In a year when most are satisfied with holding their own in asinking economy, the Applied Systems Client Network reported growthin a number of key areas thanks to the resilience of its volunteermembers, the user group's outgoing chair says.

The commitment of ASCnet volunteers helped drive significantimprovements in usage and training over the past year, MikeMontgomery, senior associate development consultant for LocktonCompanies LLC, said in his keynote address during the group'sannual meeting.

The Applied Systems users group–representing more than 80,000insurance professionals in 11 countries–reported gains includingmore than 18.7 million real-time transactions, increasededucational opportunities and improved relationships with carrierpartners.

ASCnet also unveiled a new program–the “Real Time 21 DayChallenge”–designed to help agencies improve workflow and fullyutilize their management systems.

Mr. Montgomery said the proliferation of committee activityduring his tenure demonstrated the commitment of ASCnet volunteers.For example, the education committee developed more than 50 newcourse offerings for this month's annual meeting–called TENCon–aswell as webinars and other learning experiences for membersthroughout the year.

He noted that it's a “buyers market” for learning opportunities,urging agencies to take advantage of this so they arewell-positioned for growth when economic conditions improve.

ASCnet's interim chief executive officer, Rick Morgan, praisedmembers for their involvement and urged them to continue workingwith Applied and carriers to improve workflows.

“This system has survived other tough times,” Mr. Morgan said.“The fact that you're here means you're doing better than yourcompetitors because of your involvement in ASCnet. You're opinionleaders and advocates for change.”

Mr. Morgan, long recognized in the insurance industry as anexpert on technology and automation, credited ASCnet's“three-legged stool” membership of agents, carriers and AppliedSystems for the gains made during the past year.

Mark Layden, chief operating officer of Applied Systems,recapped the vendor's activities over the past year and assuredattendees of the company's fiscal stability.

Instead of layoffs, he said Applied Systems has reallocated manyof its employees to development and customer service roles, scaledback on company social events, and downsized its mobiledemonstration 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 re-dedicated itself to “quality over quantity”by scaling back new features and stabilizing its current products,especially its TAM Series 9 and 10 products, Mr. Layden said.

The company invested in improving the transition process forusers upgrading to its top-shelf Epic system, introduced last year.Epic made news in 2009 when Willis Holdings announced plans to usethe system, but Mr. Layden stressed that Epic isn't only for bigbrokers.

“More than 20 agencies are starting to use Epic, each with 10 orfewer employees,” he noted, pointing out that Epic 3.0 is now ingeneral release, with 4.0 in beta testing. Future releases willfeature improved accounting and reporting functions, includingadvanced graphics presentations and drill-down reports, hesaid.

Applied Systems is also supporting ASCnet's new “Real Time21-Day Challenge,” based on the premise that it takes 21 days toform a new habit.

The program will help Applied Systems users of all levels use“real time” technology to adopt new workflows by making incrementalchanges to how the staff does business, Mr. Layden said.

Laura Toops is Editor of American Agent& Broker, a member of Summit Business Media's P&CMagazine Group, which includes National Underwriter. Shemay be reached at [email protected].