by Patrick Whitney, Customer Care Manager
Whether you use Centurisk’s RiskStar software for property risk management or you’ve purchased another system, you may have noticed a line in your SAAS agreement called “maintenance.” With RiskStar, maintenance is included in your software package as a service. But you may have wondered: what does “maintenance” really mean?
Typically, there are two kinds of activities that your maintenance dollars support: the features that customers interact with directly and then the important activity that goes on behind-the-scenes to make your system interactions work successfully.
Support You Can See
RiskStar customers will undoubtedly be familiar with the following hands-on activities, which are a regular part of the property risk management application and its maintenance. But if you already have a property risk management system or are looking for one, make sure they have similar processes to the ones listed below, to ensure you get the most from your software purchase. They include:
Customized How-To Documentation and Help
As soon as you purchase RiskStar, our Customer Support team verifies the RiskStar product modules, requirements, and features you have purchased, and we begin customizing the RiskStar “Getting Started” user manuals to reflect your specific system. For each module, we provide information on how to access and navigate that module and its features. You also get detailed instructions for any Property Type your organization requires, explaining step-by-step how to use it, but also providing a deeper understanding of how RiskStar can be utilized to best fit your insurance needs. This means you and other members of your organization don’t have to weed through pages of information on features that are irrelevant to the RiskStar modules you purchased. The information you receive is designed to make it quick, easy and clear for the people who use RiskStar most.
In addition to the customized software documentation, you get access to our Knowledge Base, which includes in-app Hover Help assistance. This is handy because, for example, in the Asset Detail functionality, simply hovering your mouse over the asset field provides the definition of, and requirements for, that data point — so you can make sure your data is consistent and accurate. Also, there are Help options in the Actions dropdown menu of all of your grids, as well as at the top of each screen, that provides more information for Navigating, Adding, Editing, Report Building and Exporting. And if you have questions or need more help, our online assistance gives you direct access to our Support Team.
Process and Technology Upgrades
Maintenance here at Centurisk also means that you get access to new features in the RiskStar system as they are released, and a newsletter explaining how they will impact your experience with RiskStar. This means you always get to use the latest and greatest RiskStar functionality — and are informed how it operates. If you’re looking for a property risk management system, make sure you get access to both new features and information on how they affect your current processes within the software.
Centurisk maintenance also supports any assistance you might need with bulk data updates and importing clean data (e.g., data that does not require data scrubbing). Our goal is to ensure you’re up and running in the system as smoothly as possible.
The Experts to Move You Forward
At Centurisk, your maintenance dollars help support the experts that ensure you have a successful RiskStar experience throughout your property risk management efforts. Staff include the front-line project and quality control managers you’ll meet along the way, as well as the implementation specialists who drive projects forward through their hands-on efforts every day. At our company, our specialists fall into two groups:
- The Implementation Team – This group ensures all your data and reporting needs are satisfied and integrated into the software package you receive.
- The Support Team – This group is here to make sure you have a clear understanding of all the areas of the RiskStar system that will be available to you. They’re also responsible for training, to show you how RiskStar functionality addresses key tasks and how to best utilize the tool. These are the individuals who also provide you with quick responses and resolutions through the Support tool.
Behind the Scenes Quality Control and Trust-Building
We’ve discussed the important maintenance features you notice as a customer. But there’s a lot of activity that goes on backstage every day to maintain a high-quality property risk management system, too. These include things like:
- We help you enhance your property insurance program’s reputation. With consistent and accurate data for the reinsurance market, and supplemental property data for loss control purposes, our maintenance efforts help you market your stability and accuracy to insurers. And that can help you achieve better ratings.
- We never stop testing, to ensure the highest quality product. At Centurisk, maintenance includes ongoing testing of both current and new features to ensure customers receive the best user experience with up-to-date features.
- We have a quality control management process in place from every kick-off to project end. Internal project management standards and quality control processes have been developed between management, Implementation, and Support to assure consistent property data collection, valuation, and report deliverables.
Maintaining, Moving Ahead and Mitigating
“Maintenance.” A lot of expertise, effort and attention-to-detail goes into that single word on your SAAS agreement. If you’re looking for a property risk management solution, find out what maintenance means to your potential vendors. With Centurisk’s RiskStar, we work to make sure maintenance makes it smoother and easier for our customers throughout their property risk management initiatives.
About the Author
Patrick Whitney lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with his wife Beth and two dogs, Sadie and Daphne. When he’s not implementing data or supporting customers at Centurisk, he spends most of his time attempting to play golf and working on home improvement projects.
Want to see how Centurisk’s RiskStar Property Risk Management software can help keep you prepared for tomorrow’s big risk challenges? Simply request a demo and a member of our team will be in touch!