Doing battle in this hard market: while risk managers can't do much about premium increases, they are doing something to ease the burden of lengthy applications

Risk & Insurance, Sept 1, 2003 by John Otrompke

Every insurer Del Monte is looking at offers Web-based database capability, allowing Addieg to process and rework information using spreadsheet applications. "Before, the database was just for looking up information, but now I can actually download it into Excel," he says. "I can send an e-mail to the adjuster from within the database, whereas previously I would have to write down a claim number and send an e-mail from my regular e-mail program."

Matt Jablonski, insurance director for New York-based Hearst Corp., agrees that workers' compensation was one area where the new technology paid off. "We acquired the San Francisco Chronicle in 2000, and the number of losses there was extremely high," he says. "They had large printing presses in the Bay area and ran three shifts." But after using the new technology to educate shift supervisors, losses have been reduced by $2.5 million, he says.