How Technology Has Made Our Certificate of Insurance Monitoring Services Better Than Ever

COI Management | March 13, 2023

Ensuring your organization has up-to-date, complete, and accurate Certificate of Insurance (COI) documents for each company in your contractor network is a key risk mitigation step. Organizations who use contractor networks to service, install, deliver, and repair their products know that this can include thousands of documents in any given policy year. Having an efficient and robust process is possible, and this blog will outline our unique approach to how we manage COIs for our customers.

Managing COIs? What’s Included

The task of managing COIs goes beyond just obtaining a copy of a company’s COI from them directly, or from their agent. The content, format, and ongoing provision of these COIs are where the strong programs will separate from the “one and done” self-service options available. These latter programs may provide a portal for an organization to upload their document but then little more is done. A better-developed program will use a combination of technology and people power to ensure the quality, accuracy, and compliance of those COIs to the requirements you stipulate as an organization. But what does that mean?

When managing COIs, it is important to review the document closely to ensure that it is authentic, that the coverage, including policy types, limits, and aggregates, meets your contractual requirements, and also that the requisite language is on the COI. This language may include special endorsements, exclusions, coverages, additional insured, or other stipulations that will be very specific to your organization and the coverage you want to ensure is carried by your network.

Certificate of Insurance Monitoring Services: Technology and Expertise

This COI verification should be done by someone with a deep understanding of insurance policies, how they are written and laid out, as well as what the requirements are of your program. PlusOne has created a technology + people approach where we use data extract technology to pull key information from the standard Acord 25 form, as well as a manual review to ensure proper language is also included. The salient data is then tracked in our proprietary system and easily accessible and viewable for users who may be unfamiliar with reading COI documents or may want to drill down to find specific information only. Upon receipt of the COI, we also reach out to service providers and agents if anything is incorrect or missing from the coverage. We have an automated email function with SmartLinks which makes the process efficient and user-friendly for both insurance agents and the service providers.  No matter the reason, it is this combined approach that produces the most accurate results for our customers.

The main drawback of upload-only approaches to COI management is that the document can be very intricate, and it needs to be closely reviewed. Whether this review is manual, which can be very time consuming and tedious, as well as fraught with human error, or it is done using some sort of optical character recognition, which will be limited only to policy details but will not address the language requirements, something will always be missed.

PlusOne has, instead, taken the approach of using technology for consistent and repeatable data points, and adding manual intervention for the specificity that these policies include. We further enable technology solutions for the communication and provision of the required documents by using SmartLinks to transfer the data securely and efficiently from the contracting companies, or insurance agents, to our operational teams. This user-friendly process allows us to sort and store applicable insurance documents in the customer-specific locations of our system, so they are available to access, along with any data points we surface. We have also seen a 50% drop in processing time, while maintaining the same or greater levels of data accuracy, with these solutions.

Now, we know no one approach is 100% perfect, but we feel that our approach has found a way to use technology to make our certificate of insurance monitoring services better than ever. Contact us today to learn more about how this service can help your organization.

Contents are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Users are reminded to seek legal counsel with respect to their obligations and use of PlusOne Solutions services.

About PlusOne Solutions

PlusOne Solutions has been an industry leader in the risk management field by specializing in compliance programs that meet the complex challenges of geographically dispersed contractors, vendors, and employee networks. PlusOne Solutions protects companies from possible financial, legal, and reputational risks associated with contractor and vendor relationships while creating safer work environments. To learn more, visit https://www.PlusOneSolutions.net.