In a year when "growth" has meant"flat" and economic recovery remains frail, the fact that almost1,000 attendees came to Kansas City last week for the Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet) TENCon, theannual meeting of the Applied Systems users group, proves theorganization's success and the resilience of its volunteer members,who represent more than 80,000 insurance professionals in 11countries.

The commitment of ASCnet volunteers helped drive significantimprovements in usage and training over the past year, saidoutgoing ASCnet chair Mike Montgomery, senior associate developmentconsultant for Lockton Companies, LLC, in a keynote addressWednesday. Gains included more than 18.7 million real-timetransactions, increased educational opportunities, and improvedrelationships with carrier partners. And a new program, the"Real Time 21 Day Challenge," is designed to helpagencies improve workflow and fully utilize their systems.

Montgomery said the proliferation of committee activity duringhis tenure demonstrated the commitment of ASCnet volunteers. Forexample, the education committee developed more than 50 new courseofferings for TENCon, as well as webinars and other learningexperiences for members throughout the year.

Montgomery noted that it's a "buyers market" for learningopportunities, and that agencies should take advantage of this sothey are well positioned for growth when economic conditionsimprove.

Rick Morgan, ASCnet interim CEO, praised members for theirinvolvement and urged them to continue working with Applied andcarriers to improve workflows. "This system has survived othertough times," Morgan said. "The fact that you're here means you'redoing better than your competitors because of your involvement inASCnet. You're opinion leaders and advocates for change."

Morgan, long recognized in the insurance industry as an experton technology and automation, credited ASCnet's "three-leggedstool" membership of agents, carriers and Applied Systems for thegains made over the past year.

Mark Layden, chief operating officer of Applied Systems (pinch-hittingfor absent CEO Jim Kellner, who had a death in the family),recapped the vendor's activities over the past year and assuredattendees of the company's fiscal stability. Instead of layoffs,Applied Systems has reallocated many of its employees todevelopment and customer service roles, scaled back on companysocial events, and downsized its mobile demonstration unit.

In an ongoing effort to listen to users, the company introduceda "Let's Talk" marketing campaign to solicit product feedback, andassigned a full-time staff to address the "tens of thousands" ofcustomer-generated PMRs (product modification requests) totroubleshoot problems.

Applied has also rededicated itself to "quality over quantity"by scaling back new features and stabilizing its current products,especially its TAM Series 9 and 10 products, Layden said.

The company also invested in improving the transition processfor users upgrading to its top-shelf Epicsystem, which was introduced last year. Epic made news in 2009 whenWillis Holdings announced plans to use the system, but Leydenstressed that Epic isn't only for big brokers. "More than 20agencies are starting to use Epic, each with 10 or feweremployees," he said. Epic 3.0 is now in general release, with 4.0in beta testing. Future releases will include improved accountingand reporting functions, including advanced graphics presentationsand drill-down reports, he said.

Applied Systems is supporting ASCnet's new Real Time 21 DayChallenge, which is now being prepped for rollout. Based on thepremise that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, the program willhelp Applied Systems users of all levels use real time to adopt newworkflows by incrementally changing how the staff doesbusiness.