“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
If you’re not familiar with the Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities, you might not have recognized its opening line. But whether you’ve read the novel or not, there must have been times in your life, perhaps your working life, in which you’ve felt the seemingly contradictory truth in that line.
We were reminded of that contradiction in a conversation we had with a risk manager for a restaurant chain. To protect his identity, we’ve identified him as RM (risk manager) in the transcript that follows. We’ve identified ourselves (modestly, of course) as CE (claims expert).
Here’s the transcript:
CE: Hi. Thank you for looking at our website and contacting us. Please let us know how we can be of service to you.
RM: Thank you for taking the time for this call. The truth is I reached out because I thought Cloud Claims looked interesting.
CE: That’s a great place to start. Do you have a claims system at present?
RM: I do.
CE: Do you mind if we ask what system you’re using?
RM: Not at all. It’s called Claims Bomb.
CE: Okay … well … how do you like it?
RM: I love it. It’s automated so many of the process I was doing manually.
CE: Excellent. Can you tell us what kind of reports it gives you.
RM: What kind of who?
CE: Maybe that’s not the best place to start. Does Claims Bomb let you tie individual claims to the incidents that precipitated them?
RM: No. But it does number all my claims. So, all I have to do is go back to figure out what caused them in the first place.
CE: Is that a distraction?
RM: It depends on what else I have to do.
CE: Right. Of course. And does Claims Bomb let you attach files in various digital formats?
RM: Isn’t that why God invented paper?
CE: Are you experiencing any backlog in the claims you have to manage?
RM: Yes. But the only people who complain are the ones whose claims aren’t being paid.
CE: Alright, then. Just one more question: Overall, how do you feel about Claims Bomb?
RM: I hate it.
CE: But you said earlier you love it.
RM: Yeah. But that was before I realized all the stuff it doesn’t do.
CE: We’re here to help when you’re ready.
RM: Are you busy right now?
Chapter Two
The moral of the story is this: There are good reasons to have a headache. Claims management isn’t one of them.
Please let us know how we can help you feel better.
