EDEKA
Product: insTRA
Claims reporting via the internet
EDEKA expands insTRA: processing of claims with obviously decreased complexity
Since 2005, the EDEKA Insurance Service (EVD) uses the SAP Add On insTRA for the efficient execution of its daily business. Now online damage assessment was introduced as new functionality, whereby the outlay of claims handling got significantly reduced.
The EDEKA group: A success story
The EDEKA group is - regarding the sales - the largest grouping in the German food retail sector. The base of the EDEKA group is formed by cooperatives, in which independent retailers have joined together. Regional units are responsible for the wholesale business and supply the independent dealers and branch operations.
The efficiency of EDEKA group is based on a close network of three levels: the EDEKA CENTRAL, the seven regional companies and the retailers on the spot. The EDEKA CENTRAL in Hamburg is responsible for the business policy and strategic leadership of the EDEKA group. By being participator of "Netto Marken-Discount", the CENTRAL is also operating in the retail business. As one of the largest fruit marketers in the European trading, the fruit branch office as a subsidiary of EDEKA CENTRAL controls purchasing and marketing of fruit and vegetables. The wine office, including the "Rheinberg" whine cellars in Bingen - one of the largest wineries in Germany - belongs also to the CENTRAL.
A forerunner of EDEKA - the purchasing cooperative of German colonial commodity dealers EDK - was already founded in 1898. At present ten cooperatives with approximately 5000 members form the base of the EDEKA group. These members operate about 10,000 food markets.
The seven regional companies build the operational units of the EDEKA group. They attract not only the independent dealers and branch operations. They run also production companies such as bakeries and meat works. EDEKA occupies about 250,000 employees.
Since 1952, the EDEKA Insurance Service (EVD) acts as supervisor of the EDEKA group in terms of insurance. The EVD oversees the fields of residential, commercial and industrial business. The daily business of these areas is supported through the use of the SAP Add On insTRA since 2005. With the expansion of its functionalities to include the possibility of online damage assessment (OSE), other departments are getting involved in the use of the application. All fleet managers and employees are able to enter internal and external damage or loss in a contemporary and efficient way. Thus, the EDEKA group's claims settlement processes can be executed in accelerated and integrated manner.
Point of departure and project aims
The primary challenge was to optimize the claims processing in the automotive field. In the past this was mainly carried out in the back office, which led to high costs for manual tests concerning terms like completeness and plausibility.
The previous expiration briefly sketched: the polluter (usually the driver) filled out a claims notification. The fleet manager reported the claim to the EVD, representing the contact in the respective regional companies. At this he forwarded either the original advice of the polluter or filled out a separate claims notification. The EVD employee covered the loss or damage in a special program. Subsequently, the claims report was sent by e-mail to an insurer to represent it in his system deposited.
The aim of the project was to establish a uniform procedure for the processing of claims notifications. The following aspects were hereby considered:
No dependency on individual insurers.
One claims advice for all insurers.
Identical business processes for all insurers.
By providing the form on the internet / intranet every agent is always able to access the latest version (minimization of administrative costs, e.g. for the delivery of paper forms with version changes).
Minimization of the administrative effort in the back office.
Data validation is carried out within the form (taking account of obligatory fields, plausibility, etc.), resulting in a significant improvement of the data quality.
To realize the objectives stated, Amadeus IT provided the OSE (on-line damage detection) system. In the first step, a claim for automobile insurance (liability, partial and full) was implemented and subsequently validated by the regional company in southern Bavaria in a pilot phase. Other divisions may follow.
