Episode 1: Who stole Christmas? And will the children of the world ever be made whole again?

It was December 1st, and Santa was in a great mood. His little elves had been working around the clock for the past couple of months to finalize the Christmas presents for all the children of the world, and Santa couldn’t wait for it to be Christmas Eve so he could bring out the reindeers, jump into his nice, warm sled and fly from rooftop to rooftop, slide through the chimneys and place the presents under the Christmas trees.

For the past couple of days, he had been carrying presents from the elves’ craft shop to the sled, and today, the final two presents had been finalized. The two presents were wrapped in a beautiful blue paper and had big white bows on them, and as Santa carried them to his sled, he was joyfully singing, “I’m dreaming of a whiiiiiite Christmas”, but as he approached the garage door to the cozy garage where he kept his sled, all sound stopped, and it was replaced by confusion, dread, and chock.

The garage door was broken, and when Santa entered the garage, he realized that the sled was missing, and so were all of the presents! While holding on to the last two presents, which were now his only two presents, he quickly turned around, ran out of the garage and into the house, where he found Mrs. Santa and yelled in despair, “There has been a burglary! The sled is gone, and so are all of the presents. What should we do??? Christmas is ruined if we don’t have any presents for the children and a sled that is fast enough to bring out the presents in time!”.

Pragmatic as Mrs. Santa was, she managed to calm Santa down and said ”My dear, let’s start out by calling the insurance company. We need to report the missing sled and presents and see if maybe they can help us replace some of it in time”. And so, Santa carefully put down his last two presents on the counter, picked up the phone, and called his insurance company while thinking, “Will it be Christmas this year?”…. TO BE CONTINUED

Will Santa get through to the insurance company’s call center? Can they help him? And will it ever be Christmas this year?

Episode 2: Will Santa get through to the insurance company’s call center? Will they be able to help him? And will the children of the world ever be made whole again?

”Hello, this is Candyland Insurance Company, how may I help you?”

Luckily, Santa’s insurance company immediately picked up the phone when he called to report his sled, and all of the Christmas presents were stolen. As Santa explained the situation to Chrissy, the claims handler at Candyland Insurance Company, he could hear the despair in Chrissy’s voice. The sled could be replaced as Chrissy’s insurance company worked with an extensive network of carpenters who could make a new one, but the presents would be an issue.

As Santa’s elves had made presents for all the children of the world, and the children had different types of wishes so not all presents were the same, it meant that Santa would have to report a lot of detailed information about the lost presents to Chrissy. Chrissy would then have to spend time in her claims handling system to register the information, validate the policy, archive the documentation and she would also need to find a way to manually enter the data of each present into the software system that Candyland Insurance Company used for handling claims. That would take time. A lot of time.

“But we don’t have enough time for that!” Santa desperately said. “We need all of the presents replaced before Christmas, so I can bring them out in time. Surely there must be a smarter and quicker way to do this?”.

”I am sorry, ” Chrissy replied in a sad tone. ”I would really love to help, but there is no other way. If you send me the list of stolen presents, I will start entering them into our system immediately. I promise that I will work nonstop, day and night, to get as many as I can into the system but getting them all in there in time will be impossible.”

Chrissy continued in a comforting voice, “I have already entered the sled into the system as we were speaking, so you will hear from one of the carpenters in our network very soon.”

Santa’s heart was broken as he hung up the phone.

“Poor Chrissy,” he thought. ”I hope this will not ruin her Christmas spirit as it will take time away from her family in this season that was supposed to be jolly.”

As he put his phone back in his pocket, it started ringing.

“Hello, this is HUB, the carpenter,” the voice on the line said. “I heard you are in need of a new sled. I am ready to build a new one for you in no time so you can be ready for Christmas”, HUB joyfully said.
“Wow, that was quick,” Santa replied, as he had dreaded he’d have to wait a couple of days before the carpenter reached out.

”Well, I get a message as soon as Chrissy enters a job into her system, so I know right away when someone needs my help,” HUB replied. “Shall we get started? I can be at your place today, and we can make a drawing and features description from which I can build a new sled”.

“I’ll put on a kettle of Christmas tea and ask Mrs. Santa to find us some nice gingerbread cookies,” Santa replied.

While brewing the tea, he found himself being quite impressed by Chrissy and HUB and how fast and dedicatedly they worked to help him solve his missing-sled problem.

”Maybe we can actually make a new sled in time,” he thought to himself. “But what about the presents? Poor Chrissy will never be able to work that fast.”

Though Santa was still worried, he slowly started whistling the tunes for ”I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” while focusing on the new sled that HUB was about to build, and as the doorbell rang, he found himself in a rather optimistic mood… TO BE CONTINUED

Will HUB be able to build a sled that is just as fast as the old one? Will Chrissy be able to handle the claim in the system before Christmas? What happens to all of the children if they don’t get a present for Christmas? And who is at the door? Maybe we’ll find out in the next episode of ‘A Claims Handling Christmas Tale’…

Episode 3: Will Santa’s new sled be made in time? And who is at the door?

Outside Santa’s door stood a young man with a huge smile on his face and eyes that beamed as if they were the leading stars in the sky.

“Hello, Santa. I am HUB, the carpenter who will help you build a new sled”, he joyfully said.

With a single gaze at HUB, Santa’s mood immediately got better. OK, so someone stole his sled, but by the look at HUB and his can-do attitude, Santa was convinced that HUB would have a proper sled ready in time for Christmas Eve. If anyone could do it, it would be this guy.

Santa welcomed HUB into his house, and over a warm cup of Christmas tea and Mrs. Santa’s sweet gingerbread cookies, the two of them quickly made drawings of a sled that had the same features as the old sled, the same speed level, and the same cozy interior that had always made Santa feel that special warmth and cracking happiness that only Christmas can bring out.

“HUB, this is amazing!” Santa said. ”If you can build this, then I will actually be able to bring out the presents to the children in time for Christmas.”

After having said that, Santa’s mood dropped a bit, and quietly, almost to himself, he said, “I am only sad that maybe I won’t be able to make it through to all of the children this year.”

“Why is that?” HUB asked, and Santa told him the story about the stolen presents and poor Chrissy at Candyland Insurance Company, who would have to work day and night and still wouldn’t have a chance to get all of the presents entered into the company’s claims handling system in time so Santa could get the presents replaced.

As HUB was an optimistic problem solver with a huge network of friends, he called around to see if any of them had good ideas for a solution that could help Santa and Chrissy out. He contacted an auto mechanic from his network who told HUB that he had a solution that might work, but to make it in time for Christmas, they would have to work fast…. TO BE CONTINUED….

Will the proposed solution from HUB’s network work? And even if it can take some weight off Chrissy’s shoulders, how will Santa be able to get the presents out in time? Will Santa get all of his Christmas spirit back and be able to finalize the happy tunes of “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas? Stay tuned and find out later this week…

Episode 4: Will the proposed solution from HUB’s network work? And even if it can take some weight off Chrissy’s shoulders, how will Santa be able to get the presents out in time? 

In the search for a solution to the manual work that Chrissy had to do in Candyland Insurance Company’s claims handling system, the auto mechanic in HUB’s network put HUB in contact with a woman named CORE, and as it turned out, CORE was well known in HUB’s network for being fast yet calm, thorough, and a true software wizard.

“Maybe she can help Chrissy out with her software, so it becomes faster,” HUB proposed.

“Can’t hurt to try,” Santa replied while thinking that no software wizard in this world could have a magic trick up her sleeve that could help Chrissy’s claims handling system to work fast enough. But if they could ease the burden from poor Chrissy so she could at least have a little time to share Christmas with her family and friends, then Santa would feel much better. And so, he contacted CORE and asked her to meet him at Candyland Insurance Company, where Chrissy worked.

The next day, Mrs. Santa packed a basket of her sweet gingerbread cookies, Christmas tea, and the candy canes that she knew Santa loved so much. As she kissed Santa on the cheek and waved him goodbye, she said, “try not to look so sad, dear Santa. I miss your jolly tunes“.

When turning up at Candyland Insurance Company, Santa’s boots felt heavy as he walked toward Chrissy. He could see that she was tired from being up all night and manually entering several hundred pieces of information into Candyland Insurance Company’s claims handling system. Though tired, Chrissy had worked nonstop like she promised Santa, as she knew it was up to her to get as much information into the system as possible in time, so all of the children of the world could get presents for Christmas.

When CORE turned up, Chrissy showed CORE the claims handling system that they used at Candyland Insurance Company and how it worked. “Can it be faster?” Santa asked.

“Absolutely,” CORE replied, “I can automate much of the work that Chrissy is doing, so the system will do the work for her. I just need to upgrade the system with an extension called ClaimShop.”

Both Chrissy and Santa were stunned. “How many of the missing presents do you think we will be able to get into the system before Christmas?” Santa asked.

“All of them,” CORE calmly replied, “but one thing is to get all of the presents into the system. Another thing is for you to get a hold of all of the new presents once the claim is approved and has gone through the system”.

“Oh my,” Santa replied. “I hadn’t even thought about that. Without the presents in my sled, I won’t have anything to put under the Christmas trees. I need to go home to think about a solution”. TO BE CONTINUED…

Will CORE really be able to automate the claims handling so they can make it time? Will Chrissy be able to get some sleep? And will Santa be able to collect replacements for all of the stolen presents so all of the children will have a present under their tree at Christmas? Stay tuned and find out next week.

Episode 5: Will CORE be able to automate the claims handling so they can make it time? Will Chrissy be able to get some sleep? And will Santa be able to collect replacements for all of the stolen presents so all of the children will have a present under their tree at Christmas?

While HUB, the carpenter, was working on a new sled for Santa, and CORE was automating Chrissy’s claims handling system at Candyland Insurance Company, Santa was thinking about how he could collect replacements of all of the stolen presents, so all children could get a present on Christmas Eve.

He went to the reindeer paddock where he often sat when he needed to get good ideas. He knew that some of the elves also used the place from time to time when they thought about new ideas for presents for the children.

As he approached the paddock, Santa’s phone rang.

“Hi, Santa, this is Chrissy. I have some great news for you!” the voice on the phone said in a jolly mood.

“Well, hello, dear Chrissy. You sound happy”, Santa replied.

“Yes, I AM happy, Santa. As it turns out, CORE is not only a wizard at automating our claims handling system. She has also digitalized many of our processes, so now we can get our systems to talk to each other while they have also become easier for our customers to use,” Chrissy explained.

Santa was happy to hear that CORE had been able to help Chrissy so her job would be easier going forward and that she would have happy customers, but truth be told, he was not much of a software expert himself and didn’t quite understand most of the modern technology. Everything went so fast nowadays. The only piece of electronics he had really grasped was the mobile phone, as he found it effective when locating the elves, and because he enjoyed the short but loving text messages that Mrs. Santa often sent him during the day. Sometimes they even had Christmas trees or candy cane emojis in them which she knew would make him laugh.

“Santa, here at Candyland Insurance Company, we now have a webshop. It is part of the ClaimShop solution that CORE set up for us.”, Chrissy said.

“ClaimShop? Yes, I remember that CORE mentioned that. ClaimShop… What kind of a peculiar name is that?” Santa replied.

“Well, aside from helping us handling the claims faster, it is now also a webshop where all of the money from your claim goes into an account, and you can then order replacements directly from the webshop,” Chrissy explained.

“Ah, I guess the name makes good sense then”, Santa replied.

“It does,” Chrissy continued. “But the point is that now that CORE has made our systems work together, the money from your stolen presents goes directly into the ClaimShop. This means that we save even more time on handling your claim, and because we have a lot of different types of companies hooked up with ClaimShop, you can order the replacement presents in one single place rather than you and the elves spending time on running from shop to shop to find replacements for all of the stolen presents. What it means is that we can now actually make it in time for Christmas!” Chrissy explained.

Though Santa was not the keenest on understanding software, what he did understand was that a solution to his problem had been found. He thanked Chrissy for the delightful news and hung up the phone with a big cheery smile in his white beard.

“I wonder how far HUB is with building the new sled”, he thought to himself while hurrying to the elves’ house to find his Elf Manager.

“Ellie,” Santa called. If anyone could make ends meet, it was Ellie the Elf. TO BE CONTINUED…

Will Ellie be able to make ends meet? Will HUB be done with the sled in time? And will this ClaimShop thing really work? Get the answer in the final episode later this week.

Episode 6: Did all the hard work from CORE, HUB, Chrissy the claims handler, Ellie, the elves, Santa and Mrs. Santa finally pay off? Will all the children of the world find a present under their tree and be able to celebrate Christmas after all?

Ellie the elf was quick to react when Santa called her name. “Yes, Santa,” she responded, and with what felt like a “whoosh”, she was standing in front of Santa.

“Ellie, we need to go to something called ClaimShop to order new presents to replace the ones that were stolen,” Santa explained.

“ClaimShop? Is that a webshop?” Ellie replied.

“Yes, it is a webshop where the money from our claim is transferred to so we can order all of the presents at one time in the same place. We even get a discount if we buy through the ClaimShop, so the children will get even bigger presents this year. Come on, dear. Hurry. There is no time to waste!” Santa called while half walking, half running to the computer in the elves’ house.

Ellie wrinkled her little elf’s nose. Though knowing what a webshop was, Ellie would never have imagined Santa proposing it for Christmas presents. Usually, Santa and all of the elves took great pride in making the presents themselves in the elves’ craft shop, where they spent most of the year preparing for the many different wishes from the children of the world. However, with all the presents now stolen, and no time for making new ones, maybe buying the presents would be okay this year.

Meanwhile, with the magic CORE had done to Candyland Insurance Company’s software, the information for each present had now gone through the system, and with the help of ClaimShop, the presents could be ordered in no time and be delivered at Santa’s house, so the elves had time to wrap them all nicely before Santa placed them under the Christmas trees. Ellie placed the orders in ClaimShop while finding herself impressed by the variety of different types of things she could find in there. Toys, electronics, children’s clothing. Everything that the children had wished for was to be found in ClaimShop, and it was even easy to order.

Watching Ellie’s efficiency in ClaimShop and the smile on her face getting bigger and bigger as she worked her way through the list of presents that needed to be ordered, Santa finally felt his heart becoming light again, and he started whistling, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” in a jolly tone.

Whistling, he walked out of the elves’ house, and as he looked up, a snowflake landed on his nose. And then another one landed on his cheek.

“Ho ho ho..” Santa laughed while Mrs. Santa came out of the house.

“HUB just called. He is on his way with your new sled,” she said with a smile on her face while hugging Santa. “Looks like it will be Christmas this year after all…”

And so, with the help of HUB, the optimist with an extensive network, and CORE, the hardcore software wizard, Santa made it through December and managed to get his stolen sled and presents replaced in time while Chrissy, the claims handler, had time to enjoy Christmas with her family while all the children of the world found a present under their tree at Christmas night.