Caring Communities is the leading Member-Owned liability insurance company exclusively serving not-for-profit senior housing and care organizations. For over 20 years, Caring Communities has helped Members tackle their challenges related to the security and well-being of their residents, while providing them with comprehensive liability insurance protection. The organization serves more than 800 communities in over 40 states.
To share data such as insurance claims, Caring Communities was emailing spreadsheets to Members. There was no way for Members to securely access vital information on-demand. Members were also left working with information that was out of date once the file was received via email. The organization made a determination to increase digital maturity and build a self-service Member portal.
“We wanted members to be able to log in and access all of their information, including insurance, various reports, meeting and event info, and risk management toolkits,” explained Chad Swigert, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Caring Communities.
A Caring Communities employee was acquainted with a Netrix employee and reached out to Netrix for support with the new portal. “We also contacted two other firms, but after engaging with Netrix, we had more confidence in their team as well as their whole process,” said Mr. Swigert.
A Springboard Determines Project Scope
Caring Communities engaged in the unique Netrix Project Springboard process, a collaborative effort to determine the scope of a custom application development project. Together, the teams worked to define the budget, timeline, and effort required to build the application in order to help Caring Communities determine if moving forward made sense. Project Springboard also provides prospective clients the opportunity to experience the value of working with Netrix prior to committing to a substantial project. The initial budget presented was more than Caring Communities could allocate, so the companies worked to prioritize backlog items needed for phase one and agreed upon a reduced scope and budget that still met the primary needs.
Responsive, Collaborative, Process
Netrix and Caring Communities brainstormed about the Member Portal, working to establish the business goals and guiding principles that would govern the project from start to finish. “Project Springboard was a very good, methodical approach to get where we wanted to go. It was a process other firms did not offer.
“As we built out user stories, it was beneficial to talk things through, documenting how we wanted the portal to function. We wanted different sub-portals, such as C-suite and underwriting, to each house different documents. The user stories also helped us determine the necessary authentications and authorizations.
“We had daily standup meetings with the Netrix team and agreed upon how to approach issues that emerged. If we ran into any obstacles, it was very helpful to be able to discuss them at the next meeting less than 24 hours away, rather than waiting a more typical two weeks to a month before having the opportunity to talk to our vendor,” said Mr. Swigert.
Intuitive New Member Portal Saves Time
Mr. Swigert continued, “Another benefit of Netrix’s agile process is that we got it done within a few months. Our new Member portal is intuitive and user-friendly, so Members can feel comfortable using it even if they’re not IT savvy. They can securely log in and access their info in real time, access results, and view their company’s performance. We’ve received really good feedback. The portal is very helpful and a great value to them.
“It’s also a tremendous time savings for Caring Communities since we don’t have to manually email spreadsheets. It’s much more efficient for us.”
Caring Communities’ dedicated Risk Analysts consult with Members to conduct risk assessments and build effective safety and risk management systems. The resulting reports are made available for Members in an online portal, powered by a SaaS application.
Stacey Leadley, Vice President Risk Management, Caring Communities, explained, “The app was very cumbersome for users and a lot of things just didn’t work. We had to deal with frequent outages and the vendor was very slow to respond when we submitted tickets. We even lost some members who refused to use the app when it failed.
“For the investment we were making, we decided to look in a different direction rather than selecting another off-the-shelf app. Since we had so much success with Netrix, we consolidated and had Netrix build a solution from the ground up.”
Great Communication, Helpful Collaboration
Caring Communities collaborated with Netrix in another Springboard process to determine the scope of the new custom application development project.
“The Project Springboard Process was great. The structure made the project so much more organized and the communication was also great; very timely. We gave Netrix samples and templates and worked together to determine what we needed. Netrix helped guide us and presented different angles and things to think about, which I really appreciated because many times they were right. We were working on a timeline, but Netrix was always flexible if we needed more time to go back to our team. Together, we narrowed down the scope and objectives, so we would have a viable product for everything we needed, at a minimal cost and timeframe,” explained Ms. Leadley.
Easier, More User-Friendly Risk Management Portal
With the new risk management portal, Caring Communities Administrators can create and modify reports. Members can view reports and track their organizational risk and prescriptive progress in real time. Toolkits and resources are also available for download. By serving as a repository of all reports moving forward, the portal shows Members how they’re performing over time.
Additionally, the portal also enables two-way communication between Caring Communities and Members. Caring Communities’ Risk Analysts can pose questions and Members can upload documents, such as policy statements.
“The new solution is easier and more user friendly. My staff is also much happier with the reliability,” said Ms. Leadley.
Risk Management Portal Saves Time
“The new solution that Netrix built saves us two to three hours for each report. We built out boilerplates, so report production is much simpler for users, as they don’t need to make so many modifications. Additionally, our old software would crash, so you’d have to take a break and come back. We currently have four Consultants conducting a total of 45 to 50 assessments per year. They generate one comprehensive report per assessment, so we’re saving from 90 to 150 hours per year.
“I was also very happy with the Springboard Process. The structure made everything much smoother. Netrix was really amazing to work with; night and day from our previous vendor,” stated Ms. Leadley.
Mr. Swigert said, “We had been working with another firm to develop an internal data warehouse and were struggling to get it across the finish line. After nearly two years, we had lost confidence in the firm’s ability to complete and launch successfully. After repeating the Netrix Project Springboard to define the application requirements, we came to an agreement on the budget and prioritized backlog, and moved forward. It was all up and running within the next few months.
“I truly think of Netrix as a business partner, not just a vendor. They really care about what they’re doing and try to understand our business the best they can, even though they’re not insurance experts. Based on that understanding, it was easier to talk with the Netrix team. We could get through any challenges, and they’ve been fantastic.”
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