BACKGROUND

Based in Venice, Florida, 1st Guard Corporation began life in 1937 as a Detroit-based general lines insurance agency and later added a truck insurance division. It continues to evolve and in 1969 became an exclusive provider of truck insurance to owner operators.

1st Guard Corporation is unique to the Trucking Industry in that they are a direct writer of insurance. This gives them a strategic advantage in having an in-house technology group – something that agencies don’t have. The trucker deals directly with his insurance company resulting in better pricing, better service and a company dedicated to Truckers.

1st Guard Corporation is also unique because their chairman, Ed Campbell, III, is a technologist and believes that technology delivered and applied correctly gives you an advantage. Their systems are mostly homegrown with a propensity towards building internal systems as op- posed to out-sourcing parts and pieces. This keeps integration tight and delivery easy. Reaction time to business initiatives and technology requirements is extremely short and their technology engine can turn-on-a-dime.

“We do a lot of research and only pick companies that fit the 1st Guard model. We’re unique in the truck insurance industry, and products like FaxCore are what our customers expect from us as ‘The Truckers Insurance Company.” – Dan Ribar, CIO, 1st Guard Corporation

Although 1st Guard prides itself on the personal touch of having people answer the phone during business hours, 1st Guard’s chairman, Ed Campbell, III also understands the need for “Green” solutions and his directive requires a paperless office. 1st Guard switched to a SaaS model a few years ago for both inbound and outbound faxing but the service no longer meets their requirements.

CHALLENGE

One of 1st Guard’s business critical communications methods with Truckers and trucking companies is the fax machine. In a world of 40 million iPhones, sending a fax to a trucking company can still be the best process. Fax is, therefore, a mission-critical component of their service to their owner operators. The fax solution had to combine business continuity and disaster recovery as part of the process. Plus, the business fax solution needed to integrate with 1st Guard’s in-house systems.

1st Guard’s approach to faxing for the end user is also unique in that they do not utilize typical “network fax” methods of a common fax by way of the end users desktop printing systems. In the 1st Guard paperless environment, all faxing happens in the primary business system called ATHIA or its extended apps. Integration with ATHIA was critical.

SOLUTION

1st Guard deployed the FaxCore portion of the Faxcore/EtherFAX business fax solution using FaxCore’s SDK & API exclusively to fully integrate with ATHIA and its extended apps.

RESULTS

“We selected FaxCore because they fit the 1st Guard model, which is simply a technology with seamless integration, personalized customer support and a significant benefit to the customer,” Ribar said. “We do a lot of research and only pick companies that we can deploy quickly with our own style. We’re unique in the truck insurance industry, and products like FaxCore are what our customers expect from us as ‘The Truckers Insurance Company.’ We don’t take that lightly.”