View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2002/08/28/22755.htm
Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company has won the endorsement of the Woodworkers Institute of California (WIC), an association of cabinetmakers and professional woodworkers, primarily because of a new customized internet-based CD-ROM insurance service for the WIC members that simplifies their business insurance tasks and links them to other key sites and conveniences on the World Wide Web.
“We were impressed by the time and effort Fireman’s Fund took to customize the content of the CD-ROM specific to our industry. The claims forms and other practical information will help our members do business better by saving us time and money!” said Michael Hanson, president of the WIC. “One especially valuable industry link is to an online industry wood pricing tool that enables real-time online access to current prices of any specific type of wood and allows a cabinetmaker to bid immediately on a project.”
The CD-ROM contains a series of risk management tools and access to a proprietary 24/7 extranet, allowing woodworkers to:
• report losses online to Fireman’s Fund.
• link to medical providers for workers’ compensation.
• gain online access to a proprietary Fireman’s Fund customer Web site providing industry-specific information and bulletin boards. Customers can pose questions to Fireman’s Fund or their woodworking industry peers so they can trade experience on specific problems.
• access information packets and articles on critical issues facing the industry.
• order information, free of charge, from a library of loss prevention materials and common insurance forms.
• learn about preferred pricing for buying online data backup services for their business through EVault, a national provider of online data backup and recovery solutions, at special prices for Fireman’s Fund insureds. Other similar preferred pricing will become available from other vendors over time.
This CD-ROM is one of seven, each serving a different industry and each acting as a portal to a proprietary dynamic extranet. The seven industries currently include: woodworking, real estate, leisure (restaurants, hotels, country clubs), manufacturing, services, retail stores, and wholesale operations. The CD and extranet were developed after conducting focus groups in specific industries to learn what insurance needs are not being met in the insurance marketplace. Fireman’s Fund then packaged those features into desktop technology ready for customers’ easy delivery and use.