Check out the icons on these buttons in the 2011 Ford Explorer.  Any idea what they are for?

It used to take 90 days before the government detected a scam. By then, the crooks were long gone, sometimes with millions of dollars. Now authorities get billing data as it’s submitted, allowing them to catch suspects in real time, “as opposed to the typical pay and chase model we’ve had for years,” said Gerald Roy, assistant inspector general for investigations.

Detroit is one of 5 cities involved in the largest ever Medicare fraud bust.

Read the entire article here.

Cost benefits come up in every conversation about implementing SCOUT with a new client.  In one way or another, every one of these are addressed during the sales process. I thought the issues were articulated very well in a recent article I read.

For any software search, cost benefits can be expressed in uncomplicated terms:

• Staff reduction
• Process improvement
• Regulatory compliance
• Cycle time reduction
• Employee training & retention

Read the entire and expanded article here from Insurance and Technology

I was re-reading an article from Insurance and Technology, 4 Technology Solutions That Sizzle originally written in December of 2009.  The first solution discussed is cloud computing and SaaS and starts off, "Insurers remain cautious in their adoption of newer technologies." We've been dealing this mindset for years and I'm happy to see that even in the past 6 months issues pertaining to data security are less prevalent in demonstrations and negotiations. 

A SaaS solution offers better back up and security for data for all PI companies even those who can afford a full-time IT staff.  Using SCOUT PIs own their data, it's backed up in multiple locations everyday by systems and procedures dedicated to such efforts.  There are generators and state of the art security systems protecting the servers where the data is stored as well.  SCOUT also uses the latest data encryption methods available. 

The same goes for Carrier's concerns.  Deploying a SaaS solution is no more and often times less risky than hosing a solution and data on-site.  I've also never come across an installation where it was cheaper to perform hosting functions on-site either. 

The case for moving insurance related software solutions into the Cloud is undeniable.

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I came across this article from Insurance and Technology that describes, "UIs need to be crafted not only to meet the task at hand but also the type of user." Really?

QUOTE: In developing the various UIs within its product set, StoneRiver has identified three different personas:

• the internal insurance professional or administrator;
• the external customer, including agents; and
• the systems administrator.

Aren't all of these just people and aren't they all using the same application?

QUOTE: For example, internal insurance professionals understand the concepts and terminology of insurance, Griffin explains. They are looking for speed and efficiency and can deal with more complexity.

So insurance "professionals" understand the insurance we buy better than we do or are superior in their processing capabilities?  Complexity = speed and efficiency?

Now, we didn't hire a Human Factor Specialist to design our UI, but I also don't think we need to complicate things with 3 (or more) different UIs.  Sure, different users have access to different screens and information in the application, but do they each need a custom design?   I'm not trying to pile on the company mentioned in this article and truth be told, I'm the litmus test for new features and layouts for SCOUT.  If I can't figure out how to use it we go back to the drawing board. 

Required training is minimal, barriers to entry low, adoption rates high.  We promise not to make our client's lives more complicatied.  Quite the opposite.

One of the biggest obstacles we have to overcome is proving Return on Investment for our products in the SIU.  The reason it's difficult to have exact numbers is because the exact financial impact of the SIU itself is sometimes in dispute.  I've read several studies and talked at length with clients about how SIUs prove value and ROI to the company as a whole and the consensus is there is there is no consensus!  Everyone knows there is some and often great benefits to a carrier having a department devoted to investigating and thus deterring fraud, but the specific financial impact is hard to discern.

Attached is a recent article by Robert Horst and Mark Rosenberg: The Business Justification for Special Investigation Units

"While these units may often be expensive, the proven effectiveness of SIUs in uncovering incidents of fraud and deterring future incidents of fraud ensures that they are one aspect of an insurance company's operations that is almost certain to pay for itself over time."

The Business Justification for Special Investigation Units.docx (16.14 kb)

Security is something we are very aware of, and it is only going to become a larger issue as technology is integrated with more and more of our daily routine.

CBS News is reporting that many modern copy machines now have internal hard drives that hold copies of all scanned documents.  Most users aren't aware of this taking place, and surprisingly enough, a lot of these copy machines don't even support the ability to erase these scanned files.  Worst of all, few people know that this is even taking place, so many companies are returning their leased copy machines with hard drives stored with scanned files of nearly every document that has passed through the device.  These used copy machines are essentially gold mines for data thieves and people looking to gain access to private information.

It is always important that you know who is handling your data, and what exactly is going on behind the scenes.

Take a look at the video report by CBS News from April 19, 2010:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6412572n

"You can walk through the door where you treat the customer like your guest, operating by the rule that the customer is always right. Or you can be cutthroat. The first door is the door of kindness. That's the one I decided to walk through."

Bob Moore was a middle-aged retiree when he launched his second career. He nurtured it into a $70 million business -- and then gave it away to his employees.

How I Did It: Bob Moore, Bob's Red Mill

"One of my favorite investments that our firm made is in Delicious. The thing I loved about Delicious was its simplicity. There wasn’t much you could do, but what you could do was really quite powerful. People used it every single day, maybe 5 or 10 times a day. These services where you do one little thing, but you do it all the time, and it’s very reinforcing and you get a lot of utility out of it, and it’s quick, easy, and fast, I think tend to do very well and give you the platform to ultimately grow from there."

- Fred Wilson's 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps