Speed of service for all transactional or brokerage business has always been a challenge. This is particularly true for transportation classes, specifically for Commercial Auto and Motor Truck Cargo lines. 

Underwriters need to meet the demand for a quick turnaround in providing initial terms as well as the production of introductory documentation such as the binder and certificate, along with the ongoing need to service the account in question successfully.
 
Medium or larger sized transportation fleets constantly have units added and removed from coverage throughout the policy period. This continual, never-ending need to service fleets on an ongoing basis has seen these classes gain that wonderful (and memorable!) insurance description of being a “Paper Monster.”

Thanks to advancements in technology, defeating the “Paper Monster” is at hand. Bell & Clements investment in market leading technology can be traced back over two decades. The Company have changed how risks were managed on a bordereau, the development of our web-based management portal ‘The Bridge’ and now, more recently, the introduction of data driven pricing with Application Programming Interface (API) based and real-time automated rating engines.

It is this forward-thinking, technological driven approach that is now being applied to our transportation classes and has provided the much-needed solution to defeat the “Paper Monster”. After entering a partnership with a third-party vendor, PolicyFly, the turnaround time for quotes and coverage confirmation remain consistently fast paced but more importantly, for documentation, with risks handled through the system, we are seeing ongoing endorsement production time reduced to an average of one day. There are no long delays for documentation and there is no need to chase policy changes. This is a significant step forward for the handling of this business both for our clients and our internal teams.

This year, we will be further enhancing the PolicyFly system. We know that speed of service is a key criteria for success, so we will be improving this to a greater extent. This, coupled with the use of the analytical ability provided by the system will enable us to monitor the business closer to ensure that while other markets may jump in and out of providing these coverages, we continue to make sure we provide an efficient, long-term and stable business solution for our clients.  We have taken necessary steps to tame the “Paper Monster”, this year we will defeat it.