Back in 1998, Lee Picano founded our company with the vision of enabling file handlers to be more efficient and effective. He clearly accomplished that goal and has been instrumental in our growth ever since. Now, in his new role as Chief Product Officer, Lee is stepping away from administrative duties, so he can be 100% focused on the work he most loves – creating solutions that solve insurance and claims challenges.
Q: Take us back … When you first founded VCA Software (which was then known as Virtual Claims Adjuster), what was your vision?
The original vision was to provide claims technology that would enable adjusters to be more efficient and effective, automate redundant tasks, and provide visibility into trends within their companies. Larger firms had access to these types of systems, but smaller companies did not have the budget to make it a reality. We introduced the software as a service concept to the insurance market and provided small to mid-size companies with the opportunity to level the playing field and be competitive.
Q: In the years since, how has the industry changed?
In the early years, we had to convince people that the cloud was safe and had a lower cost of ownership than traditional inhouse custom systems. There is now a greater acceptance of cloud technologies and the related security structures surrounding them. We are now in the age of the “app” and the market is flooded with technologies that each provide a singular functionality, but the combination of all these tools gets expensive – not unlike all the online streaming services that add up on our credit card bills. VCA provides an all-in-one claims solution.
Q: How has your vision for VCA evolved?
VCA has now grown into a full claims suite. We’ve extended our product offering to markets around the globe and we are also supporting captive and self-insured clients. Our vision is more mature now and looks to repeat our original success at an enterprise level for IAs, TPAs, and carriers by providing modern solutions that provide a full range of functionality at price points that are more cost effective, with shorter, less-costly implementation timelines.
Q: Today, in your new role as Chief Product Officer, what are you most excited about?
The people that we have here at VCA are more equipped, experienced, and focused than ever before in our history. I’m excited about what we can accomplish and the difference that we can make – not only from the file handler perspective, but also in the ability to improve the visibility of claims handling and the relationship with the policyholder.
Q: In three words, how is VCA different than other platforms on the market?
The three words that come to mind are: transparency, education, and communication.
Our goals are to use the technology we offer, the AI data points we collect, and the experience we have gained, to repair the relationship between the policyholder and the claims industry. We want to give the policyholder more transparency into their claim, educate and engage them in the process, and offer better communication channels with their file handler.
Like many insurers, we’re focusing more on the policyholder because there’s a lot of research about high cost of customer churn. A high percentage of policyholders shop for other coverage after their claim – even when the experience wasn’t bad – and it’s because they don’t have enough information. People know more about the location of their FedEx package than they do about the fire claim affecting their home, and that’s a problem we want to solve.
We’re adding transparency, making them part of the process, bringing them into the fold at every step of the claim. We’ve designed a white label app that carriers can brand to facilitate knowledge sharing and communication – and it features bidirectional integration with their other systems.
Q: Are you still a platform for IA firms and TPAs?
While we’ve expanded into the carrier market, we continue to be the premier platform for adjusting firms and TPAs. Over the years, we have continued to evolve adjuster toolsets. In fact, there’s more functionality in VCA than the average IA firm requires. As they grow, they’re able to turn on the functionality they need, when they’re ready for it – without the disruption and expense of having to buy a new system.
Our clients of all types and sizes will benefit from a more engaging policyholder experience. They will have the tools to easily communicate with insureds, so they know what to expect, how long it will take and ways they can contribute to process. They can auto assign the adjuster and automate initial communication to the policyholder, accelerating triage and time-to-close. All these advantages combine to creates higher satisfaction levels for the file handler, the policyholder and the carrier.
Q: What can the insurance industry expect from VCA in 2023?
We are excited to introduce our complete solution suite, which includes:
- VCA Insights – An embedded AI driven analytics solution
- VCA Carrier Core – A complete carrier-focused product offering
- Policy Connect – Bidirectional integration interfaces to external policy systems
- Insured Connect – A carrier branded handheld app that provides both the policyholder and carrier with a full range of information and transparency and engages the policyholder to be part of the claim process resulting in higher levels of satisfaction.
Q: Anything else you want to share?
We use an open architecture and we welcome opportunities to integrate with core policy systems. We are a best-of-breed claims platform that can outperform most other claims modules. Carriers can have the best of both worlds – using their core system for other functions and integrating with VCA to deliver a world-class claims experience.
If you looked at us in the past and chose a different platform, take a fresh look. Reach out and see how much we’ve advanced. Many of our team members have a claims background. We’ve been listening, learning and developing a toolset that uniquely solves many industry challenges.
