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DM
INSURANCE: HOW TOKAIRO HELPED ALPS CUT COSTS AND CREATE NEW
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
Tokairo's TokOpen document management solution is now being
used by one of America's most innovative, specialist legal
insurance firms to streamline its business processes, cut
costs and more effectively deploy staff. Following the foundation
of its successful implementation for over 100 internal executive
users - serving over 10,000 clients across the United States
- Attorneys Liability Protection Society (ALPS) has now entered
into a partnership with Tokairo to introduce the technology
more widely in the US legal sector. The firm is headquartered
in Missoula, Montana.
Established
in 1988 to provide affordable and dependable malpractice insurance
to the legal industry, ALPS - www.alpsnet.com - has substantially
expanded to provide a wide range of additional services. These
include liability insurance, risk management, investment management,
captive management, foundation services and provision of legal
technology.
A key
recent development is ALPS' Law Centre, a facility designed
to service solo legal practitioners. It offers professional
front and back office support services and resources covering
virtually every aspect of an attorney's practice. Tokairo's
TokOpen document management technology will now be included
in the portfolio of services - available as an implemented
standalone system for individual clients, or as a Web-based
outsourced service.
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Based in Missoula, Montana, Attorneys Liability Protection
Society has a unique position in the American legal
profession. Originally set up to provide malpractice
insurance, it has extended its activities over the last
few years to provide a complete portfolio of services
and resources for independent legal practitioners. It
is widely recognised as an innovative and leading force
in the legal sector.
For example, the ALPS Law Centre provides front and
back office support services to independent solo attorneys,
covering every aspect of their needs from IT and fully
equipped offices - to stationery and business cards.
Other services include risk management, investment management,
captive management - and a range of foundation services.
These are provided by an ALPS subsidiary consulting
firm launched in 2002 to meet the needs of state and
local Bar foundations nationwide. It offers a cost-effective
alternative to those bar associations lacking the resources
to hire additional staff or afford expensive overheads.
Essentially, the service enables thousands of low-income
citizens to have access to professional legal advice
- and justice.
"Like any other professional business, we generate
vast amounts of documents," says ALPS Professional
Support Services VP Jordan Lind. "We've got a very
wide service portfolio and something over 10,000 clients.
Inevitably, that produces a lot of paper. Just like
everyone else, we recognised years ago that we needed
to apply automation and IT to our business processes
- especially in regard to controlling and improving
dissemination of information to our professionals".
"Document management is key to our business. Every
document we process represents a value - sometimes cost;
sometimes profit. So a move to a paperless environment
was an obvious development. We took our first step in
1997 when we installed our initial DM system".
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"The implementation took place at a time when we were
remodeling our business, and it was a natural stage for us
to make the move. It provided a reasonable degree of resolution
- automated the document dissemination process and gave us
an archive, but the search capability wasn't as effective
as we wanted".
"In 2001, we decided to explore a new solution that
would meet the more demanding requirements we had established
as a result of our initial experience of document management
usage," says Lind.
"We looked at a number of systems on the market, but
few offered an easy conversion from our existing system or
adequately addressed the two other major issues. These were
the subsequent upgrade path as our usage grew, and integration
with our own business systems, including our in-house developed
ALPSNET insurance customer management application".
Tokairo's TokOpen system was finally selected because of
its functionality. "We dealt with their US operation
which demonstrated a good knowledge of our business and was
able to show a solid track record of successful implementations
for other users," says Lind. "We also liked the
way in which we could easily transfer from our current system
- and the ability of TokOpen to integrate seamlessly with
our own business systems".
"A
significant factor in the choice was price. It was attractive
and compared very favourably with competitive products. We
liked the way the system was packaged as a complete solution
- with all elements included and available as needed, but
only charged for as and how we used them".
"The actual move from our former document management
system to TokOpen - and full integration with existing business
systems - took a few days. The only significant issue was
accommodating one file drawer that contained over 3,000 folders.
This was resolved with an elegant work-around by Tokairo.
We didn't run a pilot. Just put the new system up in total,
first go, and it worked - integrating with our own business
systems seamlessly".
"The flexibility of the system enables various departments
to use it in different ways without compromising the integrity
of the application. For example, sales, marketing and risk
management personnel use it transparently via our ALPSNET
business system".
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"On the other hand, our Administration Group use
it directly, for example, for accounts payable, with
every invoice - over 1,000 a month - scanned in. The
system has also had a dramatic impact on the way in
which we can store and access information, particularly
in the Underwriting and Claims Group where there is
a massive volume of files, for example on claims and
risk assessment".
The
benefits? "The contrast between our former system
and TokOpen was dramatic," says Lind. "There
is a very significant improvement in the ease and speed
of searching and retrieving documents. With TokOpen,
it is twice as fast. The search technology is highly
user-friendly, intuitive and simple".
"A
particular issue was security. As an insurance company,
we are obliged to comply with very strict state and
national regulatory obligations regarding records. In
1996, if we'd had a fire and the office had burnt down,
we'd have lost all our records. Now, we've got high
security, full disaster recovery and complete backup.
That's a benefit that translates into improved, more
confident service to clients, and a surer, safer strategic
management grip on our business".
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ease with which TokOpen integrated with our business systems.
We didn't have to change or modify any applications - and the
document management functionality for some departments is provided
transparently through existing applications. With TokOpen, it's
child's play. We can look up and retrieve any document and fax
or email it to anyone. And multiple users can view documents
simultaneously. There is an excellent workflow module which
we are planning to implement soon, and we've also just taken
TokOpen Web".
"The bottom line is a streamlined business process where
every authorised user can very quickly access any company
information, where that information is securely archived and
backed-up, and as a result, a significant number of personnel
have been moved from non-thinking, repetitive jobs to value-added
positions. It means we now provide a more professional service
to clients, and have a platform from which we can build a
more successful and profitable business".
For example, having implemented TokOpen themselves, ALPS
has entered into a professional partnership agreement with
Tokairo by which they will provide the document management
technology - combined with their legal expertise - to other
legal practitioners.
"This will be available in two ways," says Lind.
"For those who want their own, stand-alone DM application,
we'll facilitate a full, independent system implementation
jointly with Tokairo. Alternatively, we'll be providing an
outsourced, Web-based DM service. For solo legal practitioners,
this represents a very attractive solution that takes away
all the hassle of archive management and offers rapid access
to practice information from any location with Internet connection.
That's a very attractive business opportunity for them - and
us".
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Tokairo Ltd
20 Linford Forum, Rockingham Drive, Linford Wood,
Milton Keynes, MK14 6LY, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1908 695 569 | Fax:
+44 (0) 1908 696 961 | E-mail:
info@tokairo.com
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© Copyright 2004 Tokairo
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