As incoming chair of the Applied Systems Client Network, LisaParry Becker is targeting more educational opportunities formembers and increased engagement at all levels.

Ms. Becker, vice president of William B. Parry & Son, Ltd.in Langhorne, Pa., is a fifth-generation agent at a 100-year-oldfamily business. She is responsible for sales and marketing, aswell as handling personal and commercial accounts.

She has also co-chaired the Real Time/Download Campaign(www.getrealtime.org) since theindustrywide initiative was formed in early 2007.

She joined ASCnet in 1999 through her local chapter. In 2003,she became part of the ASCnet Interface Committee–now the ASCnetIndustry Solutions Committee–and is a past chair. She joined theASCnet board in 2008.

In an exclusive interview, Ms. Becker described her own agency'ssuccesses with automation and outlined her plans for ASCnet.

Q: You're a well-known proponent of real-time use. Howhas real time and automation in general helped in your own agencyover the past year?

Lisa Parry Becker: We're so busy that we'reactually hiring. We write a lot of Main Street businesses andcontractors, and in Pennsylvania, contractors are now required tosubmit certificates of insurance when they are just bidding ajob.

Our agency has never had a commercial lines CSR, so to meet thisneed we created the position and hired a person in January. Bytraining her on real time, we were able to cut training time inhalf. She was handling billing and claims inquiries in a week, anddoing rating in six weeks.

Once you're fully functional with your automation, you can'tgain any more efficiencies, so you're freed up to pursue more newbusiness. This is where we're at now with our Applied Systems' TAMsystem. One of our part-time personal lines CSRs is retiring thisyear, and her replacement will be a full-time employee.

Q: Your agency has been using Applied Systems' productsfor more than 20 years. How has the product evolved over theyears?

Ms. Becker: It has definitely improved. In thepast, the updates were time-consuming. Now they're good–stable.We're currently still running the TAM system, but hope to upgradeto Epic sometime next year.

Many of these product improvements are a direct result of ASCnetinvolvement. ASCnet was heavily involved with the development androllout of claims download. Real time is another example.

Q: ASCnet is launching an agents' “21-day challenge” forgetting the most out of their Applied Systems' products. How willthe program work?

Ms. Becker: As part of the Real Time/DownloadCampaign, we're encouraging agents to take the challenge, based onthe premise that it takes 21 days of repetition for someone todevelop a new habit. We spent the summer breaking down the stepsinto essentially a four-week program, giving agencies the stepsthey need to take each week. The program is designed for users atall levels.

o Week One involves setting up the system to conduct inquirieswith their primary carrier.

o Week Two shows how to set up the system with the office andthe rest of the agency's carriers.

o Weeks Three and Four deal with rating workflows.

The challenge part comes with the number of team playersinvolved in the process. It can be conducted with a few key playersor the whole agency, and agencies can actually compete with eachother.

The program will also be rolled out to the carriers, who can addtheir own spin to the competition–such as incentives for goalsachieved. Successful completion of the challenge occurs when anagency is using all of the real-time functionality available withall of their carriers and real time is having a positive impact onthe agency's bottom line.

From the campaign's research, we know that real-time usage issaving agencies an average of three weeks of time per year, peremployee.

Q: What are your primary goals as ASCnetchair?

Ms. Becker: First, I'd like to work onproviding members with education on how to improve their workflows,which will allow them to meet carrier requirements and grow.

Second, I'd like to help them discover the untapped capabilitiesof their systems, such as reporting features, which can help agentsupsell their existing customers. My goal is to help them go beyondthe basics.

Most of that will come through more educational programs. Thisyear, more than a third of TENCon classes [at ASCnet's annualconference] were new, and that's something that we'll continue todevelop–classes delivered the way our members want to receivethem.

Our webinar series has been very successful, and we will do moreof that in the coming year, along with shorter, more intensiveseminars as an alternative for those who aren't able to come out toa convention or attend a local chapter meeting.

We're also trying to attract and engage younger members, perhapsthrough the smaller structure of task forces and subcommittees.

To summarize, I'd like to improve our ability to connect withother people–by getting them the education they need, where and howthey want it, and getting more people involved, whether it's at thechapter, regional or national levels.

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].