A Greenville software company launched a new product last month to help fire departments access a hidden source of revenue. InnovaPad’s cost recovery software allows firefighters to quickly gather information needed to file insurance claims when they respond to auto accidents and some other calls.
Yes, fire services are covered by car insurance, but most fire departments do not claim the money.
The departments are entitled to recoup the costs of taking the trucks out, cleaning up hazardous materials and the other services they provide as first responders. Yet of more than 36,000 fire departments in the U.S., fewer than 3,000 are filing claims with the at-fault party’s insurance company, says InnovaPad Chief Marketing Officer Ralph Callahan.
Based on information from Insurance Services Organization, a national insurance risk analytics company, InnovaPad estimates that about $20 million in revenue is lost in South Carolina due to unfiled claims.
Part of the problem is the amount of paperwork involved. When the economy collapsed, fire departments saw their tax-dependent revenues shrink. Cost recovery is one way to bring money in, but accomplishing it is time consuming. Most claims range from $700-$800, from which InnovaPad takes a fixed percentage. A handful of cost recovery companies already file claims for departments, but the men behind InnovaPad feel they’ve created an advantage by automating the process.
Designing Software
The product is the brainchild of InnovaPad CEO Vik Pearce. An electrical engineer by training, he said he had initially approached departments with an idea for a liquid vacuum that would safely clean up flammable materials. But fire chiefs had other concerns.
“They said, ‘We’re not going to buy this equipment. We don’t want to pull a $10,000 machine behind our truck,’” Pearce said. “They started to talk about what they needed, so I just listened.” He then began to think about how to meet some of the needs he was hearing about and thought a better cost-recovery process could make a big difference.
The product allows firefighters to use voice dictation to describe the accident, add maps with GPS information, scan driver’s licenses and photograph license plates, insurance documents and accident scenes. Handwritten notes later entered into a website have been eliminated.
The software took about six months to develop and is fairly complex, comprising the largest portion of the investment, its creators say. It needed to be able to gather multidimensional information – which is more complicated than what is typically gathered from a traditional barcode – and then populate fields automatically.
The federal government had begun to use barcodes in the 1990s that could read more than just a string of numbers, and InnovaPad builds on that technology. A patent is pending.
The software development was completed in-house by Dawson Roarke, chief technology officer, with the help of consultants. The company looked at both Apple and Android operating systems. Apple had more restrictions on its use, but some of those restrictions were also advantages, Pearce said. The company may eventually roll the software out on Android.
Meeting Needs
So far, 17 fire departments have signed up for the service, including Wade Hampton, Belmont and North Greenville, Pearce said. InnovaPad expects to have 75 by the end of the year.
Callahan said the company has started with smaller departments because of the staffing needed to train them.
“What we like about this business is it’s pretty scalable,” he said. “If I go to a department that has three stations, it’s the same as if you go to one with 10 stations.”
InnovaPad eventually plans to work with police departments. The company has tried to focus on fire stations that respond to a large number of motor vehicle accidents, but many others are calling to sign up as word spreads. Eventually, claims for hazardous material events and structure fires will also become more central.
Team Building
Pearce said the company is using technology not only for its service delivery, but also for its own organization. He intends for the company to be an option for experienced professionals who are looking for more flexible work opportunities. When firefighters submit claim information, InnovaPad staff will receive alerts on their own mobile devices. They will do the work as it comes in, rather than keeping regular hours in an office.
Among his credits, Callahan was CEO of Henderson Advertising, whose clients included DiamlerChrysler and Gold’s Gym. He was then CEO at World Narrowcasting Corp, which specialized in electronic displays at supermarkets.
Pearce has worked with IBM and launched a marketing company. He is currently a partner with the Innovate Group, which consults early-stage and rapid-turnaround companies. Both are the type to keep looking for new and interesting ideas.
“[Pearce] called me up and said, ‘Hey, I want to bounce an idea off of you.’ And I said, ‘Hey, I want to work with you,” Callahan said, describing how the two came to work on the InnovaPad together.
“There isn’t a straight line to almost anything, and if the light bulb goes off in the right instant, it comes together,” Pearce said. “It’s just kind of a zigzag; it just happened that the light bulb and the need occurred at the same time.”
