The following article was published by Jeff Yates, Executive Director of ACT.
It is reprinted here with his permission.
Independent Agencies Prefer Real Time Over Carrier Portals
Recent Survey of Over 3,100 Independent Agents Confirms a Strategic Vision
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The Real Time/Download Campaign was founded to champion the adoption of Real Time and Download for independent insurance agencies and companies. Real Time provides agencies with a consistent workflow through agency management systems or comparative raters when doing business with multiple carriers, rather than having to learn the workflow of each carrier portal and enter data multiple times into these portals.
Some 7,500 independent agents answered a survey on carrier communications in 2006, leading to the campaign’s launch that fall. They said their primary challenge was dealing with “different proprietary company interfaces.” That challenge was followed closely by “duplicate entry,” “multiple IDs and passwords,” and “training agency staff” on different carrier workflows.
Real Time workflows were designed to ameliorate the challenges created by carrier portals. Today, carrier portals continue to play a role in enhancing some Real Time transactions and in providing additional information to agencies that is not otherwise available. But portals should not be seen by carriers as a substitute for implementing Real Time transactions for the many agencies which prefer to work through their agency management systems and comparative raters.
Vision Confirmed
Over the past five years, the adoption of Real Time has continued to expand and deliver outstanding benefits to agencies. This confirms our vision that Real Time offers these firms a more efficient and responsive workflow than navigating through various carrier portals. Consider what 3,110 agencies and brokerages told us in the campaign’s latest agency survey, conducted a couple of months ago:
Fully 63 percent of agency management system users employ real-time rating on comparative raters and management systems to access multiple carriers at once. This represents an increase of six percentage points over a similar 2010 survey.
The use of real-time rating tools for personal lines saves agencies an estimated 68 minutes per employee per day.
About three fifths (62 percent) of those using real-time rating also use real-time inquiry and service transactions through management systems, most often for billing, policy and claims inquiries, but also for endorsement processing (55 percent for personal lines, 29 percent for commercial).
Real-time inquiry and servicing are saving 50 minutes daily for those employees using the functionality, because the real-time tool can enter IDs and passwords automatically. And it can either return the information directly to the management system or navigate precisely to the information on the carrier website.
Moving Forward
Our industry has an excellent opportunity in 2012 to increase implementation and enhance the benefits being delivered by Real Time to our distribution channel. To encourage more agencies to implement Real Time, the campaign is planning a National Real Time Day on Feb. 29, 2012, during which the campaign, individual vendors, user groups and carriers will hold events to help agency owners and employees fully understand what real-time functionality can do for them. Details for the day will be announced soon.
Independent agency owners are busy people, to be sure. But as we enter a new year, the campaign calls on even more agency leaders to take a step back and examine—desktop to desktop—how employees write and service business. Real Time provides strategic benefits that enhance agency productivity. But there’s more: If principals insist on Real Time as the required workflow for all employees, it promotes consistent workflows across the firm, which simplifies staff training, allows managers to monitor employees’ performance more effectively, increases the security of processing, and creates better transaction records for E&O protection.
Carrier & Vendor Role
More carriers need to offer Real Time and carriers and vendors should continue to enhance the functionality they provide. Agents clearly told us in our latest survey what further improvements in Real Time they want to see:
Have additional carriers introduce Real Time.
Have those carriers offering Real Time provide the full array of real-time functions across the major lines of business, so that agency employees can count on Real Time as a consistent workflow across carriers.
See vendors and carriers continue to improve the real-time functions they do provide so that the response times are faster.
To give carriers and vendors a road map for implementing “best practice” real-time workflows—whether they are just starting to build out the functionality or seeking to improve and expand the transactions being provided— the campaign has just completed Agency Real-Time “Best Practice” Workflows & Implementation Strategies.
In addition, in 2012 ACORD will be developing specifications and implementation guidance to assist the industry in implementing ACORD standards and forms. The campaign also will encourage greater use of real-time transactions and download within the E&S market and for mid-commercial submissions.
About the Campaign
Launched in 2007, the Real Time/Download Campaign (www.getrealtime.org) is dedicated to improving the competitiveness of the independent agency distribution channel. The campaign isn’t advocating a specific technology, but a workflow approach that frees up more time for agencies to sell, process and service business. Most agents can leverage tools already contained in their agency management systems or comparative raters.
Campaign participants include agents, brokers, carriers, technology providers, user groups, and agent and industry associations. The campaign is led by industry groups and sponsored financially by ACORD and the ACORD-User Groups Information Exchange (AUGIE); Allied Insurance; Applied Systems; Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet); Artizan Internet Services; CNA; EMC Insurance Companies; Erie Insurance; Grange Insurance; Harleysville; The Hartford; Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) and its Agents Council for Technology (ACT); IVANS; Liberty Mutual Agency Corporation; MetLife Auto & Home; Network of Vertafore Users (NetVU); PIA of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut & New Hampshire; Progressive; Travelers Insurance; Vertafore; and Westfield Insurance.
Capitalize on New Technology to Improve Business Processes
While it would be nice to think that we are all perfect, there are very few, if any, organizations that operate at a level of 100% efficiency – and as more and more technology is introduced, the higher that bar becomes. The trick is keeping up, making the most of what is available and knowing when it is time to reevaluate, find something better and improve business processes.
For the average independent insurance agent, for example, there was a time when the Franklin Planner was the best way to track appointments – then came Outlook, and then the ability to sync Outlook directly to your agency management system. There was a time when using carrier websites to transfer data was the most efficient way of doing things – then came Real Time. There was time when an in-house server was the way to go – then came the cloud. The list goes on.
Change as Opportunity
The trick is knowing when it makes sense to adopt new technology as a way to improve business processes and knowing when to stick with what you have. It is also in investing in technology that will continue to be updated as a matter of course – without a lot of thought or work on your end.
In “The High Risk of Wait and See,” Daniel Burrus, CEO of Burrus Research argues for adoption, stating that, “When you start looking at the certainties around you (which point to opportunities), rather than focusing on the uncertainties (which point to risks), you can see how detrimental a “wait and see” approach can be—how you’re actually missing major new opportunities for sales and growth.”
Analyze Business Processes
When uncertain about adopting a new technology or way of doing business, a business process plan/ analysis is a good place to start. At the get go, it will help you identify inefficiencies, define problem points and identify areas for improvement. It will also help you as you move into the adaptation of new business processes should you choose to do so.
As Michael Hammer wrote in his HBR blog, The Process Audit, “In virtually every industry, companies of all sizes have achieved extraordinary improvements in cost, quality, speed, profitability, and other key areas by focusing on, measuring, and redesigning their customer-facing and internal processes.”
Improve Effectiveness
Business Process Improvement is really about changing business processes to improve effectiveness. From a technology standpoint, this could translate to upgrading to new systems or programs. It could also translate into merely learning to properly use the tools you already have.
As an independent insurance agency, questions to consider might be:
As an organization are we making the most of the tools we have available to us?
Are we benefiting from the flexibility and scalability afforded by the cloud?
Am I able to give my employees access to the information they need?
Am I able to access critical information I need for my business?
Are we using Real Time technology to its fullest?
Can I get access to accurate information in one place…for all my carriers?
Is my system scalable and easy to train on?
Depending on your answers, you may find that you HAVE the technology you need, you are just not using it. You may also find that the system you have is nowhere near as efficient as it could be.
Partner Effectively
When considering an agency management system, the answer to some of those questions lies in the feature the product offers, the answer to others lies in your agency management system partner’s commitment to understanding the evolving needs of an independent agent and whether or not they embrace an environment of continuous improvement. For more details on how to find a partner that’s right for you, see our post Evaluating Your Provider.
SIS is that insurance agency management system partner – stable, committed, progressive, responsive and independent.
Find out why so many agencies have been switching to Partner XE insurance agency management system from SIS. Call 800-747-9273 or click here to get in touch with a representative.
On behalf of the entire SIS team, I would like to take a moment to thank you for helping us make this past year one of tremendous innovation and progress.
2011 saw a 50% increase in the number of individuals using Partner XE. While this is undeniably good for our business, it is also good for yours. These increasing numbers make continuing product investment possible and collectively strengthen the voice of the National Association of SIS Partner Agents (NASPA).
So much has happened over the course of the last year, that I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve done and where we are going. Here are some of the highlights from 2011:
Ongoing Product Development:
2011 saw two different version releases of Partner XE as well as the release of a new and improved Outlook Plug-in. These releases combined to provide you with:
Enhanced marketing campaign functions,
New searches and reports,
Enhanced certificates workflow,
The ability to open documents with a Windows default viewer,
Improved ACORD 125 forms printing,
New accounting reports,
Improved server communication, overall performance and response time
And much more.
New streamlined features in the Outlook Plug-in include the ability to sync recurring appointments, add an entire email folder to Partner XE at one time and tag emails with a category.
Increased Service Staff:
In keeping with our commitment to providing excellent customer service, we have increased our service staff by 50% over the last six months. We’ve also added experienced developers to accelerate the pace of product enhancements and adjustments. With these additions, we now have the operational scalability we need to best serve our customers now and well into the future.
A New Online Resource:
In addition to increased service personnel, we’ve also created PartnerNet , a centralized online support website intended to reduce the volume of service requests and allow our service staff to delve deeper into product and workflow issues as needed.
Increased Capacity & Security:
Not only have we improved our product and added staff, we’ve also upgraded and migrated to the latest Cloud technology for increased system performance and capacity and added a redundant offsite backup to insure that your data is safely stored in multiple geographic locations.
What you have in SIS today is a growing organization focused on continuous improvement. We are committed to making Partner XE and our service delivery the premier solution in the industry for our customers.
Having invested in technology, people, and process to scale, we are now well positioned to do that and are looking forward to more improvements and an even broader customer base in 2012. We’re working with NASPA to form workgroups defining priorities and deliverables, because the old adage is true:
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…)
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.
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