (CMS) that integrates several software applications. CMS provides claim representatives with centralized access to the wide range of information generated by claims, resulting in improved productivity and lower costs.

Gary Givler, Cincinnati's Assistant Vice President, Headquarters Claims, said, "An integrated, virtual claim file is critical to our success in today's increasingly competitive industry. We document claims more quickly and with fewer people. We also make better decisions because our information is current and centrally available. In turn, our costs have decreased and customer satisfaction has improved."

"The virtual claim file has been especially valuable in settling larger claims that require headquarters review. It used to take 18 to 30 days from notification of a loss until claim data was completely entered into the system. Our field claim representatives now directly enter information to virtual claim files and attach digital photos and audio files electronically. As a result, everyone who needs to see the file, from field representative to headquarters supervisor, has immediate access. We can now review large claim file documentation earlier than we could when we had to rely on paper files."

Prior to the latest phase in the virtual claims system, Cincinnati's field claim representatives photographed damaged property with traditional cameras, developed the film locally and mailed the claims forms and photos to company headquarters for scanning and inputting into the claims system. With the addition of a digital media interface to the virtual claims system, field representatives photograph damaged property with digital cameras and upload the digital photographs to their PCs. Using Captiva's eScan and InputAccel software, digital images are sent via the Internet to headquarters, loaded into the EMC Documentum repository running with an EMC Centera content addressed storage system, and then automatically linked to the virtual claim file -- all within 15 minutes.

The efficiency of Cincinnati's virtual claims system is particularly critical during natural disasters and other events. With the virtual claims system in place, all claim-related documentation -- first notice of loss, photos, emails, police reports and legal documents -- is effectively managed and stored in a single Documentum-Centera repository. As a result, Cincinnati's headquarters managers have the information needed to estimate the extent and distribution of losses. Using this information, they are able to support special teams-additional claim representatives from non affected areas temporarily relocated to respond to catastrophe-related claims. For example, headquarters is able to distribute virtual claim files to field claim managers across the country to contact policyholders, confirming that the company has received their notice of loss and that a team representative will be onsite as soon as conditions and the local authorities allow access to the area.

"The EMC Documentum and EMC Centera solution is an essential component of our claims management system," said Randall Stigall, Cincinnati's IT e- Documents group manager. "With Documentum, we can manage and store all claim- related documentation and easily and reliably access this information at any step during the claims process. Centera's advanced authentication features and redundant, self-checking architecture ensure the integrity and availability of this information. Moreover, Centera is an extraordinarily cost-effective environment for storing a rapidly growing category of information for us."

The EMC digital media system is a key component of the company's claims management system. By aligning its infrastructure with business needs and the changing value of its information, Cincinnati Insurance is improving data availability and application performance while better managing costs. For example, the company uses high-end EMC Symmetrix systems to store claims management applications utilizing SAP and IBM DB2 databases and EMC CLARiiON systems for mid-tier applications. To provide the most cost-effective and reliable access, Cincinnati uses multiple Centera systems to store its fixed content at its headquarters and its remote disaster recovery site.

Added Stigall, "Throughout our relationship, EMC has shown extraordinary commitment to resolving issues and delivering solutions that align with our requirements. We see this in their customer service, sales and engineering and up to the most senior executives. With their top-tier technology and focus on our business, EMC was the obvious choice for our storage solution."

About EMC

EMC Corporation is the world leader in products, services and solutions for information storage and management that help organizations extract the maximum value from their information, at the lowest total cost, across every point in the information lifecycle. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at http://www.emc.com/.

EMC, Documentum, Symmetrix and CLARiiON are registered trademarks, and Centera is a trademark of EMC Corporation. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact: Patrick Cooley 508-293-6583 cooley_patrick@emc.com