Established in 1941, the Morehead Group is a financial services firm providing strategic insurance solutions for affluent individuals and families. Located in Charlotte, NC, the firm has a team of three principals and seven associates who provide everything from underwriting and policy evaluation to client services and administration.

Kenneth Samuelson, one of the firm’s principals, brings over twenty years of experience in the financial services industry to his clients. With this experience, Samuelson places an emphasis on technology to get the maximum potential out of his operations. “I refer to it as tightening the bolts,” he says. “We need to get as much as we can out of our technology investments and make our operations faster and more efficient—and make our staff happier.”

It was this need to improve operational efficiency that led the Morehead Group to purchase a Laserfiche enterprise content management solution. Staff used college interns and a part-time staff member to scan all existing files into the system. “It did not take us nearly as long as we’d projected,” says Client Services Specialist Kris Balot. “We tailored our filing structure in Laserfiche to match how we’d kept our documents in paper format, which was in chronological order by policy.” Documents were further separated by document type, including policies, confirmations, legal, trust, statements, and pre-issue/underwriting.

Balot believes strongly that the success of the Morehead Group’s Laserfiche system is due to their strong partnership with their reseller, ADI-Laserfiche, who worked with the firm from the beginning to develop their filing system and integrate Laserfiche into daily operations. “Their support has been exceptional and unparalleled,” she says.

It’s this integration into daily operations that has resulted in the “tightening the bolts” that Samuelson emphasizes. These faster and more efficient operations have given way to an impressive ROI—and when it comes to the way things work at the Morehead Group, Balot outlines six distinct areas where Laserfiche increases the value of operations:

• Rent savings. “Previously, we had 12 filing cabinets stored in a room the size of our conference room,” Balot says. “Paying rent on space you can’t use is a waste of money. With Laserfiche, we were able to eliminate the filing room and turn it into two offices. The conversion of the space has paid for our entire investment in Laserfiche many times over.”
• Customer service improvements. “When a client calls, I pull up their Laserfiche documents on one screen and our contact information in Smart Office, our CRM, on another. Now I have all their information instantly available, so I don’t have to make them wait for a call back while I look for the answer to their question,” Balot says.
• Improved referrals. The Morehead Group’s client base is built on referrals from attorneys, accountants and other local professionals. Improved customer service doesn’t just build rapport with clients, but also with these outside professionals. “It’s amazing how many times we have more information on a client than their attorney or accountant,” Balot says. “In one case, the trustee did not even have a copy of the trust document, but because we had it in Laserfiche, I could e-mail it to him while we were still on the phone.”
• Operational cost savings. Balot outlines other areas where the firm has saved money thanks to Laserfiche, including paper, printing, postage and office supplies. “In a paper world, if someone requested that we send them information, we would have to pull their file, make a copy of the documents and then either mail or fax them,” Balot remembers. “Today, we simply e-mail the document directly to the client, right from Laserfiche, in a matter of seconds.”
• Easier audits. “I was getting ready to go on vacation. The day before my plane left, we had an NFPSI audit,” Balot explains. “When the compliance officer arrived, I sat them down with Laserfiche and let them search for what they needed. They had their notebook with their checklist, and for each item that was on their checklist, they found the corresponding document in Laserfiche. They were really pleased with our organization, because the entire examination only took about two hours!”
• Simplified—yet stronger—security. Through Laserfiche security, documents have built-in protection that meets requirements for HIPAA, Regulation S-P and both SEC 17a-4 and FINRA requirements. Document access is easily controlled, allowing compliance to just get the documents they need, and also prevents unauthorized access to client information.

According to Balot, Laserfiche has become an integral part of daily operations. “It’s more than just a central filing cabinet,” she says. “It’s the central repository for all our current work activities, including underwriting and client service. We use Laserfiche for all stages of the document’s life cycle, and it allows for several people to work on the same file at the same time—something you can’t do with paper.

“Laserfiche’s capabilities extend far beyond meeting the needs of our back office staff. Our principals and sales reps also have immediate access to client documents,” she adds.

But when it comes down to it, for Balot, the real value of Laserfiche is simple. “Laserfiche is the number one best improvement we have made in technology. It has had the biggest and most successful impact on our operations over the past six years, especially when it comes to ROI.”

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Laserfiche
Staff

Melissa Bender Henley is the lead writer for the Laserfiche marketing department. She is also the editor of the Global Financial Post.

Tags: risk management, ROI, Smart Office

Posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 9:50 am under Customer Stories, Financial Newsletter, Financial Services, Newsletters, RIAs. You can comment on this post.