How a Growing Insurance Company Automated 34,000+ Hours of Work with Zapier

Our Client:

Our client, Arden Insurance Services LLC, is a prominent managing general agency specializing in insurance coverage for property owners' associations. Arden empowers brokers to customize insurance solutions that provide optimal protection. Boasting over 150 years of combined industry experience, Arden has successfully insured more than 109,000 buildings and serves a vast community of over 1,000,000 condominium association members.

Streamlining past due accounts posed a complex challenge

A critical component of the client’s payment collection process is the timely management of past-due accounts, which affected over $150 million in annual billing and collections. However, the current process for handling past-due notices was manual and necessitated extensive attention to detail, rendering it both time-consuming and prone to errors.

The key challenges encountered in managing past-due notices were:

• Time Investment: Each notice required substantial time for preparation and individual dispatch, significantly increasing the overall workload.
• Attention to Detail: The process demanded meticulous verification of details, leading to potential mistakes and resulting in miscommunication or delays in the payment collection cycle.
• Complexity of Information: Each notice involved careful verification of specific information and the inclusion of attachments, further complicating the process.
• Inefficiencies: The time-intensive nature of this process led to inefficiencies, adversely impacting the overall payment collection effectiveness.

To address these challenges, the client sought to automate the process by implementing reminder emails that would include both the original email and invoice as attachments. Despite engaging with multiple software vendors, none could provide a solution capable of incorporating the original email as an attachment. The client approached Zapier to develop a solution to address their basic need.

Zapier’s invoice follow-up automation turned chaos in efficiency

To address the challenges associated with managing past-due notices, Zapier has developed a robust automated solution tailored for our client. This solution is engineered to optimize the invoice follow-up process through an automated workflow named "Invoice Archive." The key features of this solution are as follows:

1. Original Invoice Email Storage

Each time a new invoice email is sent via Microsoft Outlook, a trigger event is activated. This event initiates the automatic saving of the email to OneDrive, ensuring secure and organized storage of all original invoice communications. This feature facilitates easy retrieval and reference for future follow-ups.

2. Automatic Identification of Invoices Requiring Follow-Up

When an invoice becomes past due, a new entry is created in a Google Sheet, which triggers an automatic review process. Predefined rules are applied to this entry to assess whether follow-up is required. The system filters invoices based on specific criteria to ensure that only those needing action are flagged for follow-up.

3. Personalized Follow-Up Email Dispatch

For invoices flagged as requiring follow-up, the system retrieves the original invoice email from OneDrive. This email is then attached to a personalized reminder message, drafted in Microsoft Outlook. The reminder includes relevant details such as the client's name, policy number, effective date, and payment information. This ensures that follow-up communications are both pertinent and timely.

The automated solution is designed to minimize manual intervention, reduce errors, and expedite the payment collection process.

How the solution proved to be transformational for the client

Zapier automation solution radically transformed Arden's invoice follow-up process, and delivered a number of benefits. These included:

• Substantial reduction in outstanding invoices: Arden has experienced a significant decrease in past-due payments, improving cash flow and overall financial health.
• Doubled annual business volume: By automating time-consuming tasks, Arden has been able to scale its operations and increase revenue without compromising quality.
• Over 17,000 hours of freed time: Zapier has freed up valuable resources, allowing Arden's team to focus on strategic initiatives and high-value work.
• Annual cost savings exceeding $500,000: By automating manual processes, Arden has realized significant cost savings, improving profitability and competitiveness.

Zapier has not only streamlined Arden's invoice follow-up but has also enabled the company to achieve significant business growth, improve efficiency, and enhance overall performance.

To learn more about the transformational capabilities of Zapier automation, contact us today!