When it comes time to renew your insurance policies, everyone knows how extremely time consuming it can be to collect asset value information. Tracking asset values manually with spreadsheets or other means presents tremendous challenges when it comes to capturing any and all relevant data with accuracy and in a standard format.
As a result, many companies and institutions—like Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.—rely on Risk Management Information Systems (RMIS) and automated workflows to streamline this critical function.
As a result, many companies and institutions—like Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.—rely on Risk Management Information Systems (RMIS) and automated workflows to streamline this critical function.
The university has 13 schools and colleges, multiple locations and thousands of assets—from drones and fire extinguishers to planes and boats. It uses values collection within an RMIS to collect asset values for insurance purposes. Auburn has also realized unexpected benefits:
- Inspections and Maintenance tracking: Since information about assets was already in the RMIS, Auburn realized that they could also use the system to manage scheduled inspections and maintenance to comply with safety regulations around assets like fire extinguishers and sprinklers.
- Cost allocation and budget: Auburn uses historical values information to monitor and forecast future costs, and aid in budgeting. It also can identify which assets belong to each department for insurance cost allocation.
- Ability to easily add a new category of assets: The university is always adding new assets, so it values the ease and autonomy with which it can add new categories of assets at any given point.
“Things are always changing in this environment,” said Mike Smith, risk management specialist for the university. “We needed a system that could keep up with those changes without having to spend a lot of time or money to update."