DocuWare > Case Studies > Horizon Underwriting Managers Streamlines Document Management with DocuWare

Horizon Underwriting Managers Streamlines Document Management with DocuWare

Customer Company Size

SME

Region

Africa

Country

South Africa

Product

DocuWare

Tech Stack

Document Management System

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Regulatory Compliance Monitoring

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Horizon Underwriting Managers was formed in 2012 following the merger of two companies, dating back to 1992. Today, it is one of the leading insurance companies in South Africa’s marine and shipping industry. The company has twenty-six employees, in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, who work on custom solutions for the unique kinds of risks found in the marine sector. These include insurance for import/export of goods, transport within South Africa, solutions for marine liability issues, and hull policies for commercial and private boats.

The Challenge

Horizon Underwriting Managers, a leading insurance company in South Africa’s marine and shipping industry, was facing challenges with its document management process. The company had to deal with individual insurance issues in shipping, which meant that the time and effort required to prepare each contract was high. Employees had to repeatedly rework drafts, print them out, sign them, and then send them to the customer. In addition, many customers requested copies of the contract, which meant that the printed documents had to be scanned and sent to the customer by email in addition to the actual contract being stored in a fireproof archive. The double burden of managing a high volume of email on the one hand and meeting involved statutory requirements on the other proved to be untenable for the company in the long run. Plus, the workload for employees was barely keeping pace with the strong growth of the company.

The Solution

Horizon Underwriting Managers implemented DocuWare, a document management system, to streamline their document management process. The system was first launched in the insurance department. With DocuWare, employees can create a new contract in less than five minutes. The system automatically selects any required documents and attachments from various templates and merges them to form the main policy wording. The clerk then simply triggers a virtual print process to transfer all documents - fully indexed and signed - to the electronic file cabinet and sends a copy of the contract to the customer by email. The company can completely dispense with paper during this process. DocuWare also links email correspondence with insurance brokers and end customers to their corresponding policies. At the touch of a button, employees can transfer an email to their electronic filing cabinet – and it will be stored in its correct place.

Operational Impact

The implementation of DocuWare has led to significant improvements in Horizon's document management process. The company has been able to completely dispense with paper during the contract creation process, leading to cost savings on printing. The system has also given employees the freedom to work from anywhere, as they can access documents and continue workflows no matter where they are working – even from their smartphones, where the DocuWare app works extremely effectively. In addition, users now find documents much faster than in a paper archive, which has led to faster processing times and far better customer service.

Quantitative Benefit