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MS/B and Exactware needs to listen to this guy. All of you software vendors, make it more simple.

I have never run Xactimate, MSB or Powerclaim.  The last time I ran Simsol was in 1992.  I ran the DOS version of Boeckh in 1994 for a couple of trial estimates.  I am quite familiar with the Vedder Estimating Wizard although I have never closed a claim with it.

I do, however, make a good portion of my income writing custom business applications.  Insurance adjusting is a very complex thing to learn and do.  There is no way to make the software that aids the adjuster to handle this very complex task simple to use.  The task is just too complex.

I had an ex-partner in an old software/adjusting company that always wanted me to write a program so an adjuster could "close the claim with a couple of buttons."  I was of the opinion, and still am, that adjusting is way too complicated to let the software make too many decisions.  Giving an end user the ability to use a software product flexible enough to handle many disparate situations, requires that the software itself be complex enough to handle those same situations.

In addition to all my insurance software, I have written software to track the local papers facilities department budget, to allow the paper's employee's to charge lunch with their access cards, to manage the work orders in a marine repair facility, to track the leads in a telemarketing operation, to prevent calling people on the Do Not Call list, to track the jobs in a replacement windows company and produce all commission and costing information for those jobs, and to track the rental properties for a developer/property manager.  There are probably a couple more I am forgetting.  None of these programs are as complex as what my claims management system does, and my claims management system doesn't put much effort into estimatics, since that is a very complex task of its own.  It is, however, quite sophisicated when it come to producing all the other claim paperwork required.

It may be simple to answer a true/false question, but to answer one hundred true/false questions is not a simple task.  Insurance adjusting is much like that, with some claims having literally hundreds of questions that must be answered.  It is not a simple task, so it does not lend itself to simple software solutions.

 The best approach is to try to make it simple once you get to the small part of the claim that that portion of the software addresses.  The end result will still be a very complex program.

But thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Jeff Goodman

Good Man Adjusting

Goodman Enterprises

It appears that adjusters with a lot of experience may prefer software that they are accustomed to, over XM8. I personally put a lot of weight on that opinion because I feel that experience is the best teacher. However correct that may be, the individual choice in software seems to be slipping away.

Is this trend simply a new way to do the same thing without being more productive? If one program has the tools to achieve the same result as another, what is the difference that drives carriers to use one over another?

Just like any other business, estimating software companies will increase market share when more of its potential customers have familiarity with their product. Marketing to adjusters with many years of experience is unlikely to provide the volume of sales that they desire.  New adjusters will train with whatever is recommended by carriers. That is the market that XM8 is after.

To create a competitive advantage over their rivals, they have marketed their ability to cut some costs of the carriers. Carriers have become motivated by this. XM8 is also providing more services than the competition. These additional services are being funded in part by high adjuster subscription fees. They also charge adjusters who call in for help, yet they are the ones that created a more complex program. Do they charge carriers for the same service (I don’t know)?

Changes/upgrades in XM8 are going to continue. I understand that State Farm owns about 40% of the company. You might wonder if XM8 will focus on upgrades that will benefit carrier’s productivity to a greater extent than field adjusters in the future. Why would anyone change from a program that works well for them to anything else? You have to ask yourself, what’s in it for me? I’ll repeat my earlier statement that experience is the best teacher.

Increased productivity should be measureable. It would be difficult to monitor any individual’s productivity (volume of completed claims within defined timeframes) and demonstrate a direct correlation to software. That wouldn’t generate specific enough information to be true empirical evidence. You would need that same individual to use a different program on very similar claims and compare the two.

I  downloaded the Symbility product to my new tablet PC and so far am very impressed. I know Simsol is a good tablet program also. Too bad some vendors are stuck on one certain program. I know Cunningham Lindsay is stuck on MS/B for their claims central ability, however, that system cost Janice and I thousands of dollars in lost revenue during Katrina. It just did not work right and cost us a tremendous amount of production time. Xactware is just too complicated, in my opinion. Perhaps if we used it and understood it, we might feel different. I, like many other IA's just cannot see having to pay over $3,000.00 per year for two programs.