Web Access Promotes Better Decision Making
November 23rd, 2007 Comment on this article
When you’re in the business of bonding large construction projects, you need every advantage you can get. Surety bonding is all about managing risk—primarily by capitalizing on the information provided in documents. For the Insco Dico Group, a national surety bond writer, Laserfiche and Web Access provide an important advantage in managing that risk
“It’s like being in the office without being in the office,” says the firm’s Larry Leenerts, who manages Insco Dico’s Laserfiche implementation. “Web Access enables our branch offices not only to search for documents in the Laserfiche repository, but also to access those documents and work on them when they need to, from anywhere they need to.”
It’s the remote access to documents that’s making a big difference at Insco Dico these days. Before the firm installed Web Access, underwriters had to send project-related documents to corporate headquarters in Irvine, CA, via US mail. Each bonding agreement is typically several inches thick and includes construction contracts, legal indemnity agreements, credit reports, asset reports and other items that demonstrate that the contractor seeking bonding is capable of performing under the terms of the contract. Those thick files were then stored in a records room at corporate headquarters, and anyone who needed information contained in a file had to request a physical copy—and then wait for staff to deliver it.
Web Access has helped the company streamline this process by taking the Laserfiche software already installed at company headquarters and making it available online. Web Access has not only opened the company’s digital document repository to secure Internet access, but it also enables staff in branch offices to scan their documents into the repository in seconds. This gives management much greater oversight of the satellite offices. More importantly, authorized staff can locate, review and edit those documents on demand—without waiting for copies from the records room.
“Once they’ve scanned documents into the repository, staff in branch offices can easily retrieve them to add addenda and annotations,” Leenerts explains. “All of the Laserfiche features we were used to working with at headquarters are now available in the branch offices, through Web Access. And, because our staff accesses documents over the Internet, they’re not tethered to a private network. Our underwriters can visit a client and review bonds right there in the client’s office.”
Insco Dico is fairly new to Laserfiche, having made their first purchase just last year. But they’ve been quick to implement the new system, and Leenerts is pleased with the way Laserfiche has helped the company improve processes for managing business-critical documents—and shrink the size of the records room. “I’m really happy with the level of service I’ve received,” Leenerts says. “Web Access has helped us keep costs down and provide a lot of new functionality to staff in our branch offices.”
Within a year, Insco Dico expects to have over a million documents in its repository. Thanks to Web Access, authorized staff members will only need a laptop and an Internet connection to access any one of these documents from anywhere in the world.