Kala:” Hi everyone, we’re here with another JDi video. I’m joined here today with James De Rosa, how are you? “
James:” Hi Kala, how are you? “
Kala:” I’m good. “
James:” Thanks very much for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity to tell you all the good things that we’re going to talk about. “
Kala:” Today we’re going to talk about JDi’s VCC which is vendor cost control. Can you tell me a little bit about that? “
James:” Sure. Vendor Cost Control is a service that the JDi offers that originally started out as a software product and its intent was to manage the complex litigation, financial aspects, and construction defect claims, and then we ended up doing it ourselves because our client was insurance companies and lawyers. And they really didn’t have the where with all to do the accounting functions. So they suggested that we do it and that’s how VCC was born 25 years ago. “
Kala:” Okay. So with over 3000 cases nationwide and over 2500 clients, can you tell me how JDi became the major solution for construct defect litigation? “
James:” Sure, absolutely. It’s primarily because of the people that we have working here. This is a very interesting area because it does not claim to adjust and it’s not really financial accounting or anything like that. It’s understanding the dynamics of a construction defect complex litigation claim and all of the payers. So our people have a combined 60 years of experience, and they are experts in that field. And we’ve been doing this for over 25 years. So during the evolution process, of course, we’ve gotten much better at it and we’ve perfected it to the point where our technology has overpowered our competition. We have transparency, which means that everyone can log on and see exactly where the case is, depending on whatever access right that they have. And all phases of the case can be monitored so that people can see where the money is being spent, how it is being spent, and what’s happening. “
Kala:” Okay, thank you for explaining that to me. So why do you think VCC has become such a powerful tool for financial ligation management? “
James:” Well, the technology aspect of it is really the key. And what we’ve done is we’ve perfected it in addition to the transparency, the technology has been able to do what we call an instant allocation. So if you have 5 or 10, people defending a claim and each one is paying some share of the claim and then all of a sudden two leave and three come in, you need to be able to reallocate immediately what each of them owes. And people were doing that on spreadsheets in the old days and that’s actually why we have a job. Today is a little bit different because now we have lots of other things that are coming into play, mostly reporting and monitoring the activities. All the participants in the arena have complex litigation, and being able to accurately report all of the functionality that each one is performing. “
Kala:” Oh, yeah, that’s great. Can you tell me a little bit about some unique things that VCC offers? “
James:” Well, one of the things is a mobile phone application, for example. So when lawyers are in litigation, they can get on the mobile phone and they can actually see, right while they’re in litigation, exactly what’s going on financially, and they can make decisions based on that when they’re doing it. So that’s one example. Of course, our 24/7 service is great, because when we’re preparing for trial, they need to sometimes get information from us that will help them those are probably the most two unique things. I think that we have, again, that’s transparency and accessibility. And even today with COVID-19. We haven’t missed a beat, because we have already done the technology 10 years ago, and we have the ability to communicate in place currently. “
Kala:” Yes I think JDi is definitely a pioneer in that aspect of it compared to other solutions in the industry. How does VCC compare cost-wise? “
James:” Well, cost-wise it’s really not an issue because we’re a vendor like all the rest of the people in the industry that are defending a claim. So for example a legal team has their vendors and so are the compliance people like ourselves and the process server and the mediation people. We’re all part of that team. So our invoices go into a pool and we’re paid from the pool, so no one really has a direct cost on us. It’s kind of like a Visa card, it’s the way I always equate it. The merchant pays a couple of percent for a visa card and they handle all the money. And that’s basically what we do. “
Kala:” Okay, that’s a good way to explain it. Okay, now it’s working with so many clients and handling millions of dollars in claims annually, that really begs the questions of security. What does JDi do to ensure a secure process? “
James:” Well, part of the security process is the transparency because it’s all about the money. And when someone issues a check, they can actually track the check through the transparency process and see where it was and how it was applied. And then, of course, there are the technical aspects to security, so we employ all the latest things that are available through the banking institutions as a positive pay and we do mostly electronic transfers, they’re easily trackable and all of the things that really remove us from the mainstream fraud areas that we can have some security issues. “
Kala:” So with all our security protocols in place, how does that actually work? “
James:” Well, it’s back to our people and their expertise. We don’t have any account managers that have working for us for less than 10 years, so all of them have substantial expertise. We’ve processed over 200,000 checks and, or transactions. As I alluded we’re not doing checks as much as we’re doing electronic transactions these days with no errors. And it’s really our understanding of the industry and knowing exactly what to do and what our true role is. So we’re getting all of the invoices that are being issued to defend these claims. Our job is to allocate a piece of invoice to an insurance carrier for payment. And that’s all electronic. I talked earlier about being able to reallocate when new players come in. I’ve talked earlier about a bill change things when policies expire. So all of these things are the technological aspects that guarantee accuracy because whenever you’re using a spreadsheet you have transposition errors. ”
Kala:” So I know VCC is a data-driven solution. Can you tell me a little bit more about the system access and reporting? “
James:” Sure, absolutely. I’m glad you brought that up because reporting is the key, as I’ve said throughout this interview, but we are in the age of big data, as we all know, so data is king. And because of the big data that we’ve been accumulating for over 25 years, we are able to do some predictive analysis where we also are able to track insurers and even adjusters and what their payment habits are. We have all kinds of metrics that are built into our processes to alert us to potential problems. If we see an insurance policy that’s been in place, we know that maybe there’s no coverage, all of these predictive analyses are built-in and our expert processors are able to recognize these things and alert our clients to potential issues. Reporting is king. “
Kala:” So with all these processes in place, how do you actually expand your business? “
James:” Well, it’s funny, you should bring that up. It’s always word of mouth. And we have a lot of repeat business. But it’s very interesting because we can do all the solicitations that we want. But if there are no cases out there for a law firm to handle, of course, they don’t have any need for our services. So we do have spurts of business that will sometimes last five or seven years. And then we may not hear from that client for a while. But we do solicit and it’s mostly word of mouth. So the solicitation efforts that I’m talking about are not done in selling. They’re done in networking, being part of the industry, mixing with the people, and having those reliability factors of being there for 25 years that make our clients feel comfortable. “
Kala:” Thank you for all that valuable information, James. Is there any closing that you have for us? “
James:” Yeah. It’s hard to understand what we really do. So we always have the ability to consult with people. We’re happy to give free demos and explanations as to how our processes are being handled. And please call us, as I said our business is all about networking and being part of an Industry. We are part of the industry and we’re happy to share information. “
