My RMIS system is not doing the job, should I upgrade?

When purchasing claims management software, price may not be the only question. Expensive doesn’t mean good! Instead of considering an expensive price tag, find the one that is easy to use yet still does the job.

Defining exactly what your needs are, how the system will be used, what major accomplishments are intended, what kind of reporting, who will we be interfacing with or transferring data all are major when considering a purchase.

Depending on the size of the organization, a RMIS system can be thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the size of the organization being the determining factor. This may be one of the most expensive budget items for the entire department. The benefits of the expenditure must be substantial to offset the costs. This decision will be the turning point in the consideration of replacing an existing system that may work OK. It must have value! The corporate decision to replace a system, deploy it, fine tune it normally takes 1 to 2 years and it’s no wonder considering the factors that make up the decision.

How many times have you heard an enthusiastic claims manager agonize over the decision of replacing an existing system only to find the new one was worse than the old? No one wants to own up to the responsibility of a bad decision. Many times this leads to procrastination or no decision. Stick with what you have…….or??

What is the solution? Throw price aside as it is the last decision, but instead put all emphasis on analysis, as system selection is critical. First determine what you need, what you want, and your intended objective, otherwise, you get exactly what you wish for, a system that probably does not accomplish your goal.

Planning a new system needs several considerations. In the old days, systems were generated using the same business practices of the manual systems. Nothing has changed, new systems are being developed with the same criteria in mind. I don’t want to be too far away from the mainstream, yet I want to give myself the latest technology is the standard mantra. One of the major parameters is to emerge with new capabilities. Be sure that there are no limitations on growth.

It may be in your best interest to look at all the systems out there currently and then create your requirement document. Instead of trying to define what you think you need, take a look at what’s out there and try to assemble from all of those brilliant ideas a comprehensive system that makes sense to you. There’s no substitute for knowledge and the more aware you are of what’s taking place in the marketplace the better your analytical decision will be.

So many times people take the position of being too consumed with their day to day tasks to intelligently analyze, so the easy road becomes the simplest method, go with the vendors recommendation. Unfortunately, the result is never the desired intent. If the client does not have an exact idea of what they would like to accomplish, the vendor has considerable latitude, many times not in the client’s best interest.

Once you have thoroughly evaluated all the systems out there and your exact needs, it is now time to consider the price. What provides you with what you need in terms of software, support services, customization, and other peripheral items related to the deployment of the product at a reasonable price? Too cheap is probably just that and too expensive may not get you the quality you were expecting. If you do a good job researching you will ultimately end up with a good product, longevity and less of a reason to go shopping because your existing system does not do what you need in the foreseeable future.

JDi Data Corporation has provided insurance claims software since 1992. JDi Data offers web based workers comp software and also claims systems to administer property, casualty and general liability claims. JDi Data has built a reputation in quality claims management software with special emphasis on specialty lines and complex litigation.

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