Ventiv Technology

2 8 | 360º Aon eSolutions InVestIng In the rIght choIce Despite the challenging economic conditions in 2009—conditions that severely affected the hospitality industry—Columbia Sussex was willing to invest in a claims-management system for one fundamental reason: the company knew that there was strong value in upgrading the quality and accessibility of its claims and related risk data. Columbia Sussex chose the Aon RiskConsole system in the summer of 2009, began implementation in September and went live in early 2010. Among the factors that led Columbia Sussex to choose RiskConsole were: » A robust cloud-computing solution: According to Kashner, because RiskConsole is a cloud-based solution, "It meant I wouldn't have to go to my IT department and reserve X number of megabytes to house a claims-data program that the IT department will also have to manage and upgrade. Instead, we simply log on and use RiskConsole; we don't have to manage, update or improve a thing. It's all handled for us." » Robust reporting capabilities: "We had to have a system that would generate accurate, comprehensive reports," Kashner said, "and RiskConsole was the most powerful and easiest to use in terms of data consolidation and numbers crunching." » Flexible yet robust system platform: "We determined that we could rely on RiskConsole to accommodate our growing needs," Kashner recalled. "We knew we wanted to start with claims management, but we also anticipated additional needs, which RiskConsole has, in fact, helped us meet, like litigation tracking, property- claims tracking and even cost allocation." » Ability to scale up and scale down at will: "I'm one of two users on RiskConsole," Kashner said, "but at one point, we had six users on the system. It's very easy to scale up or scale down our usage of the system based on the changing number of hotels in our portfolio. With our previous system, that would have been a nightmare. Now, all I need to do is call my Aon eSolutions account manager, Michael Kelly, and tell him we're bringing in more claims people, and he makes it happen quickly and easily." We spoke with Myra Kashner, director of Risk Management, about the importance of claims data and claims management at Columbia Sussex and about the company's decision in 2009 to select a new risk management information system (RMIS). In the hospitality industry, knowing when to buy, sell and refinance properties can be a significant factor in a company's financial performance. Columbia Sussex recognized the potential value in technology that would empower it to close deals expeditiously and without unpleasant surprises arising from incomplete or inaccurate claims data. "The accuracy of claims data is extremely important to us," Kashner said. "When we sell or refinance a hotel that we've self insured, the contract can include both. the real property and all of its liabilities in one package, so the accuracy of the data is crucial. We need to be sure the claims data we turn over is accurate, because the data can make or break a sales contract in a heartbeat." know thY needs In 2009, Columbia Sussex set out to identify a technology solution that would meet several critical needs, including: » Improved claims data accuracy; » Improved tracking of claims status; » Improved communications between the claims-management system and corresponding systems used by the company's accounts payable and finance departments; and » Improved data exchange between the claims-management system and the company's third-party administrator. "We were on our third system for tracking claims data, but it didn't perform adequate analysis of financial data," Kashner said. "There were so many errors in the translation between the different formats used by our claims system and the systems in accounts payable and finance. Even after creating a separate Excel spreadsheet to try to come up with usable financial data, I wasn't sure about the accuracy of the information I was providing." Moreover, the reports that Kashner created required a great deal of time and effort, which was especially problematic because Kashner is, in her words, a "one-man band" when it comes to administering Columbia Sussex risk management. "I was, and still am, responsible for tracking everything risk related," Kashner observed. "Getting our claims count down was and is a primary goal for the company. We grasped the importance of effective tracking and reporting in reaching that goal." As the owner and operator of 43 hotels and resorts in 27 states and the Carib- bean, Columbia Sussex Corp. has a uniquely compelling need for accurate, comprehensive and actionable claims data. Like many self-insured compa- nies, Columbia Sussex understands the importance of tracking claims and managing their impact on the company's cost of risk. Yet for Columbia Sus- sex, the importance of claims data extends beyond traditional cost-of-risk concerns and is crucial to the company's sale, refinancing and acquisition of hotel and resort properties.

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