It’s a tired way to start a modern article by referring to the speed with which the world has been revolutionized by the computer but, in this instance, it’s highly appropriate. When the first green shoots emerged in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, computerization was all about automating in-house processes like the accounting system. The software to replace labor was still a few years ago. But, once it arrived, two things happened. The employers cut their costs and improved their profits by terminating the employment of tens of thousands. Second, by removing many of the people who used to deal with customers, the businesses began a slow decline in the quality of the services they provided. Today, corporations hide behind call centers and e-mail systems, rarely providing real people we can talk through our problems with.
Instead of using the Internet and automated systems as a smokescreen to suggest a reasonable quality of service, the new technology should be used to improve the customer experience. At some point, the quality of this aspect of service will come back into focus as a way of distinguishing between faceless corporations. Take the world of car insurance as an example of what can be done. If your vehicle is involved in an accident, what you want is a smooth system for handling your claim. This involves the minimum fuss in submitting the claim online, the identification of suitable bodyshops for performing the repairs, getting quotes with the least delay, and agreeing which bodyshop will actually do the repairs. All this administration needs to be fast because, if your vehicle is off the road, there are storage charges mounting up and rental charges for a substitute vehicle. Multiply this across all the policyholders and the cost to the insurers is higher than it needs to be. If this loss is controlled, premium rates can be stabilized if not reduced. It’s good for all.
That’s why it’s important to support a new website and mobile app for Android and the iPhone that will improve the current situation. They allow you to upload photographs of the damage using your cell phone or hand-held device with a camera, and circulate those pictures to bodyshops approved by your insurer near to where you live. The repair shops keep the site updated on whether they have spare capacity and offer an estimate of the cost of repairs within 24 hours. Because the site works with insurers to limit the list of repairshops to those preapproved by the insurers, there’s a minimum of delay in processing the claim and costs are kept to a minimum. At present, this is still at a beta stage with five insurance companies in a limited number of states. But, assuming the trial is a success, we could see this rolled out across the country. If it genuinely does reduce administrative delays and associated costs, we will see stable car insurance rates. It may not be the cheap car insurance we all want to see, but it’s a good step in the right direction. It should also act as a wake-up call to the other slumbering giants on both sides of the fence. There are creative software people and insurance companies who would benefit the customer by getting together.
April 26th, 2012 in
Articles | tags:
Accounting System,
Automated Systems,
Bodyshops,
Call Centers,
Computerization,
Customer Experience,
E Mail,
Early 1970,
Faceless Corporations,
Mail Systems,
Minimum Fuss,
New Technology,
Policyholders,
Real People,
Rental Charges,
Slow Decline,
Smokescreen,
Smooth System,
Storage Charges,
Technology World |
No Comments
If you listen to the commentators, they all sing the same song. We’ve now entered the internet age. This is supposed to convince us something new and wonderful has happened. It’s such a complete break with the past it heralds the beginning of a new information age in which, somehow, we can all get ahead and do things never possible before. This is, of course, pure rubbish. The only difference between the digital age and the hard-copy age that went before it is the ease of access. Having a PC or some other online device gives you access to a vast library with a search engine to help you find the pages you need more easily. But, when you have the right page on the screen in front of you, it’s the same words you could have found in a book or some other written material. All that’s changed is the way the words are presented to you.
So, if you go back in time, printed words have always been used to manipulate people. They sell ideas to you. This means real power lies in the power to control access the means of publication. If a group can control what gets printed and distributed, the words can always tell the same story. But if the means of publication is open to other voices, this can give a completely different view of the world. This is why reputations can be made or unmade depending on who has the power to publish.
The problem for modern companies is anyone today can start up a blog or website. Many internet services are free to use. Similarly, the networking sites like Facebook allow people to write their opinions and describe their experiences. In the past, we would never get to hear Anne from Denver bought a steam cleaner that sprayed boiling water over her hands. Now she can write it and thousands of people can tweet it. It makes it very difficult for manufacturers and service providers to protect their reputations. This explains, in part, why insurance companies very rarely allow interaction on their sites. Since they cannot control what sometimes angry customers may say, they try to deny them a voice. Except there are now some very high profile sites on which people can complain about bad products and services. This movement is not yet sufficient to damage the vast insurance industry, but individual companies are finding it more difficult to prevent their reputations from slowly washing away.
This makes the recent announcement of a new online forum all the more encouraging. The intention is to allow people from both sides of the insurance relationship a chance to ask questions and have their say. Instead of a blank screen on which insurers give you the news they think you should hear, you can now ask about how to get more affordable car insurance rates, what to do if a claims adjuster low-balls the fair market value offer, and so on. This does not mean everyone on the forum will be an “innocent” consumer. There will inevitably be anonymous industry experts giving balancing views and opinions. But this is a hopeful sign of change. You may even get cheap car insurance quotes because of pressure through forums like this.
December 28th, 2011 in
Articles | tags:
Auto Insurance Quotes,
Auto Quotes,
Boiling Water,
Commentators,
Experiences,
Information Age,
Insurance Companies,
Interaction,
Internet Age,
Internet Services,
Networking,
People,
Pure Rubbish,
Reputations,
Search Engine,
Service Providers,
Steam Cleaner,
Vast Library,
Voices,
Written Material |
No Comments
There are so many kind of insurance such as house insurance, health insurance, car insurance and many others. Today there is insurance for your pets, if you own dogs or cats you can buy insurance for pets for them. Having pets it’s not an easy task to do; it is a great experience but come with great responsibility.
Pets have almost the same needs as human, they need shelter, food, and they can get sick or injuries. But unlike human they don’t have Medicare which will cover their expenses when they are sick. The owners must provide all their need including pay for the veterinary fees whenever they need check up or sick. You need to invest time as well as financial to take care of your pets. Today you can plan for their financial needs by having pet insurance. Your pets will be protected by the insurance and it will covers on what they need such as veterinary fees, covers illness, accidental injuries, check up on the veterinary and many others depend on the kind of insurance your getting for your pets. One of the companies that will provide you with insurance for pets is Pet Insurance. You can check their site at you will find pet insurance comparison in which will explain and compare each of the insurance plan they offer. This company offers three kind of insurance for your pets such as basic plan, plus plan and premium plan. Basic plan only covers for accidental injury only, plus plan covers for accidental injury and illness and premium plan covers accidental injury and illness also. You can choose which plan you think you need for your pets.
If you are interested to get insurance for your pets you can check their site at Petsinsurance.com. You will also find pet insurance reviews from some people who have use this insurance for their pets.
December 13th, 2011 in
Info | tags:
Accidental Injuries,
Accidental Injury,
Buy Insurance,
Buy Pets,
Car Insurance,
Cats,
Dogs,
Health insurance,
House Insurance,
Insurance,
Insurance Car,
Insurance Comparison,
Insurance For Pets,
Insurance Health,
Insurance Plan,
Insurance Reviews,
Medicare,
Pet Insurance,
Veterinary Fees |
No Comments
When it comes to insuring ones health there’s no denying the fact that this form of insurance is a must for everyone even though it’s not legally required and is purely optional. It’s hard to imagine the current healthcare system without insurance because otherwise people couldn’t afford most medical services and doctors wouldn’t get their high salaries, which are among the highest all over the world. Thanks to insurance both customers and service providers are pleased, and everyone’s getting the thing they want. Among many types of insurance available managed care plans are the most widespread, so let’s take a closer look at some of the most common forms of insurance offered by insurers:
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO)
This is the most common form of managed care plans as it provides the lowest price and a wide range of services included. It’s main drawback is the lack of flexibility in what concerns the places you get care from. Under HMOs you are limited to a network of facilities and specialists you may get care from and covered to the full extent. If you choose to get your services from someone outside the network your costs won’t be covered at all. Moreover, you are required to choose a primary care physician who will refer you to all the required specialists, so there’s more paperwork involved with this type of plans. Yet, you usually pay lower premiums for that so it’s really worth the effort.
Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
Preferred Provider Organizations offer more flexibility but for a higher price if compared to HMO plans. You are still limited to a network of providers to get care from, however if you choose to go out of network there will still be some part of your bill covered only to a lesser extent compared to in-network services. And you aren’t obliged to choose a primary care physician so there’s not so many office visits to do under this type of managed care plans. If you have the additional money and want more flexibility with your health insurance this plan type will definitely appeal to you.
Point Of Service (POS)
Point Of Service plans are often referred to as a mix of HMO and PPO plans as they provide the benefits of both these forms of health insurance. You gain the flexibility of PPO in what concerns the places you get services at, yet you still have to choose a primary care physician and have a network of providers to work with. One of the greatest benefits is that you may choose your family doctor as a primary care physician even if he or she doesn’t make part of the insurer specified network, which is definitely appealing to those who have long term relations with their family doctors. PPO plans may vary in price so it’s really recommended to shop around if you want to get the best rate possible.
As you see, managed care plans come in different forms with the sole purpose of giving you exactly what you need. So it’s really important to assess your individual health insurance needs before choosing the plan type to address them adequately.
November 29th, 2011 in
Articles | tags:
Care Physician,
Closer Look,
Doctors,
Drawback,
Flexibility,
Full Extent,
Health Maintenance Organizations,
Healthcare System,
Hmo Plans,
Hmos,
Managed Care Plans,
Medical Services,
Paperwork,
Preferred Provider Organizations,
Premiums,
Primary Care,
Salaries,
Service Providers,
Types Of Insurance,
World Thanks |
No Comments
No one surely knows when bad things and urgent situation may happen and many of them mostly are unprepared for it. Things can grow even much worse when the urgent situation comes by the time we have no cash money left. We can’t rely on the bank since we might be required to follow complicated and long procedures to get the loan approvals or perhaps can’t get the loan approvals at all.
Urgent situation is required to be solved as soon as possible it means if we have no money we can’t definitely wait for our paycheck until the next months since the situation may grow even much worse. Instead getting the loans from online pay day loan lenders can be a perfect option considering that it’ll be the quickest way for us to earn the financial aids. One most recommended source that you should visit when you need the loans is only to visit easyonlinepaydayloan.com.
It’s simply so easy to apply the loans online from this website since you might only need to fill out some simple information on the online forms. The loan specialists in this website will then make the data verifications and will work to send you the money instantly.
October 21st, 2011 in
Info | tags:
Aids,
Apply Online,
Cash Money,
Easy Loans,
Financial Aids,
Loan Approvals,
Loan Lenders,
Loan Specialists,
Loans Online,
Main Source,
Online Loan,
Pay Day Loan,
Paycheck,
Send Money,
Urgent Situation |
No Comments