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Wings Insurance Success Story

When Steve Bruss, president of Wings Insurance, joined the company in 1994 they were still using electric typewriters. “We’ve come a long way,” he says. Located in Eden Prairie, Minn., Wings Insurance is dedicated to providing aviation related insurance policies. Whether it’s coverage for a helicopters, commercial Fixed Base Operators & charter companies, or corporate jets, Wings provides appropriate policies and advice to provide their clients protection. Although very similar to most insurance agency processes Bruss explains that knowledge of the aviation industry provides a major advantage. Having licensed pilots on staff, including an airline fleet manager accustomed to dealing with heavy aircraft and a former military Blackhawk helicopter pilot, is a unique commodity and gives them an edge on their customers’ needs. What’s also giving them an edge? Modern tools like their PaperWise document management system have been stimulating their growth for nearly three years.

Progress in mind

After 15 years with the company, Bruss has led all of their technology initiatives. “I’ve brought Wings into the computer age,” he says. Now, he modestly confesses that he believes Wings is the most technologically advanced aviation agency in the country. Since leaving their paper-based processes behind in 2005 and implementing the PaperWise document management system, Wings has phased out virtually all paper, even back-scanning their old files. After four months, they had scanned all of their old documents and gotten rid of eight file cabinets. Now with millions of pages and several hundred thousand documents in their PaperWise system, the savings created by the real estate they’ve gained in their office space is just one indication of their return on investment.

In terms of processes, the aviation insurance business is paper-intensive like the rest of the insurance business, so Bruss knew added technology could create some new efficiency. But, they wanted to be sure the investment would yield a lucrative return. They independently researched the idea by talking to other professionals in the insurance field and examining their internal processes. They conducted internal time studies by analyzing 40 some key processes and measuring how long they took in a paper-based environment. Using the data collected in a paper environment, they compared it to how long actions would take in a paperless process. In the paper environment, they found that everyday tasks like sending a fax were taking much longer than necessary because CSRs had to get up from their desks, and were often stopping to talk to someone, making sure the machine was filled with paper, and maybe refilling their cup of coffee. “Something like sending a fax was turning into a huge process,” Bruss says. While in a paperless environment, these tasks can be completed with a few clicks. “After conducting some research, it was pretty clear that the amount of time you save by having a document management system versus old paper file system was about 30 to 40 percent,” Bruss says. He sees real savings in the ability to spend more time serving clients without hiring more staff. “I equate the system to two or three employees,” he says.

When selecting a document management provider, integration with their current management system, Applied Vision, was important. Although many providers had created integrations for other Applied Systems products, PaperWise was among the few to have a pre-existing integration with Vision. Since installing the product, Bruss says others have added the integration but he continues to believe that PaperWise has the most robust solution.

Bruss was wholly impressed by the installation process of the PaperWise system. “It was the most seamless software install we’ve ever had,” he says. After the implementation specialist wrote some quick scripts to import their old data, it was quickly up and running. Over the years, with the few technical issues they have faced, Bruss says the support has been “fabulous.” Internally, Wings has created their own system customizations and developed internal workflow procedures.

Besides fast routing and document retrieval, Bruss says the security added by a document management system is a key benefit. In case of a disaster, they are certain their information is protected. “I can have as many backups as I want and it’s secure,” he says. “If something happened to our current office, then we switch to the online version and we’re up and running with minimal downtime,” he says.

He contends that the decision to go paperless as a key to their growth. “We absolutely had a return on investment,” Bruss says. Recently when they lost two employees at once, the PaperWise solution helped them to maintain their productivity and they were able to keep all of their customers. “In a paper-based environment, that would have been almost impossible,” he explains.

Today, Wings has found functionality beyond any other PaperWise customer. They now can receive documents in their inbox on their PDAs and are able to route them from the handheld devices. “That translates to a near immediate response,” Bruss says. For their customers, who are often high profile individuals who run hectic lives, response time is an important factor in choosing a carrier. “They only have a small amount of time to think about insurance,” Bruss says.

Future innovation

Bruss believes PaperWise has definitely given Wings a competitive edge. In a time where there is a redevelopment of the aviation insurance industry, many colleagues are looking to Bruss for advice because of his expertise. “We’ve been recognized as the best in the aviation field,” Bruss says. He frequently gives advice to IT departments in agencies like Wings and insurance companies. As founding members of the Aviation Software Alliance, Wings is committed to bettering the aviation insurance industry by promoting and developing standard applications so they can reap the benefits of standardized methods. “Helping others to become more efficient is only going to benefit us. If underwriters speed up their processes, we can respond more quickly to our clients,” he says.

Bruss foresees the agency as continuing to advance with their use of technology and trusts it will keep them two or three steps ahead of the competition. In the future, he plans to use workflow features in conjunction with their Web site. With clients coast to coast and overseas, he wants customers to be able to submit requests via a client service portal so they will no longer need to fax, scan, or email documents to get them to their clients. He hopes technology will continue to add to the efficiency all aspects of their business. “I’ve seen a lot of changes on the technology side. Who knows where it will go?”