With Abiz, the company said, agents can create proposals by downloading online information directly into their own document formats, eliminating double entry. Agents maintain their own passwords to access the portal from anywhere at any time on the Internet. Agents also have the ability to send information to the company in a .pdf file with a single entry.

“With Abiz, our agents dont have to change the way they do business. They can use Abiz in the best way possible to fit into their workflow,” said Robert Himmer, senior vice president, commercial insurance division, for the carrier in a written statement. “We built Abiz to make it easier for our agents to do business with Atlantic. Instead of imposing yet another insurer system on our agents, with Abiz we intentionally designed a system that would fit into agency systems and procedures.”

“With Abiz, [customer service representatives] dont have to re-key account information,” said Dennis Sellers, Atlantic Mutual vice president, commercial insurance division.

Mr. Wendel added that Abiz is compatible with all the major agency management systems.

According to Atlantic Mutual, with Abiz agents can:

Get a detailed proposal showing coverage, limits, valuations, exclusions and endorsements with a click of a button.

See the real-time status of all customer direct bill accounts, what theyve paid and when.

Get loss runs.

Read Atlantic Mutual policy and endorsement language online.

Create, submit, read and track the progress of endorsements online using the insureds name.

Handle renewals online.

View and manage their commercial book of business in any way they want. The agent can look at his or her book by line of business, name of insured, transaction type, individual account or all accounts.

Conduct online communications with Atlantic Mutual underwriters, with the knowledge that all correspondence will be recorded in the account file.

“Now agents also can use Abizs new marketing section, where they can look at Atlantic Mutuals SIC appetite, view marketing materials, and even order them online,” said Mr. Sellers. “And they can get to individual policy information directly from the SIC section of Abiz.”

Mr. Wendel explained that Abiz improves agent efficiency and allows them to handle more business with the same staff. While it is not a real-time quoting system, he explained, Abiz does give direct access to the underwriters desktop and cuts the time it takes to receive a quote by one to two weeks.

Agents are not limited to small account submissions, he further explained. They can also place large, mid-market and some international accounts. Abiz is also set up to quickly inform agents if the company has an appetite for the risk they are looking to place.

Abiz does not support online payments, but agents can view clients billing and payments, said Mr. Wendel. Agents can also choose direct company billing or payment through the agency.

Additional information about the company and Abiz can be found at www.atlanticmutual.com.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, December 30, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.