BEERE AND PURVES CASE HISTORY
Back to Case StudiesOne of the
major problems confronting the health insurance industry in the era of HMOs and managed healthcare is the astounding amount of paperwork. Beere and Purves, a wholesaler of group health insurance, routinely
exchanged a glut of claim forms, benefit packages and other paperwork between its home office in Walnut Creek, Calif., and its sales representatives that served the company's insurance agent customers, located
throughout Northern California. To address this problem, company controller Philip Tan searched for ways to boost productivity by using electronic mail and electronic document handling to streamline
paperwork and simplify communication between their home office and remote sales force. Although Tan did not have vast on-staff technical resources, he wanted to use the Internet as the information lifeline for
the company. He researched for a vendor he could work with to accomplish this task. With the assistance of Michel Leconte of ActivSupport, a San Francisco-based systems integrator, Tan looked for the most
cost-effective solution to put the Internet to work for Beere and Purves. Leconte recommended the OneGate Internet Access Server from FreeGate Corporation, which he and Tan agreed would be an important step
toward fulfilling Beere and Purves' communication needs. "We selected the OneGate system because of the ease of implementation and significant cost savings. It offered everything we needed in one
package," said Tan. The OneGate Internet Access Server is a turnkey Internet thin server with a track record for very high reliability and scalability. It combines in a single system all the elements for
secure access without requiring extensive technical expertise on the part of the business user. The solution integrates an IP router, Web server, firewall; e-mail file transfer (FTP), Domain Name Service (DNS),
and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers; remote management; and virtual private networking (VPN). "We liked the simplicity of the solution. The OneGate system provided a complete solution
for one third the cost of buying separate network components," added Leconte. "All the software we needed came from FreeGate, including remote access software for virtual private networks and network
management capabilities to allow us to configure, maintain and troubleshoot the system through a dial-up connection." Tan also was impressed with the OneGate system's reliability, implemented in the form
of mirrored disk drives to back up the system. "If one drive fails, the other will take its place. So I can just swap out one drive and then the working drive will 'mirror' itself on the replacement. Only a
complete power failure will shut the system down." In anticipation of the OneGate system's installation and expanded Internet activities, ActivSupport upgraded local-area network software and installed a
3Com 10/00 Ethernet switch to unify the company's two internal LANs. In addition, ActivSupport bundled services from Verio, an Internet service provider that offers service packages for small and medium size
businesses. Remote Access VPN Provides Critical Communications To communicate with Beere and Purves' outside sales force, Tan took advantage of FreeGate's VPN remote access software for the Internet Access
Server. FreeGate's VPN software helped establish e-mail links between the sales force and the company's home office and, equally important, eliminated many hardcopy correspondence. "We have many health
benefit summaries sitting in pigeon holes," Tan said. "When they are accessible in electronic form, our sales forces can access the documents to make modifications and changes for a specific
insurance agent." The FreeGate VPN software significantly reduces the complexity of setting up secure VPNs by providing a simplified point of administration from which common services—e-mail name
directory, web access, firewall, file sharing, and access control—are delivered across multiple locations as if on a single network. Preparing for the Future The installation of the FreeGate system for the
outside sales force is only the first step for Beere and Purves. Tan will make the FreeGate system part of an all IP-based network that will allow Beere and Purves employees to access a vast array of health plans
and documents through a web browser interface. The FreeGate system can support e-mail for the entire office, host a company web site and a company intranet. "In our present health care environment, it's a
big advantage to do things electronically," Tan said. "Health-care networks, including carriers, hospitals and individual doctors, are all using e-mail and electronic document transfer to save both time
and money in delivering health services to the public. The FreeGate system will allow us to efficiently provide accurate benefit summaries and quotes to our agents and brokers. If we can accomplish this and help
the broker sell the case, wouldn't you want to do business with us again?" |
