On the front lines of the property & casualty (P&C) and health insurance industries, organization and efficiency are everything.
In the U.S. alone, there are some 300,000 insurance claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners and investigators tasked with evaluating insurance claims – determining whether a carrier must pay a claim and for how much. This is not always an easy job.
Claims adjusters must examine property damage (for P&C claims), ensure claims are not fraudulent, interview doctors and employers (for health or disability claims), consult with attorneys, negotiate settlements and authorize payments. All of that work is extremely record-intensive, and a notebook isn’t nearly enough. That’s why more and more adjusters are turning to Olympus Professional Dictation devices to stay on top of their work.
Digital Voice Recorders for Auto Claims Adjusters
This example features an adjuster from a major P&C insurance carrier with managerial offices in the Northeast and Midwest.
A longtime customer filed a phone claim, indicating that he had struck a deer with his Mazda MX-5 the night before. He said that significant damage was done to the hood, front bumper, right front headlight and more. Per the company’s policy, a claims adjuster was dispatched for an afternoon appointment.
The adjuster arrived at the rural home, and was able to immediately confirm the body damage. Paint was chipped, metal was twisted, a headlight was smashed and frame issues were suspected. The presence of deer hair met the carrier’s standards for an animal strike, and the damage appeared to fall short of the company’s “total” threshold. All of this needed to be documented for entry and archiving in the company’s paperless document management system – a time-consuming process using pen and paper, or even a tablet equipped with a keyboard.
Fortunately, the adjuster’s carrier had equipped its team with Olympus digital voice recorders, with eyes on increasing adjuster efficiency and shortening cycle times from claim submission to final claim approval and payment. The professional dictation device allowed the adjuster to fully and clearly document the damage to the customer’s vehicle. Combined with a series of digital photographs, this added an exceptional layer of detail to adjuster’s report. To the customer’s delight, this allowed the claim to be more quickly processed and settled.
Digital Voice Recorders for Homeowners Insurance Adjusters
After Superstorm Sandy made its way up the East Coast, homeowners’ insurance claims skyrocketed. This meant an extreme workload for one adjuster working for a mid-sized carrier in Pennsylvania.
Trees were downed, windows were broken and structural damage was rampant throughout the adjuster’s territory. If he was going to provide the carrier’s typical level of thorough customer service and speedy response, he needed to be as efficient as possible. His Olympus Professional Dictation device made it happen.
The adjuster spent the days following Sandy driving all over his area, meeting with claimants and documenting their property damage. Time and time again, he was able to simply record homeowner interviews personal notes, and take photos and get back on the road – making the most of his work hours and minimizing customer wait time.
When the day’s site visits were done, the adjuster connected his DS-7000 digital voice recorder to its dock, automatically storing properly organized audio files with ODMS software. Key recordings were routed for examination and processing, then archived for compliance.
Within weeks of the October 2012 storm, life was nearly back to normal for the adjuster – and thanks to his carrier’s penchant for service and his DS-7000, it nearly was for his customers, too.
Why Olympus Professional Dictation?
You have many choices when it comes to digital voice recorders. But none stand up to an Olympus Professional Dictation device – the gold standard in recording and file management. Why?
- Superior audio quality: The DS-7000 and DS-3500 feature advanced internal microphones with dedicated settings for individual dictation and multi-user conferences/interviews. External microphones – and even phone recording equipment – can be attached in seconds.
- Industry-leading software: Our highly configurable ODMS software allows recordings to be automatically stored and routed as soon as a recorder is attached to a PC.
- Voice recognition integration: Olympus Professional Dictation devices are fully compatible with Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software, easing the burden of transcription and ensuring accurate data throughput.
- Reliability: Olympus Professional Dictation devices are painstakingly constructed from advanced plastics and lightweight metals, allowing for consistent operation and durability in nearly any situation.
- Intuitive controls: On-device controls on Olympus Professional Dictation devices are easily learned and used. In particular, the slideswitch operation built into the DS-7000 allows users to start, stop and rewind recording instantly, without even looking at the device.