Copyright © 2002 Business Insurance

"Tool Gives All Document Access While Maintaining Control" November 4, 2002

By Roberto Ceniceros

NEW YORK -- Getting risk managers, their brokers, underwriters and other service providers on the same page can be a challenge.

But Riskclick Inc.'s online collaborative tool can make that happen-literally.

Riskclick, based in New York and London, provides collaborative document management technology.

The product is sometimes called a "teaming tool'' because it allows a number of parties to read and modify the same documents. Yet one individual, such as the risk manager, can control who is able to access or change the documents.

A risk manager could, for example, allow several brokers, insurers and reinsurers to simultaneously read a coverage submission. Or the risk manager could allow a broker, insurer, third-party claims administrator or claims adjuster to view claim information.

Each party allowed into the "community'' could add additional documents, insert data or add comments on existing pages. The risk manager can view, in real time, the changes made to document pages, as well as the interactions among the members of the community.

It's all done using popular word processing and spreadsheet software.

Transactions are synchronized with e-mail messaging so that participants are notified whenever a party views a document.

Each time someone accesses a page or changes it, Riskclick tracks and records the interaction. The "audit trail'' of every action by every party helps risk managers maintain control of complex transactions, according to Riskclick.

For making its Internet-based tool available to the commercial insurance industry, Riskclick's Web site won the Insurance Services Best of Show award in Business Insurance's Best of the Web competition. Riskclick launched its Web site, www.riskclick.com, in January 2001.

"We are recognizing the reality that the participants in this industry, of which there are many, need to work together in a collaborative manner,'' said Tim Wright, chairman and chief executive of Riskclick. "That is important for all the participants for different reasons.''

Insurers, brokers and risk managers have all purchased Riskclick's product. But brokers currently are the biggest users of Riskclick's collaboration tool, Mr. Wright said. They purchase it to improve client service. By documenting every step of each transaction, it also can help brokers minimize the number of errors and omission claims made against them, he said.

Insurers can benefit from efficiencies gained as they solicit more underwriting information, Mr. Wright said.

But "the ultimate beneficiary has to be the risk manager,'' Mr. Wright said. "If this does not add value for the risk manager, then it's probably not going to add value for the broker and the insurer, given the collaborative nature of the offering.''

© Copyright Business Insurance 2001, 2002