Picture meeting with a client and taking care of everything they need in one sitting. Policy changes? Done. Claims to process? Complete. New contact information? Updated. Anything the client needs taken care of in the moment, leaving them feeling happy.
This may sound like a fairy tale, but it is quickly becoming the norm. By creating a mobile workforce, your agency can make this fantasy a reality. Not only will mobile access make business happen faster, it also increases accuracy, making a win-win for your clients and your agency.
So – what does it mean to be a mobile agency?
Going mobile means giving your employees access to your management system and other agency tools when they’re out of the office. This can be accessing agency systems via virtual desktops or mobile devices like tablets and phones.
And why is it important to mobilize my agency?
Opting out of mobilizing means falling behind your competitors. The rapid technological improvements of the last few years translate to an expectation for speed in business. Also, immediate access to agency tools means your on-the-go agents can input information right away, increasing accuracy and reducing E & O issues. Plus, mobile access simply saves time, meaning saved money.
Ok, how do I get started?
Ensure your agents have mobile access, whether it be through a phone or tablet. Next, have them download mobile apps to increase efficiency. Focus on apps that will help with simple tasks like finding a client’s location and navigating traffic, to ones that will capture important documents or quickly find policy quotes.
Next, get your agents on cloud-based systems so they can access email, documents, calendars, in any place at any time. Make an effort to get all your employees on the same system to increase efficiency.
Most importantly, get mobile access to your agency management system. This is the most used tool in your agency, making it essential for mobile access.
Partner XE is mobile ready.
Our Partner XE system is mobile ready, granting on-the-go access to client policy summaries, essential documents, and even recent email exchanges via our Outlook Integration.
Plus, Partner XE is easy to learn. As one agency told us: “The system is extremely user friendly. Most of our agents couldn’t use [the previous system] at all so they constantly had to get someone to look data up for them. On Partner XE they can now do it by themselves with little to no training.”
Get a demo today! Contact us at [email protected] to set up an appointment.
A lot goes into making your independent insurance agency’s website attractive, user friendly, and up to date. However, if users can’t find your site, or don’t feel secure while they’re there, it’s all for naught. As an agency owner, you need to think about making your website searchable and secure so it can be the sales and service tool you need.
SEARCHABLE sites use…
Modern designs and tools, such as responsiveness, show search engines you’re serious about staying up to date
Regularly updated, succinct content makes it easy for a web crawler to evaluate your site
Relevant keywords, including in page titles and image descriptions in your site’s metadata (local keywords are especially relevant for independent agencies)
Links to other relevant sites, including agency partners, and link backs from those sites
Your site’s searchability and security are both linked to your agency management system, and we at SIS take this seriously. Our Partner XE focuses on keeping your client’s data secure, and grants you access to demographics to help focus marketing. Plus, we have a dedicated client services team to help you discover all the ways Partner XE can help you grow your agency
To find out more about Partner XE’s capabilities, contact us at 800.747.7005 or [email protected].
There was a time when websites were viewed from a computer connected to a land-line, and only when phone lines were free. Today, your agency’s website can be accessed almost anywhere, at any time, and on multiple devices. From smartphones, to tablets, and to everything in between—your site must be compatible.
It’s a mistake to think that a website displayed on a laptop will look the same on a mobile device. Your agency’s website needs to change depending on the device used to view it. This is called having a responsive website: a site that molds itself to fit how it’s viewed.
What it means
A responsive website adapts to the screen used to view it. This means the layout of a site will modify itself depending on the screen size—including changing the orientation and making menus/navigation accessible in different ways. This isn’t the same as building a mobile website: the big difference here is that it’s all one site, with multiple layout options.
Making your website responsive is easy for developers as it simply requires creating a different style sheet for each page. No change in information or content, just tweaks in how it’s displayed.
Why it’s important
A 2014 Hubspot article touched on a few of the reasons why your agency needs a responsive website. According to Hubspot, 25% of all internet users go online using a mobile device and more than 20% of Google searches were done via mobile. This is a large chunk of users you’re missing out on without a responsive website. In addition, Google penalizes non-responsive sites in its search algorithm. That alone is incentive to update.
Being responsive also means your agency’s website will be ready for future devices. Ten years ago, you didn’t know you’d need to be ready for smartphones – who knows what will be coming next? By creating a responsive design you can simply add-on a new layout to adapt to the latest technology.
Get on board!
If you don’t have a responsive web design, you’re due to get up with the times. Contact your web developer to get the process started, or if you’re hosting in-house, get your web team on the case. There are multiple online tutorials and sample layouts to get started.
SIS is keeping up
Here at SIS we know and are responding (pun intended) to responsive web design, which is why we moved our Partner XE to be mobile-accessible. Our latest Partner XE 2015 has even more added features to improve your agency’s workflow efficiency. Find out more by visiting our website or contact us at [email protected].
The digital age is here and with it comes many cyber threats: identify theft, computer viruses, and data corruption to name a few. As an independent insurance agency, you are given access to customers’ personal data that is subject to these threats. It is your responsibility to protect your clients’ data and prevent cyber-attack.
Our latest eGuide, Cyber Security and Data Protection, looks at the meaning of cyber security, major cyber threats, and steps you can take to keep your agency and your customers safe.
Download this free eGuide here! And check out our other eGuides, addressing agency communications, E & O management, and succession planning among other topics. We have a new guide each month, so continue checking back for more great resources and tips.
As we explored in our last post, website technology and design have continued to evolve and advance over the years. No longer are a few photos and links enough for even an average site – users are now looking for a more innovative design to prove a business’ legitimacy. Just as holding a flip phone is a mark of being behind the times, so is a website without smart phone-equivalent technology.
Yet, just as there seems to be a new version of the iPhone each year, it can be hard to keep up with advances in website design. It is especially difficult to separate passing fads from lasting industry trends. To ensure your agency’s website is up to par and not over the top, we suggest focusing on these design aspects:
1. Acknowledging devices
If your agency’s website is not adapting for mobile devices, you are behind the curve. To add insult to injury, Google is now penalizing sites that are not mobile responsive. Most CSS website platforms now automatically offer mobile conversion, but if your website was made more than 5 years ago you may need to manually add a mobile version.
2. Using navigation widgets
The navigation menu is the most used and the most changed aspect of a website. Modern sites now use a variety of widgets to update navigation. One of the most popular is a “sticky navigation”, which stays glued to a section of the screen no matter where the user scrolls or navigates. Adding this to your agency’s website is easy, and will make it a much better experience for visitors who come to your website.
3. Thinking Outside the Box
No longer are text and image boxes the norm. Modern sites now look to other shapes, namely circles, to convey content. This doesn’t mean corners are out altogether. Irregular polygons and any other non-square shapes can easily bring your agency’s website to modern times.
4. Integrating Maps
You may have your agency’s location on your website, but do you have it on a map? Just this simple step of integrating maps, specifically Google Maps, to your site steps it up a notch. Google has made adding maps easy and web design sites such as WordPress have a simple drag and drop map integration. Don’t stop at just adding your agency’s location: add your partners, local supporters, and any other important locations in your area to spruce things up a bit.
Staying up to date and relevant is important not only for your agency’s website, but for all your technology choices. One of the most important tech pieces to stay updated is your agency management system.
We at SIS know the importance of keeping up with the best and most efficient management system practices, which we have put into our latest Partner XE 2015. This version of Partner XE promises a better user experience, enhanced functionality, and more efficient workflow. To find out more about the latest updates, contact us today at [email protected].
Cyber security has been a concern across industries for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated risk. With more businesses moving to online operations, more data became vulnerable. This is especially true in insurance, where the use of insurance tech skyrocketed in 2020, along with incidents of cyberattacks.
Insurance is second only to legal firms as cyber criminals’ preferred industry to attack. The average agency is targeted over 100 times per year, with more than 30% of attacks succeeding. And according to PwC’s Digital Trust Insights Pulse Survey, cybercrime is expected to cost companies $10.5 trillion annually over the next four years.
Since our founding, the Partner Platform Community has grown exponentially. What started as a group of agencies and dedicated staff has exploded to contain much more. One of those additions is our group of Partner Allies. This team of insurance agency software providers started as a collection of exciting integration possibilities and grew into an ever-expanding coalition of cutting-edge insurance tech.
Another year is here, and we can already see what’s on the horizon for digital insurance—the last few years demonstrated the need for more data gathering and analysis, tech integration, and a focus on personalizing and streamlining customer service. The 2021 Independent Insurance Agent Survey found that, before the COVID-19 pandemic, about a third of agencies said they “lacked the financial or other support” to invest in digitization. However, by the end of 2020, 77% were investing in digitization, showing digital insurance is growing rapidly.
As we ring in the new year, let’s take a look at what’s on the digital insurance horizon for 2022.
A lot goes into making your independent insurance agency’s website attractive, user friendly, and up to date. However, if users can’t find your site, or don’t feel secure while they’re there, it’s all for naught. As an agency owner, you need to think about making your website searchable and secure so it can be the 
There was a time when websites were viewed from a computer connected to a land-line, and only when phone lines were free. Today, your agency’s website can be accessed almost anywhere, at any time, and on multiple devices. From smartphones, to tablets, and to everything in between—your site must be compatible.
As we explored in our 