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By Brian Benoit, Manager, Solution Consultants

The old saying two are more powerful than one definitely holds true for Guidewire products. When positioning Guidewire ClaimCenter against an environment that also has an enterprise content management (ECM) system or document management system, it’s obvious why the two together are more powerful and effective.

An ECM system in combination with ClaimCenter yields significantly more functionality and business benefits than each system on its own. Here are three reasons why your Guidewire ClaimCenter needs an ECM system:

Ensure Document Security and Readability

Without controls or security, users are able to open editable (e.g. Word) documents and make updates without proper tracking or authentication. This could become a detrimental capability when there is malicious intent.

Customers can also send documents in any file format they choose (pdf, doc, xls, ppt, tiff, etc.). This becomes troublesome when a user receives a document in an unsupported file format without an application to view it.

To solve these challenges there are two options:

Option 1: Assign an employee to convert all incoming documents into PDF format to eliminate the chance of any information being compromised and ensure the entire organization handles the same file type of documents.

Option 2: Automatically convert, define and index incoming documents to a specific file type. This would instill confidence that documents are secure and accurate and that all users will be able to access them.

Which option sounds better to you?

Get Rid of the “Culture of Heroes”

When an employee works on a claim, they name every document how they want – they “own” the claim. This creates a Culture of Heroes where employees depend on people rather than content, which is problematic when a colleague or manager wants to view the claim or make changes to it. An outsider has no clue what each document is or where to find it.

Adding an ECM system to ClaimCenter allows organizations to develop a consistent strategy for naming documents. This means anyone can open the claim and make adjustments or add to it.

In an ECM solution like Pyramid eXpeditor, documents reside within the ECM system, instead of in department silos, so all users can access documents. The organization also has the ability to apply appropriate security and retention policies to documents.

Additional Functionality

As users get more comfortable using electronic documents, they will begin to have the need for greater functionality. Common requests include the ability to, download, bookmark, email or package documents for delivery. Each of these functions could require significant custom development in Guidewire ClaimCenter, but are functions available through an ECM system.

Guidewire ClaimCenter is a great tool for managing your claims, but can provide you with even greater functionality and purpose when combined with an ECM solution. Learn more about the benefits and possibilities of extending Guidewire applications here.