IVANS, Inc. announces it has launched an enhanced InsuranceCarrier Exchange (ICE) website to provide an easier way forcarriers to manage the process of doing business electronicallywith their independent agents.  IVANS ICE is the platformthat carriers use to register agents and manage the distribution ofpolicy and claims information electronically in batch format to theagents' agency management systems.

This new IVANS ICE website was designed to simplify thecarrier's management of the data they send via IVANS ECSsolution.  Using industry-standard formats, IVANS ECSallows carriers to download data to electronic mailboxes, enablingagents to use an automated process to pick up their policy data andload into the agency management system, without manual workflows onthe part of the agency staff. 

"IVANS is constantly working with our carriers and agents toimplement enhancements to our agency interface solutions," says JimOchiltree, president, IVANS Property-Casualty Services. "Today, IVANS has more than 224,000 connections between agenciesand carriers and we are committed to providing solutions that makesit easy for carriers to manage these connections, which IVANS ICEdoes."

Enhancements to ICE include: 

• Single Sign-On – Previously carriers had to goto two different sites to manage agency relationships. IVANS ICE provides a single interface, and therefore singlesign-on, to the functionality previously provided by the IVANSAgency Registration and ECS administrative websites.
• Credential Management Improvements – IVANS ICEallows carriers to better control the functions each specific usercan perform.  The functionality offered is tailored bytype of user, but each company has the flexibility to modify thataccess even more, to better fit access to a user's specific jobresponsibilities.
•  Archiving – Files are archived onthe IVANS ICE system to allow agents the ability to retrieve apolicy or file if necessary.  This archiving has beenextended to 90 days based on requests of carriers. 
• Carbon copy – Carriers are now able to copydata sent to one agency mailbox into additional mailboxes, asneeded.  This can be useful in situations where an agencyhas a service center that they want to make sure has access to thesame policy data as the producers within the agency, or in caseswhere an agency is in the process of migrating to a newer versionof their agency management system and needs a copy of the data fortesting purposes. 

• Enhanced Reporting – Carriers can access evenmore in-depth information about their implementations of downloadand real-time.  Some of the existing reports have beenextended to include additional information, and several new reportshave also been added.  These enhancements give carrierseven more visibility into their agency interface initiatives,making it easier for them to track and manage thoseinitiatives.