Customer Success - Apptical Corporation
Apptical Corporation Sets Bar For Life Insurance Industry With Its SoundDecisions Tele-Underwriting Application
To redefine cutting-edge performance and time/cost efficiency in an industry regulated by government bureaucracy, Apptical, a leading telephone inspection / telephone interview service provider to life and long term care insurers, created SoundDecisions - a powerful, multi-lingual tool that automates the process of collecting and verifying sensitive information from insurance policy applicants and then supplies it via the web to the client underwriters who need it.
In conjunction with one of Apptical's core philosophies of innovating risk management solutions, SoundDecisions is engineered to deliver the complete data set and attributes about the data to the client, breaking down the company-to-company barrier. By sharing data with clients, and giving them the tools tointerpret it, Apptical aims to communicate as if it is a well-integrated department within the client's organization.
Apptical wanted to surpass its competition in speed and completeness of data fulfillment as well as provide a system that was easy-to-use for its specialty, medically-trained staff. Apptical turned to Infragistics™ NetAdvantage™ toolset to develop a descriptive, clear, multi-lingual, and forgiving user interface to a revolutionary system that exceeds HIPAA privacy and security regulations.
NetAdvantage and the Microsoft® .NET® framework allowed Apptical to bring a world-class desktop application to market faster, while still being able to achieve the development of a feature-rich UI that is standard across both Windows® and Web environments. This, in turn, allowed Apptical to cut costs and gain an edge over the competition through improved accuracy and speed in completing each interview.
Situation
Apptical is a leading provider of audio enhanced risk management solutions to all types of insurers. Apptical Corporation conducts telephonic inspections on behalf of Insurance companies to assist them in the collection and verification of information from insurance policy applicants. This includes the collection and fulfillment of medical and other information collected via manned telephone interviews necessary to underwrite life and long-term care insurance policies. The information may include: insurance Agent identification; Applicant personal information; various health, financial, and driving histories. Founded in 1988, the company continually introduces innovative, fully-integrated solutions to an aggressively competitive and changing industry.
In the insurance industry, time is of the essence. Apptical knows that the longer it takes for a company to underwrite a policy, the more likely it is the applicant will cancel. Underwriters need to have accurate client information to minimize the insurer's risk but quickly enough to still make the sale. At the same time, government regulations like HIPAA require sensitive data be secured with tight constraints on access. The new system needed to be easy to implement, and stable in a desktop environment.
Apptical's special needs in personnel - bilingual, medically-trained interviewers -presented the next objective: to create an intuitive, multi-lingual user interface requiring minimal training and encouraging users to exploit all the features in this powerful application. Previously, Apptical's processes were mostly manual; interviewers kept track of interviews performed using paper and pen and then faxed pages to the underwriters. The manual system was replete with human error and required a warehouse facility to hold paper data in filing cabinets. In addition, most of Apptical's competitors were already providing some form of web or e-mail fulfillment.
For the SoundDecisions solution, Apptical wanted to do more than keep up with its competitors. Using the .NET Framework, Infragistics NetAdvantage toolset, and Microsoft SQL Server, SoundDecisions went beyond its competition to revolutionize the industry by providing true quality customer service not just toApptical's clients and the insurance underwriters, but also to its client's customers with whom Apptical directly interacts.
Solution
Being .NET Beta users, the Apptical development team looked to the .NET Framework and Microsoft SQL Server to provide the platform for creating the SoundDecisions application. They first used SQL Server and XML Web Services to create a core framework for their application, providing the bulk of the business functionality that they would need for storing confidential information in a secure manner. The Web Services use ADO.NET to call stored procedures in the database for storing and retrieving the data.
They then built upon that framework with a Windows Forms based client application used by the interviewers both in and out of the corporate network. This application is the heart of the SoundDecisions system and is the primary data collection process used during the telephone interviews. Some of the features of this application include:
Interview Scoring
All questionnaires have scoring to summarize interview results. If the score is perfect, underwriters need not look further but simply move on to the next step in the underwriting process.
Drilldown Questions
The SoundDecisions Software provides a powerful and flexible drilldown questions feature that allows the answers of one question to dictate the content of the questions that follow. This feature has proven helpful in directing an agent to offer an alternative product if the applicant doesn't qualify for the current product.
Application Preclusion
In rare occasions the applicant simply is not a fit for the product that they are applying for. In these cases the SoundDecisions software instructs the interviewer to terminate the interview and inform the agent that the product is not a good fit for the client. When used in conjunction with Drilldown Questions, Application Preclusion is an effective tool to re-sell the applicant a more appropriate product at the point-of-sale.
Client Honesty Assessment
SoundDecisions is the first solution of its kind to incorporate client honesty attributes in its Questionnaire system. Each and every Question asked under the SoundDecisions solution has 3 toggle fields that can be illuminated by the interviewer: Client Coached, Client Hesitated, and Client Changed Answer. If the interviewer feels that the client is coached, if the client hesitated, or if the client changed their answer, thisinformation will be included in the results and will affect the interview score.
Automated Data Validation
SoundDecisions has rigorous data validation algorithms built in to prevent missing or errant data. NetAdvantage elements were used extensively to provide visual feedback of data validations as wellas to perform basic validations at the client. Implementation of this feature was made much easier using Infragistics' WinEditor.
Granular Data-Driven Detail
When investigating a medical condition or medical treatment, SoundDecisions relies on a built in Condition Schedule tool. Every condition may have multiple treatments and each treatment must have a condition. This tool is effective in summarizing an applicant's current health status and often assists the interviewer inuncovering more revealing information leading to more informed underwriting. Medical Conditions and Treatments affect the score of an interview. This complex relationship was made easier for the usersto comprehend by using Infragistics' WinComboEditor.
Creating an intuitive interface to this functionality proved to be a challenge, but by using Infragistics' NetAdvantage toolset Apptical was able to dynamically and seamlessly integrate this feature into the interview process.
Complete Drug Database
SoundDecisions takes advantage of a drug database updated regularly to provide accurate information concerning drug treatments. When drug information is reported to underwriting, detailed information is reported about the drug, including the dosage, frequency, prescribing physician and drug class. Once again, NetAdvantage elements were heavily utilized for their ability to display complex data structures in an intuitive and easy to use way that the users had little trouble adapting to.
Lastly, Apptical created an ASP.NET based delivery system for their clients to review the results of any interview including streaming the audio for each interview at the client's request. After an inspectionhas been closed by the interviewer using the Windows Forms application, it is immediately available to the client via the ASP.NET based Website.
After being authenticated using Active Directory and Secure Site Server Web Application, Users are directed to a search screen that displays all of the telephonic inspections completed for them that day. Users can search for Inspections by Last Name, Reference ID and Date. Users can select some or all of the interviews in the grid and print an Adobe PDF File. There is a print screen that gives a thorough set of aggregate reports for the clients. The reports are configurable by date and can be output in PDF, Microsoft Excel, HTML, Microsoft Word, RTF, Text and Tiff formats. An XML Web Service provides the complete set of information for inspections. This information can be consumed for a date or a range of dates. It can also be output via byte stream into a zip file.
The NetAdvantage toolset provided Apptical with all of the high-end GUI functionality required for both the Windows Forms and Web Forms applications, right out of the box. It also allowed Apptical developers to focus on the business logic while developing a consistent user-friendly UI. Because of this rich, easy-to-use UI, Apptical's interviewers are comfortable using all of the features of the application, including several industry firsts such as SoundDecisions Client Honesty Assessment and Interview Scoring.
Powerful performance behind a flexible and forgiving UI, the SoundDecisions solution delivers not just a better alternative but a revolutionary product in the insurance risk management industry. Improved data accuracy, interview scoring, and condition scheduling provide exactly what Apptical's insurance clients need - with speed, cost-efficiency, and security.
Benefits
Apptical, its clients, and Apptical's clients' applicants have all benefited from the development of SoundDecisions. Apptical met its objective in creating a solution to its most critical business issue: how to obtain reliable, accurate and concise telephonic inspection results in a time and cost efficient manner while still meeting HIPAA, Privacy, and Security requirements.
Reduces Cost and Optimizes Resources
By developing SoundDecisions, Apptical has been able to automate the process of obtaining insurance applicant data through a telephone inspection / telephone interview solution that provides the information needed in a timely manner and in a format that optimizes the interviewers' performance.
Building on the .NET Framework with the Infragistics NetAdvantage toolset, the Apptical development team has created a standardized user interface for both the Windows and Web environments, making the transition from paper to digital easy and swift. Apptical has been able to reduce resource cost by twelve man hours per day; all paper storage costs have been eliminated. Interviewers can now do twice as many interviews in the same number of man hours.
Implementation of the SoundDecisions solution using Infragistics NetAdvantage toolset had the following specific results.
- Reduced interview times by 30% per interviewer
- Eliminated paper documents used to record interview information
- Reduced the average number of people involved in an interview by 2/3
- Reduced the time to complete an interview from 4 hours to an immediate response
Increases Customer Loyalty
Apptical's .NET-based solution positions SoundDecisions as a leading risk management provider on track for the future. The .NET Framework's extensibility provides a solid foundation on which Apptical can build customer service and loyalty.
Apptical knows its clients rely on agents to sell their products. Agents want to sell products for insurance companies that process applications quickly so the agent will be paid sooner. Quick telephonic interview fulfillment contributes to that kind of speed, so having a UI that is easy to learn and easy to use is an integral aspect of the application, ensuring the speed and productivity required for Apptical to excel above its competitors.
SoundDecisions makes the underwriter's job easier and supports the agent in offering a whole new level of customer service to their applicants. One important example is the ability to work with the questionnaire in English or Spanish at any time during an interview. If the interviewee is more comfortable speaking Spanish at that moment, the interviewer can toggle between English and Spanish text on the fly.
Complies with Government and HIPAA Regulations
Apptical's reliance on Microsoft's SQL Server and XML Web Services furnishes SoundDecisions with secure data storage architecture that exceeds government and HIPAA Regulations regarding patient information privacy. Stored procedures are used for all data calls to the SQL server, saving server resources, and increasing security and performance.
The SoundDecisions Web Application is Apptical's commitment to complete data fulfillment. All of the data captured in the interview is made available - securely, over the Internet -whether it's a simple report of the interview questions and answers or a download of the entire detail of the current month's interview data.Apptical's alignment with Microsoft's leading-edge product offerings ensures the security of this sensitive patient data. After login is verified using Microsoft verification and Secure Site Server, SoundDecisions Web Application users are directed to a search screen that displays all of the telephonic inspections completedfor them that day. An Infragistics WebGrid with fixed header is used to display this information.
Revolutionizes the Industry
Because Microsoft and Infragistics technologies and toolsets make creating powerful solutions quick and easy, SoundDecisions was brought to market in an amazingly short period of time – six months from idea to first deployment. Apptical developers credit the comprehensive nature of the .NET Framework and NetAdvantage toolset for the swift SoundDecisions implementation.
Apptical believes that development efforts are more profitable if they are focused on solving the efficiency challenges both internally and for their clients. The .NET framework provided the required structure that allowed solution developers to carry the comprehensive framework to the next level. NetAdvantage, due to its architecture which is based on shared assemblies and common object models, supplied developers with the necessary tools to achieve the development of a feature rich UI that is standard across both their Win and Web Applications. Infragistics Presentation Layer Framework™ enabled Apptical's developers to extend and inherit visual elements making it easy for them to standardize the interfaces, therefore allowing Apptical to concentrate on the business logic behind the development of the application, which in turn allowed Apptical to cut costs while gaining an edge over their competition through better accuracy and speed in completing each interview.
Focused on the system's business logic, Apptical set SoundDecisions scope far beyond what was currently available in the industry, including the revolutionary Client Honesty Assessment and Condition Schedule Tool. These innovative features give Apptical distinct competitive advantages, including faster turnaround times, better validation, more powerful scripting tools, and XML data availability.
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