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To: James Strauss who wrote (5731)	1/12/2000 1:57:00 PM
From: good2yah	Respond to of 13094

Jim when this thing is released...just read technologydecisions.com Farmers, First Priority take customer service on higher-tech road by Alison Foster Jones Farmers Insurance Group (www.farmers.com) and First Priority Group (www.fpgp.com) are both developing systems that provide one-step solutions for individuals involved in a car accident. First Priority's solution is Web-based, while Farmer's uses call-center and database technology. Although several insurance companies offer online claims processing to some extent (see Net Benefits), both Farmers and First Priority want to streamline the claim process further and provide more service to the policyholder. First Priority made its name with Driver's Shield, an auto-repair and -service referral program. Now they've extended that program onto the Web, adding services for agents and claims representatives. According to Barry Siegel, First Priority's chairman and chief executive, his company's new system, driversshield.com, allows claims representatives or agents access to the company's database of vendors through the Web site (www.driversshield.com). Besides simply taking a claim, driversshield also links collision-repair claims and management services for insurance companies, agents, and their clients. Clients who have been in an accident will be able to enter specific information and receive claim support, learn the names of a tested and certified local repair shop, be able to make an appointment for the repair work, arrange a tow-truck and a rental car, and monitor the progress of the repair. "[It is] a Web enablement of all the things that we've learned over the past 15 years," Siegel said. Driversshield will launch October 1, and will include call-center services for users and agents. That provides the customer single-phone-call access to the same information available through the Web site (claims representatives will actually be using driversshield while on the phone with a client). For the agents who prefer their clients deal with the agency, driversshield.com will set up a customized front-end on the agency's Web site; the claimant will access driversshield.com without knowing it. Individual users will also be able to access the services by going to the driversshield.com Web site. There they will enter necessary information including the name of their insurance company. "Even if they aren't a client of ours, they will benefit," said Siegel. If the insurer is not connected to the Internet, the claimant will be referred to the driversshield.com call center. And if any questions arise from a Web-based form, the rental agency or repair shop will call the insured directly. First Priority makes its money from relationships with repair shops and rental-car agencies. "We act as their marketing agent," Siegel said. "We are securing business for them." All the shops in the driversshield.com database have been used by First Priority during the past 15 years and must past several tests that include, qualification, licenses, and service turn-around-time. Only when a shop is approved does it become a trusted referral for the insured. "Our vendors have proven their capabilities to us over long periods of time," Siegel told Technology Decisions. "Every job we do gets a follow-up questionnaire, and the results are given to our clients." Driversshield.com will also provide a national warranty for the repair of the vehicle. "Speed of closure is very important to an insurance company," said Siegel, and retention of customer is equally important. With driversshield.com, one call or one session on the Web begins the process of car repair and claim closure. "[We] anticipate that medium to small companies will jump right on this," Siegel said. "Companies get an instantly competitive program."