If you’re the typical baby boomer independent agency owner, the green-screen computer days of the 1980s defined your first interaction with agency management systems and industry software.
Fast forward to today, when it’s all about SoLoMoCo: “social, local, mobile and consumer—the driving forces in our industry and, frankly, in the modern economy,” says Bruce Winterburn, vice president of industry relations at Vertafore. “The true capabilities that are going to revolutionize this industry are greater than just any one of the agency management systems.”
But right now, plenty of agencies would settle for one system that could meet all their needs. “[Agents] have multiple types of systems for different functions that you really should tie together—not have isolated on their own,” says Barbara Dale, principal and operations manager at SilverStone Group in Omaha, Nebraska. “When you look at it from a staff perspective, if they have to enter client data into one system and then turn around and enter the same data into another system for another purpose, it’s really inefficient.”
The good news? Agency management system providers recognize agency pain points and are making strides in bringing disparate operational functions all under one software roof.
The Super System
Agents want simplicity, says John Kruthoffer, vice president, sales and marketing at QQ Solutions—and that requires a system that offers more than just policy management. “They need a system that’s going to help them grow all facets of their business—I think that’s the direction agency management systems are going,” he says. “Refining the ability for the agency management system to offer the agency owner everything they need, not just from a policy standpoint but all other facets, through one platform—that really makes it easy for them to manage and run their agency.”
A number of features in many management software products are already starting to offer this holistic approach for agency users. They reduce or eliminate the need to rekey customer and policy information. They integrate with a growing array of disparate yet useful software. And they scale as agencies merge or grow.
“Our system lets us do everything from capture client information and manage policies to deliver customer service and track commissions,” says Dale, who uses Vertafore AMS360. “It streamlines access by eliminating multiple IDs and passwords and is simple for our employees to use.”
Applied Epic customer Mark Harrison, operations administrator at NBT-Mang Insurance Agency in Norwich, New York, points to the value of management system scalability. “As we continue to grow, the system we use will grow with us,” he explains. “We really don’t have any limitations on what it can do or how it handles clients.” Less robust management systems may not be as well suited to handle the complexity or volume of business at NBT-Mang, he says.
The Latest Advancements
Independent agent Hanna Ogle, personal lines manager and director of agency automation at Watkins Insurance Group in Austin, Texas, describes herself as “very passionate” about creating efficient agency workflows and looks to her agency management system to help quarterback those processes. One feature that stands out? “I can’t be more excited about activity notes download,” she says.
Activity notes uses the same technology as policy download, which is how carriers can transmit data to agents, such as PDFs of declaration pages, memos, underwriting notes, cancellations and reinstatements, claims information and more. Agents can send notes with or without documents to be attached to the policy in the management system.
“These items that normally would have been emailed, faxed or mailed to us—or we may have had to pull it from their website ourselves—is now magically in our agency management system,” says Ogle, who volunteers as chair of the Industry Solutions Committee for user group Applied Client Network. “It’s absolutely the future of agency-carrier communication. Having updates of information immediately input into our software by a download function means less time doing so by agency staff.”
Steve Aronson, who chairs the Industry Relations Committee for the Network of Vertafore Users, agrees. When activity notes are “fully integrated into our management system, they’ll save time, energy and frustration,” he says. “We will no longer have to look in multiple email boxes for that thread discussing a particular risk. We are in the client file anyway—why not have the communication thread right there for all to see?”
Tying together client communication on the front end is just as important. In fact, effectively coupling management system technology with social networking has helped an independent agency in Pulaski, Tennessee thrive. Millennial Cam Winterburn and his dad, Vertafore’s Bruce Winterburn, bought the 80-year-old business, renamed it Winterburn & Associates and modernized its systems.
“We have been able to leverage today’s technology and serve today’s customers how they want,” Cam says. “We’ve optimized our website so the agency shows up when someone searches for insurance in our community. It’s important to remember that Google loves local.”
The agency’s community engagement and social networking presence help ensure prospects recognize the agency name when it appears in search results. “When shoppers click through to our site, they’re presented with a ‘get a quote’ button that connects to our agency management system,” Cam explains. “They enter their information and our integrated rating system provides them comparative quotes—insurer-generated rates—from all of our carriers. The capabilities are built right into the platform and allow us to compete in today’s digital economy.”
Pumping Up
But agents and brokers would welcome further enhancements to better serve and service consumers in the digital age. NBT-Mang Insurance uses separate systems for quoting and would like to see stronger back-end integration, which currently comes from the agency’s technology provider. “This will reduce redundant work effort and speed the process,” Harrison says. Also on the wish list is the ability to place carrier documents directly onto the agency’s client-facing portal and full integration from the client portal to the carriers NBT-Mang represents.
Stronger integration would also help SilverStone Group. “We have built an online application for our program business that’s used by prospective commercial clients from across the United States,” Dale explains. “Prospects complete the application online, but once it comes back and the producer accepts it, it needs to be input into our management system.”
Dale says management systems need to improve on the client portal side, as well. “If you bought a car over the weekend and wanted to know what it was going to cost you, you could do that through the client portal,” she says. “It should be used on a mobile app. There shouldn’t be any reason why you couldn’t take a picture of the paperwork that you sent from your phone and upload that to the portal. The insurance industry has been a little slow in getting there, but I’m happy to say I’m seeing some progress.”
To advance agency-customer engagement, Ogle thinks new software should provide additional communication tools such as integrated online chat, texting and e-signature solutions. “It’s no longer just a place we keep notes,” she says. “Our agency management system should help us communicate with our clients. Having multiple software solutions for all these needs is not efficient.”
Phil Klein, an agency owner in West Bloomfield, Michigan, agrees that the management system-based texting his agency uses could improve. “Adding the ability to share video and pictures, for example, is a feature that would help us better serve our customers,” he notes. The ability to mass-text is another feature he would welcome that would enable his agency to reach out to clients more quickly in case of emergency.
“The agency of the future has to be technologically driven—whether it’s through text or whatever comes after text,” Klein says. “We need to be able to connect when and how clients want, and we need to deliver 24/7 service capabilities using technology—all forms of technology. If we don’t, we’ll die.”
Peter van Aartrijk is an IA contributor.
What’s Out There? Agency management system vendors continue to expand the functionality of their software solutions. Here’s a sampling of recent innovations. Applied Systems In December, Applied Systems released Applied Epic 2014, which enables agencies to manage both property-casualty and benefits business across multiple locations in different geographies—from one single application. Applied’s Michael Howe, senior vice president, product management, says the software’s native benefit capabilities include Excel data import, enhanced HIPAA-compliant security for attachments, support for tracking and billing fee-for-service activity and more. The capabilities help agents better manage their entire portfolio and expedite cross-selling opportunities, according to Howe. Also introduced in December, Applied’s myEpic provides integrated process management capabilities that automate, adapt and reassign frequently used workflows, Howe says. “It also delivers deeper company-wide visibility into internal operations that lets owners better understand the effectiveness of workflow reporting and increases their ability to respond to market and customer-base changes,” he explains. EZLynx EZLynx offers a set of tools, called “Agency Workspace,” that enables agents to take notes, set reminders and assign tasks across the agency—from within the system or from Microsoft Outlook, says Jaideep Jayaram, vice president, sales and marketing. “Our Agency Pulse report lets agency principals see how well they’re performing against key metrics such as policies per customers, retention, close ratios and more,” he explains. The firm also works with outside third parties through a marketplace to deliver e-signatures, CRM, text messaging, accounting and other functionalities. Through a client center portal, policyholders can upload and download documents, request changes and review policy coverages—important features in an era when “customers want to perform certain functions when it’s most convenient for them,” Jayaram says. QQ Solutions QQ Solutions also features a marketplace with offerings ranging from Internet phone calling to e-signatures and digital marketing. “That’s a reflection of who we are,” explains John Kruthoffer, vice president, sales and marketing. “We see ourselves as masters of agency management systems. We don’t claim to be masters in other areas. We want to provide a really good foundation for an agency management system and then open it up to third-party, best-of-breed vendors so individual agencies can cherry-pick the add-ons that best suit the needs of their agency.” The approach enables the firm to focus on innovation. “We try to bring out a release every six weeks that incorporates feedback from clients on what they want,” Kruthoffer says. The texting feature, for example, enables instant communication between agents and customers. “From an E&O perspective, it gives agency owners piece of mind that the conversations are being recorded and stored in the management system.” Vertafore Vertafore’s agency platform offers a range of features, including rating, workflow management, document management, mobility, information available on mobile devices and consumer services agents can brand, says Bruce Winterburn, vice president of industry relations. “These are features that agents have requested—and they’re getting great results,” he explains. Leveraging disparate products has helped deliver these benefits. For example, Winterburn notes, “we’ve taken the technology that’s inside our ImageRight system, a role-based document workflow management system used by hundreds of carriers but was out of reach for most agents, and built content and workflow management, transparency and dashboards into our system at a level never before available.” Vertafore also has leveraged its SilverPlume asset to provide mobile access to insurance information. —P.V. |
