As Director of Client Services, I work with and for
our independent insurance agency clients to provide the top agency management
system tools and training. Our team has worked with agencies across the
country, collaborating with teams of all sizes and experience levels to help
them achieve their desired outcomes of productivity, effectiveness and
profitability.
We’ve worked with over a thousand agencies in the past ten years, and if we’ve learned one thing, it’s that no two independent agencies are the same. That’s why we tailor the SIS Partner Platform experience for each client, getting to know their specific needs, and crafting a Platform to serve them and their customers in the best way possible.
Through the years, we’ve heard from many of our Partner agencies about their SIS Partner Platform experience. Here are a few of our most recent responses from those in the Partner Platform family.
As the holiday shopping season approaches, we’re bombarded with ads for new gadgets that will “change your life.” These devices might deliver on that promise – but often they don’t. A new phone, updated tablet, or surround sound speaker system can end up feeling, well, underwhelming. Why? Because we often don’t realize their full potential.
The same rings true for your agency management system and its potential for insurance solutions.
Are You Leaving Money on the Table?
If you’re like most agencies, you’re using your management system daily…but only to manage data. There is so much more your system can accomplish! Tap into your management system’s potential by utilizing its time-saving, workflow-optimizing features.
Use tailor-made workflows
Great management systems provide the ability to customize workflows, naming conventions, and reporting to reflect how your agency works. Take advantage of these opportunities to make your agency management system more in sync with your processes.
Create shortcuts, allowing users to jump right to the screen they need. Design workflows that match individual users’ daily processes. Make reports that give you the information your team needs, in the way they need it. These seemingly small changes can seriously overhaul your agency’s workflow.
If you haven’t yet, your agency needs to go paperless. The time and money saving benefits alone are huge.[bctt tweet=”If you haven’t yet, your agency needs to go paperless. The time and money saving benefits alone are huge.” via=”no”] Plus, documents and data stored virtually is protected from loss, damage, and theft in the security of the cloud.
Your management system is set up to run a paperless operation. Use email syncing to send and receive policy documents and attach them to customer profiles. Skip printing directions and documents when on the road with mobile access via your provider’s app. Take advantage of easy scanning and document management, transferring all your agency documents to one centralized location.
Sync with download
RealTime, personal and commercial lines, and bill commissions download were designed to speed up your agency’s operations – use them! RealTime alone can save hundreds of hours over the year, eliminating keystrokes and automatically updating customer information daily.
Personal and commercial lines downloads hold the same benefits. Your customer service team can skip hours on the phone with carriers and simply download their recent pricing and coverage updates. For producers, bill commissions downloads process “who gets what” in a matter of minutes. And each process reduces human error, upping your E & O protection.
Use reporting to monitor and grow your book of business. New business reports give an idea of your annual cycle and referral methods – that is, if you track referral methods in your management system (you should!). Retention reports provide similar information, giving a look at your annual and monthly rates and average length of retention. Pay attention to drop off patterns as they may signal gaps in your customer service.
Improve your retention and referral by building customer relationships. Your agency management system’s email integration and notes features can help you track customer engagement, growing your relationship with each customer. Calendar and reminder features allow you to track birthdays, anniversaries, or other important events and remind you to reach out. These small touches can make a big difference.
Many agency members will look at this list and think, “Great – but how do we start maximizing our management system this way?” The key is changing agency culture to focus on continual learning and improvement. Start by:
Accessing your provider’s learning resources
Providing time on the job to share best practices
Engaging your provider’s training teams
At SIS, we’re continually improving our Partner XE management system to meet our client’s needs and engaging agencies in ways to use Partner XE to the fullest. Through agency specific workshops, regional trainings, and online support, we’re committed to helping our clients maximize their Partner XE experience.
Want to learn more? Request a Partner XE demo and contact us with questions at 800.747.7005, Option 6 or [email protected].
Associated Insurance Agency Client Stories Getting Started Training Support Partner User Community Agency Information Based in Central Ohio (7 locations). Founded in 1923 30% commercial and 70% personal Bill Bishop “With our old provider, we felt like a number. It’s...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Partner XE adapts to you, acting as your agency partner Managing your independent insurance agency is a round the clock job demanding you to wear many hats and process information quickly and accurately. You need an insurance agency...
Our next “Behind Our Insurance Agency Software” series focuses on encrypted email and signature provider RPost. Based in Los Angeles, CA, the team at RPost operates in the U.S., the U.K., and more than 100 countries worldwide.
Formed in 1999, RPost filled an emerging need in online communications. While the convenience of email made it the dominant form of business communications, the team at RPost saw a worrying trend in email security. Organizations were sending sensitive information via the web and needed to protect it.
RPost stepped up to fill that gap between convenience and security, adding legal verification to email content and attachments through encryption technology. I talked with RPost’s VP of Business Development, Jake Finnell, about how RPost brought its powerful encrypted email and esignature services to SIS and the Partner Platform community.
Comparison quoting, esignatures and e-doc processing, and other digital insurance software tools have vastly improved personalization and customer service in insurance. It’s also becoming clear that these tools are also making agencies more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. According to the Identify Theft Resource Center, cyber-attacks increased by 42% in the first quarter of 2021, affecting an estimated 51 million people.
As a community-minded, independent agency, you can’t afford to expose your customers to that risk. Not only would it affect you financially, it would also damage your reputation in the community. How can you keep your customers and agency protected?
The evolution of sales as a software (SaaS) has dramatically changed the software landscape. Thanks to their easy-to-integrate nature, more businesses use SaaS applications over desktop software to improve operations. A 2019 report found that companies with less than 50 employees had, on average, 47 SaaS apps in use across their organization.
This SaaS revolution takes shape in the insurance industry with insurtech. Based in SaaS, insurtech provides streamlined operations through integrated solutions. While agency owners recognize the benefit, many ask how to incorporate insurtech – do they implore their management system providers or take on the integrations themselves? The answer lies in what it is you as an owner want for your agency.
