It’s been said to work smarter not harder, and that is exactly what insurance companies are doing these days. Insurance companies including State Farm, Fireman’s Fund, USAA, and Farmer’s Insurance are using technology to handle anything from claims to disaster alerts.

From be able to file a claim via your smart phone to aerial measuring, insurance companies are using the available means to help best serve their customers.

Farmer’s Insurance, for instance, used a Google Earth map for Alabama to locate the areas where a majority of their policy holder’s were located. This helped Farmer’s to be able to respond to the hardest hit areas with their resources.

USAA Insurance offers their policy holder’s he option of filing a claim either online at usaa.com, or by using the USAA app for either IPhone or Android phones. You can schedule an appraisal, rent a car, and even get GPS-enabled mapping and driving directions for your appraisal appointments.

State Farm is using a program called Eagleview, to help expedite the claims process, as well as help their policy holder’s and adjusters. With this program they are able to see houses pre-disaster condition, as well as take measurements without ever stepping foot on the policy holder’s property.

Firemen’s Fund Insurance offers text alerts during disaster’s to their policy holder’s. Policy holder’s can login to facebook.com/disasterinfo and sign up to receive text alerts for the part of the country that they live in. Texting is a more sure way to keep people up-to-date during a disaster, because power lines, phone lines, and even the Internet may by down during a disaster.

We can all work smarter, if we will take the time to see how we can incorporate new technology into out business’ and personal lives.