Agency Operations, Marketing
What insurance agent wouldn’t rather follow up on a warm lead than a cold one? Not only is it an easier call to make because you go into the call knowing the prospect has indicated an interest in your product, but you also go into it knowing you have a higher chance of success.
Because of that, lead generation, or LeadGen, (more…)
Community, News and Events, Product Updates
By now you have probably noticed our new look and new branding, launched in late December to reflect our vision for SIS as we enter a new era in our history. These are just the first of a number of improvements you will see as we begin a new decade of growth and ongoing partnership with you.
We are continually adding new clients and increasing the number of systems we support – a trend which will serve to strengthen the voice of the NASPA group and provide additional feedback for future product enhancements.
Here are just a few of the ways we are working to serve you better.
NASPA Work Groups
The National Association of SIS Partner Agents (NASPA) is currently forming two separate work groups to provide the SIS team with user input and suggestions on on-going product enhancements.
Each of the two groups will focus on one of the following:
- Enhancements to Partner XE certificates and forms
- Future enhancements to the Partner XE product
We value the input provided by NASPA and appreciate their role as a clearinghouse of ideas. If you are interested in participating in and contributing to either of the two work groups, please e-mail NASPA Board President John Heinsz at [email protected].
Product Enhancements
As we continue to work in conjunction with NASPA to enhance our agency management system, our immediate focus is to improve the overall function of Partner XE’s forms and certificates.
We have received reports from some Partner XE users of slower than expected response times. Our investigations have found, thus far, that the response issues stem from a combination of local network, internet, and product interaction.
We understand the importance of product performance to your business. We have a team working to improve the efficiency of the system, looking at all aspects – from the client application to the networks, servers and databases.
Our next product release, planned for the coming months will target the concerns with forms, certificates, and response times. We also plan to have one to two more releases by the end of this year based on NASPA’s direction and your feedback.
Operations
In order to improve our operations and ensure that we are always up to date with the most recent security releases from Microsoft, we have redefined our maintenance windows to include a Wednesday update in addition to the long standing Sunday update.
Our new schedule is as follows:
- Operating System Updates: Wednesday 10:00 PM to Midnight Eastern Time
- Major Product Updates: Sundays 6:00 AM to Noon Eastern Time
The Wednesday night update is intended to keep the system current with Microsoft’s latest operating system patches. Microsoft releases their updates on the second Tuesday of the month which we will then deploy in a managed fashion the following night.
While these updates will typically only take place once a month, we are reserving the slot weekly in order to be able to accommodate any emergency updates that might arise.
Sundays were chosen for the major updates, simply because our records show this to be the least used time on the system. As always, we will still make our best effort to announce well in advance if we plan to use that allotted time.
If you haven’t yet taken a look at our new website, or subscribed to the RSS feed for our new blog, we hope that you will take a minute now and do so. For the month of February, blog topics will focus on getting the most out of Partner XE’s marketing capabilities. March topics will cover Software as a Service.
Agency Operations, Cyber Security
Partner XE’s Software as a Service model, which gives you secure online hosting for your agency management system, will protect your data in the event of an emergency. It is up to you, however, to make sure that all your data and records are in the agency software system, that you utilize DOCBox to its fullest, and that you go paperless as much as possible. It is also up to you to have appropriate lists of contact information handy, to know your carriers’ CAT plans, and to take a variety of other disaster preparedness steps which fall outside the realm of your insurance agency software.
Because of the importance of this subject, and our commitment to helping you grow, we would like to share an article on the subject, entitled, “It’s Time to Update Your Disaster Plan,” written by Jeff Yates, Executive Director of ACT (Agents Council for Technology) (need link). Among other things, his recommendations include:
- Pre-plan. Have redundancy in communications, Internet access, and back ups.
- Make arrangements with third party emergency resources.
- Become paperless; implement download & real-time.
- Understand critical nature of good data back-ups to recovery.
- Take advantage of wireless technologies for voice and data, as well as the portability of PCs and portable devices.
- Have emergency contact info for employees, customers, carriers, and third party emergency resources. Have needed lists of information.
- Make sure employees & customers know how to reach you.
- Know your carriers’ CAT plans.
- Carefully evaluate the E&O exposures that arise in these situations and manage them.
We encourage you to read Jeff’s complete article.
You can also see other articles and tips on agency technology at the Agents Council for Technology website.
