There comes a time when changing your agency management system provider is the right decision for your agency. This may be driven by a change in business needs, adding more lines, new markets or other business drivers for competing more effectively and running your agency more efficiently.
When that time comes, many agencies focus on two important pieces to the puzzle (price and capabilities) and ignore critical criteria that will determine the success of the transition. Specifically, the entire conversion process is overlooked. The conversion process is a delicate one, and you need to find a provider that will do it well. After all, you only get one shot to ensure your data will convert, and that it converts correctly.
As part of understanding their conversion process, some questions to ask potential providers include:
1. How many conversions from my current system have you done?
2. When was the last one?
3. What were the characteristics of the agencies converted (size, lines of business, premiums)?
4. What type of commitment is put in writing as to what will convert?
5. How much will be expected of my agency (i.e. data mapping to excel sheets)?
6. What happens after the conversion?
7. How much additional clean up is done by my agency?
8. By the provider?
To give your agency the greatest chance for success in a transition, effectively converting data from an older system to a new system is critical. It impacts your agency’s ability to return to work faster. It effects the adoption of the new system. It also, can influence overall employee engagement (which as you know, is a critical ingredient in the recipe for customer satisfaction).
Having completed over 500 conversions from over 20 different management systems, SIS realizes that not all conversions are created equal. While the word “conversion” may be shared, the meaning of the word varies greatly from provider to provider. Find out what conversion means to us! Contact SIS today at [email protected] or 800.747.7005.
