"Piggy Bank" Off of FSLSO's New Savings Options

As the economic challenges from 2009 continue to spill over into 2010, people everywhere are looking for ways to pinch pennies and maximize the efficiencies of time. The Florida Surplus Lines Service Office (FSLSO) has developed various client-based tools designed to assist its customers in becoming leaner, greener, more compliant achievers.

The FSLSO newest communications campaign encourages its member agents to "piggy bank on savings" as a way to help them maintain their compliance requirements and become more efficient and effective for their customers.

Visitors to www.fslso.com have immediate access to a variety of resources and tools designed to help them save time and energy while reducing postage, human error, and preserving the environment. To find these tools, visitors need only to look for one of the many piggy banks scattered throughout FSLSO's web site.

"We created our 'Piggy Bank on Savings' page as a central depository for all the various tools that have been developed to help our members be more efficient in their day-to-day activities, as well as to be more effective for their customers and more compliant as industry members," explained FSLSO's Public Information Manager Ashlee Weber.

Going Green

Over the past few years, FSLSO has pushed to create and modify its services to be less paper dependent while giving customers the option to perform many of their routine duties, like affidavit submittal and invoice payment, electronically. These services provide customers with the ability to save on paper, envelopes, postage, and overnight fees, as well as the cost of voiding and reissuing incorrect payments. Since these tools are offered as free services to FSLSO customers, agencies can maximize their efficiency and economical prudence at a time when both are vital to success.

The advantages of using less paper serves to benefit both FSLSO and its customers as it means a reduction in expenses to purchase printing materials (ink and paper) and storage needs. Switching to systems that are paperless helps to remove unnecessary clutter through the maintenance of hard copies, and also goes along with various green initiatives that many offices are now implementing.

FSLSO Chief Operations Officer Sean Fisher commented, "We have always strived to be a 'paperless organization' as we have never accepted paper policy submissions. We are furthering that vision through several of our other services like electronic invoicing and the electronic affidavit submission so that we can decrease the amount of paper that our office must maintain and that our customers would otherwise have to provide."

Improving Efficiencies

Recognizing that time and energy are always of the essence in any business, FSLSO has several existing resources that are geared to maximize agent efficiency with regard to researching products and surplus lines insurers, as well as quote writing. Energy and time saving tools such as market data reports, insurer financial data reports, and a coverage search engine capitalize on the advantages of finding information with minimal effort. These applications grant users the option to explore trends in the surplus lines marketplace, obtain specific information for a particular surplus lines carrier, search for coverage, and provide contact information for agents writing certain types of coverage with just a few key strokes.

While getting a quote together can be taxing, FSLSO's tax/fee/assessment calculator gives agents an edge on time by providing instant calculations for the applicable taxes, fees, and assessments on a specific policy.

Agents need only enter specific policy information into the calculator's policy information fields and select "Calculate" to retrieve a printable page with applicable amounts concerning taxes, fees, and assessment calculations.

SLIP Continues to Advance

FSLSO has also pushed a variety of time and energy saving resources through its web-based filing mechanism, SLIP (Surplus Lines Information Portal). Within SLIP, agents and their staff have access to various reports designed to help them better manage their surplus lines filings by allowing them to view and correct questioned transactions (TIQs), learn about late submissions, and run their Agent Report Card.

SLIP also helps agents save time by giving them a platform to electronically submit their quarterly affidavit and update their catastrophe contact information.

Additionally, SLIP now provides the means for agents to pay all invoices instantly with its newly implemented E-Pay system. Rather than cutting checks for multiple entities, agents may log into their SLIP account, select the "Pay Invoices" tab, and find immediate access to their outstanding invoices and an electronic means of payment. The new E-Pay system gives agents an effective and efficient alternative to get their payments in on time and accurately, leading to a reduction of payment delinquency and late payment penalties.

The FSLSO was created by the Florida Legislature as a self-regulating, not-for-profit association to protect its customers' interests by facilitating compliance and providing assistance and information regarding Florida's surplus lines insurance marketplace. FSLSO has endeavored to facilitate the placement and taxation of surplus lines insurance by utilizing leading edge technology to maximize efficiency and developing innovative customer solutions.

With this vision as the backbone for process and program improvement, FSLSO has pushed to develop client-based tools that assist Florida's surplus lines community to better manage their compliance requirements and be more efficient for their customers.

For more information about the featured customer resources above, please visit the FSLSO web site at www.fslso.com and click on the "Piggy Bank on Savings" link.

Holly Grissom is the IPC Collections Specialist at the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office. She may be reached at 800-562-4496, ext. 127, or hgrissom@fslso.com.