Title: Method and apparatus for coordinating services
Abstract: The invention relates to a method of coordinating or arranging services, such as automotive glass repair services for the policyholders of an insurance company, and to an apparatus for practicing the method. The method includes providing a database of service providers, obtaining service need information regarding a customer, selecting at least a portion of the service providers in the database based on the service need information, ranking the selected service providers, and choosing one of the ranked service providers to perform the service.
Patent Number: 6,950,801 Issued on 09/27/2005 to Brookes, et al.
| Inventors:
|
Brookes; Robert (Gibsonia, PA);
Homison; Mark A. (Glenshaw, PA);
Langford; Lisa S. (Allison Park, PA);
Latch; James V. (Gibsonia, PA);
Molenda; Thomas S. (Pittsburgh, PA);
Umble; Christopher W. (Wexford, PA)
|
| Assignee:
|
PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. (Cleveland, OH)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
618809 |
| Filed:
|
July 18, 2000 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
705/7; 705/8; 705/9 |
| Intern'l Class: |
G06F 017/60 |
| Field of Search: |
705/7,8,9,10,4,14,1,5
395/202,329
707/660
380/25
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
| 5432904 | Jul., 1995 | Wong.
| |
| 5504674 | Apr., 1996 | Chen et al.
| |
| 5583763 | Dec., 1996 | Atcheson et al.
| |
| 5652842 | Jul., 1997 | Siegrist et al.
| |
| 5794207 | Aug., 1998 | Walker et al.
| |
| 5797127 | Aug., 1998 | Walker et al.
| |
| 5842178 | Nov., 1998 | Giovannoli.
| |
| 5862223 | Jan., 1999 | Walker et al.
| |
| 5884272 | Mar., 1999 | Walker et al.
| |
| 5950169 | Sep., 1999 | Borghesi et al.
| |
| 6282251 | Aug., 2001 | Worstell.
| |
| 6314406 | Nov., 2001 | O'Hagan et al.
| |
| 6356909 | Mar., 2002 | Spencer.
| |
| 6397197 | May., 2002 | Gindlesperger.
| |
| Foreign Patent Documents |
| WO 9526535 | Oct., 1995 | WO.
| |
| WO00072207 | Nov., 2000 | WO.
| |
Other References
Corporate News "PPG Receives CIO Award For IT Application In Forming Business"
discloses a consumer resolving a glass replacement or repair claim with a brief
telephone call.
Kalakota, Ravi and Whinston, Andrew B, "Electronic Commerce A Manager's Guide",
puiblished in 1997.
www.safelite.com as archived Jun. 20, 2003—Windshield glass replacement service.
cartalk.cars.com as archived on Jul. 7, 2000—Web site on automobile repairs.
|
Primary Examiner: Jeanty; Romain
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Millman; Dennis G.
Parent Case Text
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefits of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/146,039,
filed Jul. 28, 1999, which is herein incorporated by reference.
Claims
1. A method of coordinating services among a paying organization, customers of
the paying organization, and a plurality of service providers, comprising:
providing a computer database of service providers, the computer database including
location and pricing information relating to each service provider, pricing criteria
of the organization, and any supplemental inducements offered by certain of the
individual service providers;
receiving from individual service providers on an ongoing basis data regarding
availability of supplemental inducements for a particular service provider, and
updating the computer database with current supplemental inducement data;
obtaining service need information concerning a customer of the paying organization,
including location of the service need;
generating by means of a computer system a preliminary list of service providers
selected from the computer database matching the customer's service need and location
and satisfying the pricing criteria of the organization;
generating by means of a computer system a final list of service providers as
a subset of the preliminary list, comprising a plurality of service providers having
the most favorable supplemental inducements that are applicable;
ranking by means of a computer system the final list of service providers employing
criteria compassing time interval since last service performed by each service
provider; and
presenting, in order of ranking, at least one of the ranked service providers
to the customer for choice to perform the service.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service provider ranking is conducted by:
identifying the last date on which the service providers were assigned a service
job when the customer had no repair shop preference; and
ranking the service providers by the last service job date, with the most recent
service date ranked last.
3. The method of claim 1, including billing the organization a fixed fee for
each service coordination transaction.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the organization is at least one insurance
company and the customer is a policyholder of said at least one insurance company.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service is repair service.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the repair service is automobile repair service.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for coordinating
or arranging for services and, in one particular embodiment, to a method and apparatus
for coordinating or arranging automotive glass repair services for a policyholder
of an insurance company.
2. Technical Considerations
In many commercial fields, the service or parts providers for a particular field
present a fragmented array of individual providers where individual customers may
not have an organized approach to obtaining the best services or parts at an acceptable
price. An example of such a field is the current automotive glass repair service industry.
In the field of automotive glass repair, individual glass repair shops typically
receive work directly from the policyholder (customer) of an insurance company
or through the local insurance agent or regional claims adjuster for the insurance
company of the policyholder. After the work is completed, the repair shop sends
an invoice to the insurance company or designated agent for payment and the insurance
company remits payment to the repair shop. However, there are drawbacks associated
with this conventional method. For example, the insurance company typically may
negotiate discount prices with each repair shop individually and all repair shops
may not be willing to give similar discounts. Improvements in reducing this time
and effort for negotiation could reduce policy costs for the policyholder. Also,
much time is spent by the insurance company in auditing the invoices from the glass
repair shops. It is not unusual for many of the invoices received by an insurance
company to have one or more errors, such as incorrect prices or incorrect part
numbers. This conventional invoice review system is quite burdensome to most insurance
companies. Reducing the time involved in checking and/or correcting the invoices
could also help reduce policy costs, which would be beneficial to the policyholder.
As an alternative to this conventional method, glass repair middlemen evolved
to help coordinate glass repairs. These middlemen typically own a number of glass
repair shops. A middleman contracts with an insurance company to repair or replace
automotive glass loss for that insurance company's policyholders at a discount
from a conventionally accepted price. The repair shops then do the repair work
at a larger discount and bill the middleman at this more highly discounted rate.
The middleman then bills the insurance company at the previously agreed upon discounted
price and pockets the difference between what the repair shop billed and what the
insurance company paid. These middlemen typically conduct this service at no fee
to the insurance company since they are compensated by the discount difference
between what they charge the insurance company and what the repair shop charges
the middleman.
In addition to repair shops directly owned by the middleman, the middleman may
also contract with independent glass repair shops willing to do glass repair work
for a discount for the insurance company. Some independent repair shops agree to
such a discounting procedure simply to receive the repair work. However, this system
is not advantageous to the independent glass repair shops because it is time consuming
and does not enable the repair shops to maximize their efficiency. Since the middleman's
profit is dependent upon the discount at which the repair shops are willing to
work, the independent repair shops are also under constant pressure from the middleman
to decrease their prices. Further, the middleman is inclined to direct most of
the work to the shops he owns and over which he has the most control to further
maximize his profits. Also, the independent glass repair shops in this system are
not working directly for the insurance company but are rather working for the middleman
who, in reality, is actually one of their competitors. This system is also not
advantageous to the insurance company or its policyholders since the true extent
of the discount offered by the repair shops is not passed on to the insurance company
or its policyholders but rather a large portion is kept by the middleman as profit.
Another exemplary fragmented commercial field is the home repair field. Individual
home repair service providers may receive work from various customers, such as,
for example, insurance company policyholders, insurance agents, insurance companies,
or from individuals seeking to have home repairs conducted. Again, the customer
must typically negotiate with several service providers before obtaining a desirable
fee. This negotiation process is time consuming for both the customer and the service
provider. Further, the time required for generating and auditing invoices, as well
as the time required to correct any errors, is burdensome to the service provider
and the customer. This time lost in negotiation and billing review could better
be spent by the service provider in performing services for more customers and
could better be spent by the customer in conducting his normal activities.
The above discussed glass repair and home repair fields are simply exemplary
of the numerous commercially fragmented fields in which improvements could be made
to benefit both the service providers and the customers who desire the particular services.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus
for coordinating services which could be practiced over a wide variety of service
applications and which could be used by a variety of types of customers. It would
further be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for coordinating services
that not only benefits the customer but also fosters competition among the service
providers. It would be particularly advantageous to provide a method and apparatus
for coordinating the automotive glass repair process for the policyholder of an
insurance company which eliminates the middleman, which are more acceptable to
independent repair shops, and which overcome or reduce the drawbacks associated
with the prior automotive glass repair systems discussed above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method of coordinating or arranging services and to
an apparatus for practicing the method. Exemplary services suitable for the practice
of the invention include, but are not limited to, automotive glass replacement,
collision repair services, automotive paint refinishing, fire repair services,
general repair services (such as automotive or home repair services), clothing
repair services, plumbing services, medical services, retail or wholesale merchandise
services, towing services, rental car services, parts supply services, and purchasing
services, just to name a few. The invention could be used by a wide variety of
customers, such as but not limited to, insurance company policyholders, fleet companies,
employees of a company, members of a particular organization or association, third
party payors, and individual cash payors, just to name a few.
In the practice of the method, a service coordinator generates a database of
service
providers. Service need information is received concerning a customer. The service
need information can be received directly from the customer or through an intermediate,
such as an organization or company. If the customer has no initial preference for
a particular service provider to provide the service, at least a portion, preferably
less than all, of the service providers in the database is selected based on the
service need information. The selected service providers are ranked, e.g., by pricing
criteria, customer satisfaction data, and/or date of last job awarded by the service
coordinator, and at least a portion of the ranked service providers is presented
to the customer. The customer may then choose one of the presented service providers
to perform the service.
In a particular embodiment, the invention provides a method of coordinating an
automotive glass repair process for the policyholder of an insurance company, and
to an apparatus for practicing the method. This particular method includes providing
a database of glass repair shops, obtaining glass loss information regarding the
policyholder, selecting at least a portion of the glass repair shops in the database
based on the glass loss information, ranking the selected glass repair shops, and
presenting at least one of the ranked repair shops to the policyholder for selection
to perform the glass repair.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic, block diagram of an exemplary service coordination system
of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer system which may be used in the practice
of the invention;
FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary glass repair method of the invention:
FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of how repair shop information may be selected and
input into a database in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a first exemplary method of ranking repair shops;
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a second exemplary method of ranking repair shops; and
FIG. 7 is a flow diagram, similar to FIG. 3, of an exemplary home repair method
of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As used herein, the term "services" is not limited to labor only but may include
parts alone, labor alone, or both parts and labor. Likewise, the term "service
provider" may include a provider who supplies parts alone, labor alone, or a combination
of parts and labor.
The invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for coordinating or
arranging for services. In the following discussion, the general practice of the
invention will first be discussed. Afterwards, both a method and apparatus are
explained with particular reference first to coordinating the automotive glass
repair process for the policyholder of an insurance company and second for coordinating
home repairs. However, it is to be understood that these uses of the invention
are simply exemplary uses and should not be considered as limiting. The method
and apparatus of the invention can be practiced in a variety of fields, such as
but not limited to, towing services, clothing repair services, plumbing services,
medical services, parts supply services, retail or wholesale merchandise services,
automotive parts services, collision repair services, automotive paint refinishing,
fire repair services, home repair services, rental car services, and purchasing
services, just to name a few. Additionally, the invention is not limited to use
with insurance company policyholders but could be used for a variety of customers,
such as but not limited to fleet companies, employees of a particular company,
members of a particular organization or association, third party payors, and individual
cash payors, just to name a few.
An exemplary service coordinating system
10 incorporating features of
the
invention is schematically shown in FIG.
1.
In the general practice of the invention, a service coordinator
12 coordinates
the particular services required by a customer
14 from one of a number of
service providers
16. The customer
14 may be a member of a particular
company or organization
18 having a working relationship with the service
coordinator
12. Alternatively, the customer
14 may be an individual
consumer. The service coordinator
12 forms and maintains a database
20
including service providers
16 willing to perform services for the particular
customer
14 and/or organization
18 under a particular pricing structure
or selection criteria. The database
20 can be maintained, for example, on
a computer system
22. Upon receipt of service need information concerning
the customer
14, the service coordinator
12 may present one or more
selected service providers
16 from the database
20 to the customer
14 for choice to conduct the desired services as described below. The service
need information may be received directly from the customer
14 or through
the organization
18. This general practice of FIG. 1 will first be explained
in detail with reference to coordinating a glass repair process for a policyholder
of an insurance company.
In this exemplary automotive glass repair process, he service coordinator
12
will be referred to as a glass repair coordinator (GRC). The GRC coordinates the
glass repair process for the policyholder or "insured" (customer
14) of
an insurance company (organization
18) at one of a number of glass repair
shops (service providers
16) selected from a plurality of service providers
16 as described below. The GRC forms and maintains a database
20
of glass repair shops, as will be described in more detail below. The database
20 is preferably an electronic database maintained on a conventional computer
system having a conventional memory device and conventional input and output devices.
Alternatively, the database could also be maintained in other manners, such as
manually with a writing in one or more notebooks. Of course, the manual method
has several disadvantages, such as being more labor intensive, more time consuming,
slower, more cumbersome, and requiring more space to store the database (notebooks).
A block diagram of a conventional computer system
22, which may be used
for the practice of the invention, is shown schematically in FIG.
2. The
computer system
22 includes a central processing unit (CPU)
24 in
electronic communication with a data storage device
26, such as a hard drive,
optical disk, and the like for storing the database
20. The CPU
24
may also preferably be in electronic communication with one or more of a read only
memory (ROM)
28 which stores CPU program instructions, a random access memory
(RAM)
30 for temporary data storage, and a clock
32 for providing
time signals to the CPU
24. An input/output device
34 may be connected
to the CPU
24 and may be of any conventional type, such as a monitor and
keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, printer, voice activated, etc. The computer system
22 runs appropriate custom-designed or conventional software to perform
the steps of the invention, for example "Ingress" software commercially available
from Computer Associates International, Inc. of New Jersey. The specific hardware,
firmware and/or software utilized in the system
22 need not be of a specific
type but may be any such conventionally available items designed to perform the
method or functions of the present invention. The computer system
22 is
simply an example of one suitable computer system for the practice of the invention.
Such computer systems are well understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and
examples are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,794,207; 5,884,272; 5,797,127;
5,504,674; 5,862,223; and 5,432,904, which are herein incorporated by reference.
In the general practice of the invention as described in FIG. 1, when the customer
14 desires a particular service, the customer
14 contacts the service
coordinator
12 to arrange for the services to be provided. With reference
to FIG. 1, the customer
14 may contact the service coordinator
12
directly (step
36). Alternatively, as indicated by the "if-then" symbol
15 in FIG. 1, if the customer
14 is a member of a qualified organization
18, i.e., such as an insurance company, doing business with the service
coordinator
12, the customer
14 may first contact the organization
18 (step
38) which then contacts the service coordinator
12
(step
40), with or without the customer
14. The service coordinator
12 obtains the particular service need information, and optionally, verifies
the customer's authorization to request the services and/or confirms the customer's
payment information, e.g., credit card number. As will be appreciated, the particular
service need information depends on the particular field of services desired by
the customer
14.
In the exemplary automotive glass repair process under discussion, with reference
to FIGS. 1 and 3 as needed, when the insured (customer
14) of the insurance
company (organization
18) suffers an automotive glass loss (step
42),
such as damage to a windshield, sidelight, backlight, etc., the insured contacts
(step
44) the insurance company either directly or through a designated
agent, such as the insured's local agent or a claims adjuster. This contact may
be conducted, for example, telephonically, in person, via the Internet, or by any
other conventional manner.
The insurance company and insured may together contact (step
46) the glass
repair coordinator (GRC) or, as discussed above, the insured may contact the GRC
directly, e.g., telephonically. In either case, upon initial contact, the GRC verifies
(step
48) the insured's authority to request the services, e.g., that the
insured has an up-to-date policy with the insurance company, such as by accessing
the insurance company's computer system. The computer system
22 of the GRC
preferably has an electronic data link, e.g., direct line or through a modem, with
the insurance company's customer database to allow the GRC to access the insurance
company's client records to verify this information.
Assuming the insured has a valid insurance policy with the insurance company,
the GRC obtains service need information, in this exemplary example, glass loss
information (step
50), from the insured such as the make and model of the
vehicle, type of damage, date of damage, cause of damage, whether the vehicle is
mobile, the insured's telephone number, address, current location, etc. With enough
such information, the GRC accesses (step
52) the database
20 maintained
by the GRC via the GRC's computer system
22 to coordinate the repair process
of the insured's glass damage. For example, the GRC may access the database
20
through a conventional keyboard and monitor device.
Additionally or alternatively, employees of the organization
18,
in this example the insurance company, can access the database
20 as described
below to coordinate the repair process rather than the GRC accessing the database
20.
Before proceeding with further explanation of coordinating the particular
glass repair process under discussion, an exemplary method of forming and maintaining
the database
20 will be described. In the general practice of the invention,
service or part information, such as pricing information of the service provider,
is obtained by the service coordinator
12. This pricing information may
be established over a variety of service zones, which service zones may be defined
geographically or in any other desired manner. One or more service factors may
be established for each service zone and may define, for example, a threshold price
adjustment, which may be positive (an additive) or a reduction, for services provided
in that service zone. A supplemental service factor and/or customer satisfaction
index may optionally be assigned to selected service providers in the service zone.
These concepts will now be particularly described with specific reference to
the exemplary automotive glass repair process under discussion and with particular
reference to FIG.
4. Service pricing information, e.g. glass repair price
information, is obtained and/or generated by the GRC (step
54). For example,
but not to be considered limiting, Mitchell International, Inc., through its subsidiary
NAGS, publishes a list of suggested repair costs for various glass repairs. This
suggested price list can be used to establish a "first price" for a particular
type of glass repair. This list is licensed and is publicly available for a fee.
The NAGS price information for different repairs may be input into the database
20 and stored on the data storage device
26 as the first price for
the glass repairs. Alternatively, a first price for repairs can be developed by
the GRC or by the insurance company in any desired manner, e.g., based on historical
information such as prior repair costs, dealer list prices, or in any other suitable manner.
The service zones are defined (step
56); for instance, geographically,
demographically, by population centers, by location of the service providers
16,
by delivery areas, by business considerations (such as geographic proximity of
service providers) or in any other convenient manner. In the exemplary glass repair
process under discussion, a geographic location designation for each repair shop
is obtained. For example, the United States government generates and publishes
a list of metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) for geographical regions of the
United States. The MSA's are typically divided or separated by population densities.
The MSA's may be obtained and may be input into the database
20. Alternatively,
the service zones may be defined in any convenient manner, such as by the GRC or
the insurance company, as desired.
At least one service factor is established for each service zone (step
58).
The service factor may be established by the organization
18, or for individual
customers
14, by the GRC. The service factor is typically established by
the organization
18 for each service zone and is communicated to the service
coordinator
12, who enters the respective service factors into the database
20. The service factor for a particular service zone can be changed at any
time by the organization
18 to account for changes in business conditions,
such as scarcity of parts, increased parts costs, inflation, etc. For example,
the service factor may be a price adjustment to the first price applicable to each
service provider
16 in a particular service zone. The price adjustment may
be based on a specific dollar discount, e.g., a reduction in the price charged
by the service provider
16 for parts and labor or for parts alone or for
labor alone. The service factor may also be defined as a percentage adjustment
for the service providers
16 or in any other convenient manner. As discussed
below, the service factor can be a reduction, i.e., a discount, or may be a positive
adjustment, i.e. a price increase to the first price. One or more service factors
may be established for each service zone. For example, in addition to a price adjustment
service factor, an additional service factor or customer perk, such as free customer
pick up, free rental car, free newspaper, etc., may be established for one or more
service zones.
In the exemplary automotive glass repair process under discussion, each service
zone, e.g., MSA, may have a service factor in the form of a particular price adjustment
applied to the first price, e.g., NAGS suggested price, for glass repair services
in that particular MSA. The first price adjusted by the service factor defines
a modified price for services conducted in a particular service zone. For example,
Table I shows a list of MSA's (1-4) with an exemplary associated service factor
in the form of a percentage price adjustment established for each MSA. The MSA's
are listed in order of population density, with the most populous MSA being MSA#1
and going to the least populous MSA#4.
| |
TABLE I |
| |
|
| |
MSA |
Service factor % |
| |
|
| |
1 |
-44 |
| |
2 |
-35 |
| |
3 |
-25 |
| |
4 |
+10 |
| |
|
For MSA's 1-3, the service factor is a negative number, meaning that the first
price is reduced by the amount of the service factor in that MSA to define the
modified price. For example, for MSA#1, the first price are reduced by 44%. Therefore,
if a first price for a particular glass repair is $1.00, the modified price would
be $0.56, which would be a savings passed on to the insurance company. The service
factors may be established for different service zones based on the observation
that repair shops in more populous areas can typically perform automotive glass
repairs for less than the NAGS suggested price since they typically have ready
access to equipment, supplies and labor. However, MSA#4, the least populous area,
has a positive number service factor, meaning that the first price, i.e. NAGS suggested
price, is increased by the amount of the service factor in MSA#4. For example,
if the first price is $1.00, the modified price in MSA#4 would be $1.10. This higher
price in MSA#4 is provided, for example, because repair shops in less populous
areas may typically have a harder time obtaining parts, supplies and labor and
hence their costs may be higher than those in more populous areas. This service
factor difference between the service zones of different population density can
be thought of as overcoming a previously perceived unfairness by repair shops in
less populated areas when the glass middleman may have insisted on a single discount
for all repair shops regardless of population densities. Of course, different organizations
18 or service providers
16 may desire different service factors based
on their particular preference or style of operation. Therefore, the service factors
for each service zone may be different for different organizations
18 with
which the GRC does business. The database
20 of FIG. 1 facilitates the service
coordinator's ability to handle these situations.
Again, with reference to FIG. 4 in the exemplary glass repair method, when
the service zones have been defined and the service factors established, glass
repair shops in each MSA are identified (step
60), such as through the telephone
book, electronic directory, etc., and contacted (step
62) to determine if
they are willing to do glass repair services for the particular insurance company
at a price similar to the modified price (i.e., the first price multiplied by the
service factor(s) for that service zone). If a repair shop declines, it may not
be listed (step
64) in the database
20 or may be listed as not satisfying
the criteria for that particular insurance company of customer
14. However,
if a repair shop is willing to conduct glass repair services for the organization
18, service coordinator
12, or customer
14 at a price at or
similar to the modified price, the information for that repair shop, e.g., location,
hours, types of services provided, telephone number, etc., is entered for these
criteria into the database
20 (step
66). In addition to the GRC contacting
the service providers
16, the service providers
16 themselves can
contact the GRC, for example by telephone, mail, Internet, or the like and request
to be added to the database
20.
Thus, in order for information about a repair shop to be added to the database
20 as satisfying the criteria for a particular service zone, the repair
shop should be willing to provide one or more of the service factor(s) for the
particular service zone in which it is located when providing services through
or for the service coordinator
12, e.g., provide services at the modified
price. However, individual service providers
16 may be willing to augment
the services they provide for a particular organization
18 or type of customer
14. For example, a repair shop in the database
20 may also be willing
to provide one or more additional discounts or perks ("supplemental service factor(s)")
over and above the service factor(s) for services provided through the GRC to a
particular organization
18 or customer
14. For example, Table II
lists three exemplary glass repair shops (RS1-RS3) in MSA#1.
| TABLE II |
| |
| |
|
|
Supplemental |
|
|
| Repair |
|
Service |
Service |
Total |
Satisfaction |
| Shop |
MSA |
Factor % |
factor % |
Discount |
Index |
| |
| |
| RS1 |
1 |
-44 |
0 |
-44 |
1 |
| RS2 |
1 |
-44 |
-7 |
-51 |
2 |
| RS3 |
1 |
-44 |
-10 |
-54 |
3 |
| |
For each exemplary repair shop in MSA#1 the exemplary service factor for the
present discussion is -44%. This means that each glass repair shop listed in the
database
20 as satisfying the criteria for MSA#1 has expressed a willingness
to conduct glass repair services for the particular organization
18 or customer
14 at a discount of 44% off of the defined comparison price. However, if
a particular repair shop wishes to further discount the price at which it is willing
to conduct glass repair services for the particular organization
18 or customer
14, e.g., if glass repair shop RS3 is willing to discount an additional
10% from the price it charges for the particular glass repair, a supplemental service
factor of 10% is input for RS3. Thus, RS3 is actually willing to conduct automotive
glass repair services for the organization
18 at a total discount (i.e.,
service factor(s) plus any supplemental service factor(s)) of -54% off of the first
price. For each repair shop in the database
20 identified as satisfying
the criteria for the service zone in which it is located, e.g., those repair shops
willing to provide services at a cost incorporating the service factor(s) for that
service zone, repair shop information such as location, assigned service zone,
service factor(s), any supplemental service factor(s) offered by the repair shop,
which organization
18 or customer
14 the repair shop will work for,
etc., is entered into the data storage device
26 in conventional manner,
such as by the input/output device
34, to form the database
20.
Further, as shown in Table II, a consumer satisfaction index optionally
may be established for each repair shop. The satisfaction index reflects the past
performance of the repair shop and/or the quality of past services. For example,
a numerical designator from 1 to 5 can be entered for each repair shop based on
such factors as customer complaints, customer surveys, complaints to the Better
Business Bureau, customer compliments, random spot checks on the quality of the
service provided, etc. For instance, a "1" designation may indicate the highest
customer satisfaction and/or repair service quality and "5" may indicate the lowest
satisfaction and/or quality. While the above discussion was directed specifically
to the exemplary glass repair process under discussion, it will be appreciated
that the same concepts described above could be applied to any desired service
application, such as, for example, home repair services as described below.
Returning to the exemplary glass repair process shown in FIG. 3, when the
insured contacts the GRC, the GRC inquires if the insured has a preferred glass
repair shop (step
72) where the insured wishes the glass repair services
to be conducted. If the insured has a preferred repair shop, the GRC checks the
database
20 to see if the preferred shop is one of the shops in the database
20 (step
74). If it is, the GRC contacts that repair shop to schedule
the automotive glass repair (step
76) and, if the preferred repair shop
can perform the repair services in a timely manner, informs the insured of the
scheduled repair date. The GRC may send (step
78) the repair shop a work
order and the repair shop conducts (step
80) the glass repair.
While in the preferred method of the invention the GRC accesses the database
20 and coordinates the glass repair process, this procedure could also be
conducted by employees of the organization
18 who are provided access to
the computer system
22 and the database
20. In this alternative embodiment,
the GRC would actually be a part of the organization
18.
After completing the repair, the repair shop sends a bill to the GRC (step
82), billing the discounted price (modified price) for the particular service
zone, including any supplemental discounts (supplemental service factor(s)) the
glass shop is willing to give to the organization
18 or customer
14.
The GRC preferably compares (step
84) the repair shop bill against the work
order to make sure there are no errors in the bill. If there are errors (step
86),
the GRC contacts (step
88) the repair shop to correct the errors and the
repair shop may then submit a corrected bill (step
90) to the GRC. Alternatively,
the GRC may simply correct the bill and notify the repair shop of the correction.
If there are no errors or if the errors have been corrected in the bill, the GRC
forwards (step
92) the repair shop bill to the insurance company and the
insurance company may remit payment (step
94) to the GRC. The GRC may then
remit payment (step
96) to the repair shop. The GRC bills (step
98)
the insurance company, e.g., a flat fee, for each glass repair transaction it handles.
In this manner, the discounted repair price offered by the repair shop is passed
directly to the insurance company, which receives the full benefit of the lowest
price available. This savings can be passed to the customer
14, for example,
in the form of lower premium payments. Alternatively, the GRC could be compensated
on a percentage basis based on the cost savings to the insurance company in similar
manner as described above or can collect a fee from the repair shop (e.g., a flat
fee or a percentage of the repair cost).
As can be appreciated, in the above exemplary illustration the insurance company
remitted payment to the GRC. However, rather than remitting payment to the GRC
as described above, the insurance company, after receiving a corrected invoice,
may remit payment directly to the insured and then the insured may be responsible
for paying the repair shop or the insurance company could remit payment directly
to the repair shop.
With continued reference to FIG. 3, if the preferred repair shop selected by
the insured does not meet the criteria to be listed (step
110) in the database
20 for the particular service zone involved, the GRC may contact (step
112)
the preferred repair shop to see if the repair shop is willing do the glass repair
services for the insurance company (organization
18) at or about the modified
price (service factor(s) adjusted first price) for that particular MSA (service
zone). If the preferred repair shop is willing (step
114), the GRC schedules
(step
76) a repair time and sends a work order to the repair shop, as described above.
If the preferred repair shop declines (step
116) to conduct the glass
repairs
services for the insurance company (organization
18) or customer
14
(insured) at or about an established discounted price for that service zone, i.e.,
first price adjusted by any service factor(s) and/or any supplemental service factor(s),
the GRC may conduct a competitive bidding process (step
118). The GRC may
contact at least one other repair shop, e.g., one of the repair shops in the database,
in addition to the preferred repair shop and asks each repair shop to submit a
bid for the particular glass repair services. The GRC informs (step
120)
the insurance company of the lowest bid and the insurance company then pays (step
122) the insured the amount of the lowest bid. The insured is then free
to either have the repair services conducted at the repair shop which issued the
lowest bid or the insured can have the glass repair services conducted at another
repair shop, in which case the insured would be personally responsible for paying
the selected shop any amount over the amount of the lowest bid. Alternatively,
the insurance company may simply agree to pay the preferred repair shop's initial
price without going through the competitive bidding process to maintain good relations
with the insured. Optionally, the insurance company may pay the insured rather
than the repair shop, e.g., may pay the insured the lowest of the competitive bids.
With ongoing reference to FIG. 3, if the insured has no preferred repair shop
or if the preferred repair shop cannot conduct the repair service (step
124),
the GRC obtains (step
126) location information from the insured, such as
telephone number (home and/or work), address, whether the vehicle is mobile, etc.
The GRC then defines, e.g., geographically maps (step
128), a reference
area, e.g., an area around the insured's location, using the computer system and
conventional software such as is available from the Mailer Software Company of
Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. For example, the insured's telephone number may
be geographically located (e.g., by latitude and longitude) as a reference point
or location and the designated reference area plotted (step
128) around
that location, e.g., using the computer system to electronically plot an area,
such as a circle having a selected radius, around the insured's location (reference
point). For example, if the vehicle is mobile, the reference area may have a radius
of about 1-20 miles. If the vehicle is not mobile, the reference area may be smaller,
e.g., 1-10 miles. The GRC identifies or "captures" (step
132) the repair
shops in the database within the reference area which meet the criteria for that
service zone, i.e., those repair shops capable of conducting the repair and willing
to work for the particular organization
18 or customer
14 involved
at an established discounted price (first price adjusted by any service factor(s)
or supplemental service factors(s)) for the service zone involved. The identified
repair shops within the reference area are then ranked
134. The repair shops
may be ranked in any manner designated by the particular organization
18,
customer
14, or service coordinator
12, e.g., by order of total discount
provided, by satisfaction index, by location, or by the chronological date of the
last repair service awarded to the repair shop by the GRC when an insured had no
repair shop preference ("service date"). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the last
service date for each repair shop may be ascertained (step
136) and the
shops ranked (step
138) in chronological order by date of last service date,
with the shop having the earliest date at the top of the list and the shop having
the most recent date at the bottom of the list.
As shown in Table III, if three repair shops (RS1-RS3) are located in the relevant
area defined by the reference area around the insured's location, shop RS1, having
the earliest service date is ranked at the top and shop RS3 having the most recent
date is ranked at the bottom.
| |
TABLE III |
| |
|
| |
Repair Shop |
Date of last service awarded |
| |
|
| |
RS1 |
Jan. 1, 1997 |
| |
RS2 |
Jan. 1, 1998 |
| |
RS3 |
Jan. 1, 1999 |
| |
|
After ranking, the GRC may start at the top of the list and may ask the insured
whether he will consent to have the repair work done at the first repair shop listed,
e.g. in the example in Table III this would be shop RS1 or to select one of the
repair shops (step
140). If the insured consents or selects repair shop
RS1 and the repair shop RS1 is able to do the work, the repair service date for
shop RS1 is updated (step
142) with the current date, essentially moving
it to the bottom of the rotation for that reference area. If the insured declines
to go to shop RS1 or if the shop RS1 cannot perform the repair services in a timely
manner, the GRC moves down the list, one or more shops at a time, until the insured
chooses a repair shop that can conduct the repair services. The service date for
the chosen repair shop is then updated in the database. Optionally, rather than
presenting the ranked shops to the insured one at a time, the ranked shops can
be presented in groups of two or more to the insured.
In the presently preferred method, the database
20 is only rotated (step
142), e.g., the service date for the shop updated, for jobs where the insured
has no initially preferred repair shop and merely selects one of the repair shops
from the database
20 offered by the GRC. For example, if a repair shop is
listed in the database
20 but the insured selects that repair shop as his
preferred repair shop when initially questioned by the GRC, the service date of
this selected repair shop is not updated. In any event, once the insured chooses
a repair shop, the GRC contacts the chosen repair shop to schedule a repair (step
76) and the method proceeds as discussed above and shown in FIG.
3.
This rotation system as it pertains to shops ranked first or near the top of
the ranked list and which may also be selected by the insured is inviting to repair
shops because the repair shops are not losing any business. Each repair shop not
only gets what it would have gotten from people choosing that repair shop but also
gets additional jobs from people with no preference when the particular repair
shop is at or near the top of the list. This generates an incentive to individual
repair shops to join the database of the GRC.
An alternative method of ranking and selecting a service provider
16 when
the customer
14 has no repair shop preference is shown in FIG.
6.
After geographically mapping the insured location, a reference area is again plotted
around the insured's location. At least a portion, and preferably all, of the repair
shops in the database within the reference area capable of conducting the repair
are again captured and ranked. However, in this embodiment, the repair shops are
first ranked (primary ranking) by price criteria (step
150), e.g., with
the shop having the largest total service factor and supplemental service factor
(i . . . , highest discount or lowest price) ranked first and the shop with the
smallest total service factor and supplemental service factor (i.e. smallest discount
or highest price) ranked last. After this primary ranking, a selected portion of
the list is ranked again (step
152) (secondary ranking), e.g., by satisfaction
index, location, or the date of the last awarded service date. The portion selected
for the secondary ranking may be chosen by the organization
18 or the GRC.
For example, the portion could be the top twenty percent of the list, the top five
listed repair shops, the repair shops having a supplemental service factor greater
than a predetermined value, repair shops with a repair cost within a designated
percentage, e.g., 10%, of the lowest repair cost, or in any other convenient manner.
After the secondary ranking, the GRC begins at the top of the secondary ranked
list in suggesting a repair shop or a group of repair shops to the insured and
continues down the list until the insured chooses (step
154) a particular
repair shop. The service date for the selected repair shop is then updated (step
156) and the repair procedure continues as discussed above with the GRC
contacting the repair shop to arrange a repair date (step
76).
With this alternative ranking and selecting method, each shop is encouraged
to give the best discount available, which savings are passed directly onto the
organization
18. This alternative rotation is also desirable to the organization
18 in that the organization
18 sees overall savings through this
rotation method. For example, the repair shop with the largest discount does not
always receive the awarded job. This works well for not only the organization
18
but also the other repair shops in that it is highly unlikely that the largest
discounter could handle all of the work for a particular area. Therefore, even
if the other shops know they cannot offer the same discount as the largest discounter,
they still have an incentive to offer as large a discount as possible to try to
be near the top of the primary ranked list and selected for the secondary ranking
procedure to be selected by the customer
14 and awarded jobs from the GRC.
It is also beneficial for the insured because it gives the insured more choices
of repair shops. The insured may feel more comfortable with a national name or,
alternatively, with a local name with which the insured is familiar. Allowing the
insured to participate in the repair shop selection process makes the insured feel
good about the insurance company and increases the chance the insured will stay
with the insurance company for auto as well as other insurance needs.
It is to be understood that the above examples of ranking the repair shops in
the database reflect exemplary embodiments of the invention and are not to be considered
as limiting. For example, in the ranking methods discussed above, the satisfaction
index may also be used in either the primary or secondary ranking procedures (step
150 or step
152) to eliminate those repair shops having a satisfaction
index below a predetermined value, such as 3 for example, or to further rank the
selected repair shops.
The exemplary method of coordinating a glass repair process in accordance with
the invention is advantageous to insurance companies in that it takes a fragmented
market place (repair shops) and makes it more organized for the insurance company.
The savings, e.g., discounts, offered by the repair shops are passed directly to
the insurance company, which may pay a flat fee for each transaction. These savings
can in turn be passed on to the customers
14. The method also provides a
national discount offering the best price available in every market.
As a further example of the invention, a general discussion of an exemplary use
of the invention will now be discussed with reference to providing home repair
services for a homeowner (customer
14). In this example, with reference
to FIG. 1, the service coordinator
12 establishes a database
20 of
home repair service providers (service providers
16) in similar manner as
in the glass repair example described above. For example, the service coordinator
12 can establish service zones, determine service factor(s), supplemental
service factor(s), satisfaction index (indexes), etc., and then enter into the
database
20 those home repair service providers willing to conduct home
repairs for compensation based on these established criteria. For purposes of this
example, it will be assumed that the service coordinator
12 is not working
for any particular organization
18 but rather develops and maintains the
database
20 on its own and has been contacted directly by the customer
14.
With reference to FIGS. 1 and 7 as needed, after the homeowner suffers home
damage or desires to have home repairs conducted (step
160), such as adding
aluminum siding, covering a patio, or repairing roof damage, just to name a few,
the homeowner contacts (step
162) the service coordinator
12. The
service coordinator
12 obtains the service need information (step
164)
which, in the case of home repairs, may include the homeowner's address, telephone
number, type of damage, extent of damage, and the like. The service coordinator
may then access the database
20 (step
166). The service coordinator
12 may then ask if the homeowner has a preferred service provider
16
(step
168). If so, the service coordinator
12 checks the database
20 for the preferred service provider
16. If the preferred service
provider
16 is in the database (step
170), the service coordinator
12 contacts the preferred service provider
16 and schedules a time
for the repair services to be conducted (step
172). The service coordinator
12 may send the service provider
16 a work order (step
174).
The service provider
16 then conducts the repair (step
175) and sends
the service coordinator
12 an invoice (step
176). The service coordinator
12 may review the invoice (step
178) and, assuming there are no errors,
forwards the invoice to the homeowner (step
180). If there are errors in
the invoice, the service coordinator
12 corrects the errors (step
182)
before forwarding the invoice to the homeowner (step
184). The homeowner
may forward payment to the service coordinator
12 (step
186) who
subtracts the service coordinator's fee, e.g., either a flat fee or a percent of
the repair cost, and pays the service provider
16 (step
188) for
the services provided. Alternatively, the homeowner may forward payment directly
to the service provider
16 whereupon the service provider
16 forwards
service coordinator's fee to the service coordinator
12.
However, if the preferred service provider
16 is not listed in the
database
20 (step
196) as meeting the criteria for the service zone
involved, the service coordinator
12 may contact the preferred service provider
16 (step
198) and inquire if the service provider
16 is willing
to perform services for the homeowner in accordance with the criteria, e.g., service
f
