While for many organizations going paperless remains a pipe dream, at Belfius Insurance it became a reality thanks to document management specialist ProceDo and Kodak Alaris’ network scanners.
Belfius Insurance, a leader in the Belgian insurance industry, has been digitizing documents in a decentralized way for eight years. Document capture happens in a distributed way at the over 300 broker offices (going by the brand name DVV Verzekeringen/Assurances) of Belfius Insurance.

Decentralized scanning: avoiding bottlenecks and working faster and more efficiently

Among the key benefits of this distributed capture approach, according to Belfius Insurance Change Consultant and Project Lead, Martin Melengier: scanning doesn’t become a central bottleneck and insurance brokers can work faster and in a more professional and efficient way.

In order to make it happen, Belfius Insurance selected the unique scanning solution of ProceDo in combination with document scanners from Kodak Alaris, more specifically 315 KODAK ScanStation 730EX intelligent network scanners.
How does it work? Documents are scanned in a decentralized way using the Kodak scanners and automatically classified thanks to a smart integration with Kofax software. This way cases can be followed up fast and get prioritized. Furthermore, the scanning solution enables local agents to optimize their workflow, thanks to a connection with the local systems.

Going paperless with a connected and secure capture strategy in practice

How does this make Belfius Insurance paperless?

The quality of the scanned images is optimized and checked to make sure there are no errors. All paper documents that are captured and passed the scan quality check are destroyed after two months.

From an infrastructure perspective, the solution runs in a Citrix environment with thin clients which are connected to the central mainframe application. This offers many benefits, among others from a security perspective, which is strengthened in other ways too as security is key in financial services. However, the thin clients couldn’t be directly connected to a scanner. And that’s the reason why ProceDo proposed a solution based upon a network scanner from Kodak Alaris, complete with a software application that fully digitizes the business processes at Belfius Insurance.

Each employee at a broker office has access to the scanning application using a login code. The Kodak ScanStation 730EX scanners, which each are individually connected to the Local Area Network (LAN) of a local office then automatically select which functions are available for which workers in function of their role and permissions, and adapts the operator screen according to these settings.

A solution for businesses with branch and satellite locations

Companies in industries such as insurance, retail banking or other financial service sectors, often use a decentralized model. When their document processes are optimized to flex with various locations, IT systems can adapt and productivity happens better at local levels. The benefits speak for themselves.

ProceDo director Philippe Bodart mentions a relatively unique aspect that makes the digitization solution even more attractive: after the scan, the central system sends a confirmation that it arrived so there is always a trail and no one can ignore having received the confirmation. For Belfius this was important as it adds a date stamp and proof, avoiding any possible discussions. With 7 to 8 million documents to treat each year the benefits of this approach quickly become clear.

The evolution towards decentralized capture

There is clearly an evolution towards distributed scanning approaches in companies such as Belfius Insurance with a decentralized business model and go-to-market approach. By adding the necessary checks regarding quality and flows with confirmations, all regulatory requirements are met and paperless is not a distant dream.
This evolution towards decentralized scanning is not about to stop any time soon. This is especially true since new technologies enable a ubiquitous capture approach, regardless of devices (thin clients, PCs, mobile, MFPs, a mix of everything). Among them: web-based capture via mobile apps, browsers or even embedded in line of business applications.

Belfius Insurance and ProceDo: partners in success with 315 KODAK Alaris scanners

For decentralized businesses, network scanners and solutions such as the one deployed by Belfius Insurance and built by ProceDo offer all the benefits IT departments need.
Companies who need a fast and decentralized approach don’t have to worry about time or tough implementation. Knowing that Belfius Insurance wanted a fast, easy and affordable deployment of scanners, ProceDo’s Pierre Leijder designed a solution that worked out of the box, in a plug and play way.

All 315 network scanners were pre-configured by ProceDo, shipped, unboxed and plugged in with zero business interruption, fully on-time and, last but not least, within budget!