About AFR Insurance
Founded in 1905, American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company (AFR Insurance) is one of Oklahoma’s oldest and most trusted carriers.
Headquartered in Oklahoma City, AFR serves a statewide network of rural and suburban policyholders with Home, Auto, Farm & Ranch, and Life insurance products. The company’s “neighbors-helping-neighbors” ethos has made it a fixture of Oklahoma communities for generations, earning it multiple placements on Forbes’ America’s Best Insurance Companies list.
The Challenges
AFR faced several operational challenges that hindered their ability to scale securely:
Clunky Client Uploads
Customers and agents were submitting medical forms, applications, and policy documents through a mix of outdated methods, including SharePoint links, email, and aging WS_FTP/WINSCP transfers. These methods were slow, prone to errors, and exposed sensitive data to potential risks.
Security and Compliance Pressure
AFR handles highly regulated personal and financial data and must meet stringent compliance requirements, including encryption, access controls, and provable audit trails for regulators and reinsurers. Their legacy system couldn’t keep up with these growing demands.
Manual, Error-Prone Workflows
The Life team had to manually decrypt PGP files, move them to internal servers, and convert XML data into CSV files. This process was slow, error-prone, and risked overwriting critical files, introducing delays that affected underwriting timelines.
Limited Visibility
IT lacked real-time insight into transfer failures, partial uploads, or accidental permissions drift. The business also needed instant notifications and branded portals for a smooth, client-friendly experience.
The Solution: Files.com for Secure and Automated File Orchestration
To address these challenges, AFR selected the Files.com to be their file orchestration platform, replacing their legacy SFTP estate and unifying all file exchange workflows under one secure, cloud-native file fabric. Key features of the implementation included:
Customer-Facing “Inbox” Portals
AFR created branded inbox portals for clients, embedded in email signatures and web pages. Clients only needed to complete a short registration form, and files were automatically tagged and routed to the correct team, eliminating manual handling and speeding up document intake.
Automated Document Processing
Files.com’s platform automatically handles PGP decryption, file expiration, and the movement of encrypted documents into production or test folders. Once decrypted, files are cleaned up after three days, eliminating the need for manual intervention and reducing human error.
Files.com Agent Integration
Installed on AFR’s internal database server, the Files.com Agent syncs newly decrypted XML files and converts them to CSV every four hours. This automation eliminated the need for manual download and upload cycles, ensuring a single, consistent source of truth.
Granular Permissions and Secure Access
Files.com provided granular permissions and branded, single sign-on access for teams in Life, Accounting, and IT. Detailed audit logs and one-click email notifications to group inboxes ensured transparency and complete oversight.
Custom Branding and a Polished End-User Experience
AFR set up a custom domain and corporate color scheme for a frictionless, branded user experience. Agents and customers upload documents through an intuitive, mobile-friendly portal while Files.com handles decryption, routing, and cleanup in the background.
Files Received
Zero Issues Found
Policy Approved
The Results: Immediate and Lasting Benefits with Files.com
Faster Policy Turnaround
The Life department now receives fully decrypted, correctly labeled documents within minutes, instead of hours or days. This has accelerated underwriting decisions and improved the customer journey, ensuring timely policy issuance.
Stronger Compliance Posture
With end-to-end encryption, role-based access controls, and immutable logs, AFR’s file transfer processes are now fully compliant with NAIC, GLBA, and internal audit requirements. This has reduced risk and made audit preparation significantly easier.
IT Efficiency and Cost Savings
By consolidating on a single file orchestration platform, AFR has begun retiring legacy systems like WS_FTP and other point solutions. Engineers are now free to focus on higher-value projects, and IT management is leaner.
Improved Client Satisfaction
Policyholders and agents can now upload documents through a simple, intuitive portal without worrying about file sizes, connection drops, or complicated login steps. This has led to higher completion rates and fewer support calls, improving overall customer satisfaction.
Future-Ready Scalability
AFR’s IT team can now spin up new automations, onboard vendors, and integrate departments in minutes. The Files.com platform provides the flexibility to handle surges in volume as AFR continues to grow, ensuring that the insurer is well-prepared for future expansion.
How Files.com Made It Happen
AFR Insurance has successfully modernized its document exchange process with Files.com, turning a once-complex and slow operation into a fast, secure, and scalable solution.
Files.com has helped AFR:
- Reduce operational overhead
- Improve client satisfaction
- Simplify compliance processes while supporting the company’s continued growth
As AFR grows, Files.com gives the insurer a platform to deliver secure, efficient service to policyholders across Oklahoma and beyond.
“AFR’s IT team can now spin up new automations, onboard vendors, and integrate departments in minutes.”
Expanding Files.com for the Future
As AFR extends Files.com across its Mutual Company, the team plans to replace existing internal SFTP processes with automated, secure connections. Initial use cases include nightly file transfers tied to banking operations and additional SFTP integrations for internal teams and external partners. Consolidating these workflows on Files.com tightens operations, hardens data security, and improves reliability across every line of business.