Modernization journey readies OMAG for the future

OMAG has taken the first steps on a modernization journey to streamline internal processes, improve customer service and make itself more competitive.

OMAG is a nonprofit organization that plays an important role in the state of Oklahoma, working with more than 500 of the state's city and town governments to provide insurance and risk-management solutions, including health, life, property, liability/auto and workers' compensation insurance.

Until recently, OMAG provided those solutions with older technologies, creating challenges for the business. Internally, systems more than a decade old meant that most policy processing at OMAG was still being done on paper.

"Our system was certainly out of date, and it wasn't providing nearly the features that were necessary," says Kevin Sesock, OMAG's CIO and director of technology services. "It was clear that the time had come to modernize."

Externally, those older systems were also putting OMAG at a serious competitive disadvantage. Although the organization is owned by the cities and towns it serves, those customers still have the option of getting related services elsewhere.

OMAG knew it needed to offer a broader range of customer-focused services. "These days, any of our insureds could go out and find a commercial carrier," Sesock explains. "So we're trying to find ways to provide additional value-added services that go above and beyond insurance." This represents a new way for OMAG to differentiate itself, in addition to being more competitive and responsive with insurance.

OMAG currently offers value-added services in four major categories: law enforcement, including training and force simulators; public works, including onsite loss control assessments and safety-equipment matching grants; human resources, including training and policy review; and scholarships, mainly to attend local conferences in Oklahoma.

Steps on OMAG's Modernization Journey

The system selection process was the first step. "One critical aspect was that all of the pieces of software [be] tied together," Sesock explains. "The big need was that policy administration and claims administration needed to work relatively seamlessly together." Claims was the first area of focus. Before Sesock joined the organization, OMAG selected DXC Insurance RISKMASTER^TM for its claims administration needs, as part of an initiative to replace a claims department previously insourced from a third-party administrator. Data migration was a huge part of that project — so big, in fact, that the work is not yet complete.

The new claims system went live in early 2015. One key component of OMAG's solution is Insurance RISKMASTER, risk and claims-management software that is widely used. The software consolidates claims data from legacy systems, assesses and analyzes the information, and then extracts and exports the data for reporting. Sesock calls Insurance RISKMASTER "easy to support," and he and his team have also identified power users, known internally as "IT ninjas," who help others in their departments adopt the DXC software.

Insurance RISKMASTER's components include general claims, workers' comp, and property and liability. Sesock says OMAG currently uses the software only for liability and property, with workers' comp a likely addition in the future. "But only from the nonpolicy side," he quickly adds, "so we can track the data and do more business intelligence against it."

The next piece to go live was the policy administration system. "This was really the first large push into the new system for OMAG," Sesock says. "We are currently going through our first round of renewals in POINT IN J [DXC's Java-based policy administration software]. We've worked closely with [DXC] to prepare a lot of this and try to test and address any issues before they become problems."

As the focus shifted from implementation to product launch, new considerations for technical support came up. "We didn't have the right skill sets in-house," Sesock says. "And we had a number of other issues, including server failures, infrastructure problems, infrastructure modernization projects that needed to occur, even simple upgrades. It was absolutely critical for [DXC] to provide that ongoing production support. We are very pleased with that work."

Modernization also changed the day-to-day operations, including a move from more manual processes to a more automated approach. "This has been a big learning experience for the OMAG team," Sesock says.

Goal: 100% Cloud Infrastructure

Successful as the implementation has been, and despite a company-wide goal of going paperless, some OMAG policies are still being processed on paper, and many older paper-based claims are still being scanned. But Sesock claims a limited victory: "We've been able to eliminate an entire storage unit full of boxes of claim files," he says, adding, "It's a long-term process, but the good news is, the drive to do this is very much in our organization from the top down."

The executive-level commitment extends to several future expansions, including a move to the cloud. "From a purely infrastructure perspective, I'm trying to take OMAG's technology 100 percent into the cloud in 2 years," Sesock says. "It's an ambitious goal, but because we're a small and nimble organization, I think we can achieve it."

Other projects on OMAG's drawing board include new mobile apps for both employees and customers, and more online services, even in rural areas. OMAG is also looking to establish a policy portal for its insured customers to access policy documents such as deck pages, vehicle ID cards and schedules.

Adds Sesock: "When a 70- or 80-year-old city clerk retires and is replaced by a grandchild who has grown up with cell phones, those younger workers call us and ask, 'What do you mean, I need to fax you a document?'"

If Sesock has his way, that kind of question will soon be a thing of the past.