Insurance · Web Platform
How We Helped a Canadian Jewelry Claims Company Run 15,000+ Assessments on One Platform
Project Snapshot
- Client : Jewelry Insurance Claims Inc. (JIC) — jicclaims.com
- Industry : Insurance services / jewelry replacement & appraisal
- Region / Market : Canada — HQ Calgary, Alberta; serves insurers nationwide
- Platforms : Web
- Technologies : Python, Django, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, ELB, Route 53)
The Impact
15,349
Replacement assessments delivered to date
~30%
Average savings vs. regular retail replacement prices
48h / 12h
Standard turnaround / Express Assessment
50+
Insurance companies trust JIC
About the Client
JIC is a Calgary company that has handled jewelry insurance claims since 2006. It calls itself the largest jewelry replacement service provider in Western Canada. The company sits between three groups:
- insurers and their adjusters
- the jewelry trade, and
- policyholders.
The Challenge
Business Challenges
- Most adjusters only see a few jewelry claims a year, so they never get to build a feel for it. And the number has to be right, because the carrier eats every dollar of an overpayment, and a low offer just turns into a dispute anyway.
- Cash settlements leak money. One claims adjuster told Southern Jewelry News that almost every disputed claim traces back to "inflated appraisals issued by retail jewelers as sales tools." JCRS reports that seller appraisals often value rings at 2.5 to 3 times their selling price. Replacement beats cash, but only if the assessment reaches the adjuster fast.
- Policyholders who just lost a ring want an answer in days. Every day of delay hurt the carrier's customer satisfaction.
- Fraud screening depended on expert eyes, and those experts needed clean case data in front of them. As one insurance defense attorney told Claims Journal, jewelry fraud persists because it is "a low-cost and high-payout crime."
Technical Challenges
- Adjusters sent requests and got assessments by phone and fax. No one could see where a file stood.
- Assessment details sat in documents and spreadsheets. A status check meant a call and a wait.
- Sending a request to a local jeweler was a manual handoff with no shared tracking.
The people who felt it most were the adjuster waiting for an update and JIC’s own team, who spent their days chasing paper instead of valuing jewelry.
Why They Came to Us
Facing a similar claims workflow problem?
Bring it to a 30-minute call — we will come back with an architecture and a scoped estimate.
What We Built
We built the system JIC now markets as its Cloud Application. It carries a replacement assessment from the first request to the final approval, for insurers, adjusters, and JIC’s own team. The modules below match what JIC’s public site shows the platform doing. Internal details are marked to confirm.
Claim Intake and Online Assessment Requests
Adjusters log in and open a request in the platform. The system records the jewelry details and starts a tracked file as soon as the request exists.
Insurers can upload requests, send assignments, and access status updates without relying on phone calls.
Assignment and the Assessment Workflow
A request goes to a local jeweler or specialist for inspection, assessment, documentation, and approval.
Express Assessments
Priority requests remain visible in the workflow so urgent assessments can move quickly.
Insurer and Adjuster Dashboard
Adjusters can see their requests and the current status of every assessment at a glance.
Reporting and Statistics
Assessment records provide the data needed for savings tracking, reports, and statistics.
Salvage Handling
The workflow continues through replacement and salvage so the complete file stays in one place.
Retail Catalog and Public Site
The same platform supports the public site, retail catalog, frequently asked questions, and campaign pages.
The Results
Business Outcomes
JIC reports that it has delivered 15,349 replacement assessments and that it saves insurers an average of about 30% on replacement costs versus regular retail prices. It states a 48-hour standard turnaround and a 12-hour Express Assessment turnaround. These are the outcomes of JIC's service model; the platform is the system that operation now runs on.
Technical Outcomes
We moved a phone-and-fax, spreadsheet-tracked process onto a single web application where a claim is created, assigned, assessed, tracked, and delivered in one place, with documents and images stored centrally and status visible to the adjuster. The managed AWS footprint means the system stays online and can grow with claim volume without JIC running its own infrastructure.
Ready to Build Your Claims Platform?
You might be an insurer tired of manual claim workflows. You might be a specialist firm like JIC that has outgrown email and spreadsheets. Or you might be an insurtech founder with a product to ship. In every case, the first step is the same.
Book a 30-minute call with Brain Station 23. Bring your current claims workflow, and we will come back with a proposed architecture, a delivery plan, and a scoped estimate for your build.
Facing a similar claims workflow problem?
Bring it to a 30-minute call — we will come back with an architecture and a scoped estimate.
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