Sending claim documents to an insurer by secure link
How a broker can send a client's claim pack to an insurer as a personal link with an expiry, an optional code and download control, instead of attachments.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Insurance businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A client's car has been stolen. You have the police case number, a copy of the client's identity document and driver's licence, the vehicle's registration papers, the finance agreement and photographs of where the car was parked. The insurer's claims department wants the lot, today.
The quickest way is to attach everything to an e-mail. It is also the way most likely to cause trouble. Claim packs carry exactly the personal details that should not end up in the wrong inbox, and once an attachment is sent, you have no say over where it goes next.
This article explains how a brokerage in South Africa, Nigeria or Kenya can send claim documents from Achekam's Document Centre as a link it controls, and keep the claim file together while it does.
The trouble with attachments
Attachments fail brokers in familiar ways:
- The wrong recipient. An address book suggests a similar name and the pack goes to another insurer, or another client.
- Forwarding. The claims handler forwards the e-mail to an assessor, who forwards it to a panel beater. Copies multiply.
- Size limits. A large pack is split across several e-mails, and one goes missing.
- No way back. If you sent the wrong document, or the claim is withdrawn, the files are still sitting in someone else's mailbox.
- No record. You cannot tell whether the insurer opened anything until they ask for it again.
A personal link that expires
Achekam's Document Centre lets you share a document by e-mailing a personal link with an expiry. The claims handler receives a link to the document rather than the file itself, addressed to them.
Choose an expiry that suits the job. A claims handler who needs a few days to assess the claim does not need access for months. If the insurer later asks for the document again, a new link is simple to send, and it gives you a fresh opportunity to check who is asking.
A one-time code, and whether downloading is allowed
Two further controls apply to each share. You can add an optional one-time code, so that having the link alone is not enough. And you decide whether the recipient may download the document or only view it.
As a working rule:
- Allow download when the insurer must keep the document on its own claim file, such as a signed claim form or a police report.
- View only for anything the insurer needs to see but should not keep, such as a draft, a bank statement shown to prove ownership, or a document that also contains unrelated personal details.
Use the one-time code for identity documents and anything financial.
Taking a share back
A share can be revoked. Do it straight away if:
- the link went to the wrong person;
- the client withdraws the claim;
- you have replaced the document with a corrected version;
- the claim has been settled and the insurer no longer needs access.
Revoking is the step attachments can never offer. Make it part of closing every claim: once the insurer has decided and the client has been told, revoke whatever shares are still open. If a claim pack does reach the wrong person in South Africa, the Information Regulator's guide to reporting security compromises explains how to notify it of a data breach under POPIA through its eServices portal.
Keeping the claim file in one folder
Document Centre is a folder-based store. You can upload single files or whole folders, preview, download, rename, move, tag, archive and search them. Uploading a new version of a document keeps the earlier ones, so a corrected claim form does not wipe out the first. Uploads go in batches of up to 25 files, at 100 MB per file by default.
A simple structure works well for claims: a folder per client, a sub-folder per claim named with the date of loss and the insurer's claim number, and tags for the insurer and the claim's status. Searching by claim number then brings back the whole pack.
One quirk to know about: the menu entries Client Folders, Engagement Files, Shared Documents, Evidence Vault and Document Templates all open the same document store, with no filter between them. They are not separate areas. Your folder structure is what keeps claim files apart from everything else. Law firms face the same question with matter files; keeping matter files in Document Centre shows how they approach it.
What happens to each file you upload
Every stored file gets a SHA-256 fingerprint, which lets you show later that a document has not changed since it was stored. Executable files are refused by default, and every upload passes a malware check. That check uses ClamAV where the server is configured for it, and a built-in heuristic check otherwise.
None of this replaces judgment. If a client sends a file you did not expect, in a format you would not normally receive, ask before you open it or pass it on.
Before you send a claim pack
- Check every document belongs to this client and this claim.
- Upload them to the claim's folder, and name each file so the insurer can tell what it is.
- Confirm the claims handler's e-mail address with the insurer, not from an old message.
- Set an expiry that matches how long the insurer needs.
- Add a one-time code for identity and financial documents.
- Decide, document by document, whether download is allowed.
- Note the share and its expiry on the claim file.
- Revoke open shares when the claim closes.
Settlements and commissions from insurers eventually arrive in your bank account as well; reconciling commission paid by insurers covers that side.
Set up the folder structure before the next claim comes in, not during it. When the call comes, you will be sending one link to one person, for as long as they need it, and nothing more.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
