AS THE market becomes softer and margins are stretched thinner, it's more important than ever for agents and brokers to make wise use of technology. Vendors, aware of clients' need to operate more efficiently and effectively, continuously turn out enhancements to their agency management systems. To help readers evaluate the latest products and system upgrades, we recently contacted eight major agency management system vendors. Following are some of the highlights of their current systems and anticipated offerings.

AMS Services
(www.ams-services.com)
Version 2.0 of AMS 360 is scheduled to be in beta testing at about the time this article appears, according to Bill Bunker, senior vice president of product management and marketing. Among its features is Doc360, a document management program.

“Doc360 goes beyond simple file attachments to actually providing a true archiving and retrieval capability,” said Charles Landau, AMS director of product management. AMS is still partnering with third-party imaging systems for the scanning capability, Landau said, “but we're definitely providing some document management functionality with this release.”

Version 2.0 also will provide enhanced vendor-payable functionality, Landau said. “Users will be able to enter invoices as they receive them from vendors, track them by invoice number and date, and pay them in a way that matches their cash-flow requirements,” he said. Landau said Version 2.0 offers enhanced integration with SETWrite, AMS' separate real-time personal-lines comparative rating product, which was introduced last year. Version 2.0 users will be able to easily transfer data between the two products, he said. About 50 carriers now support SETWrite, Bunker added.

In the past year, AMS has added several functions to Sagitta, the vendor's system for large users, Bunker said. He noted that agencies in that market segment, including bank-owned “foundation” agencies, continue to get larger. “They have a different set of requirements from your average insurance agency,” he said. To meet them, the vendor has enhanced Sagitta's security capabilities, Bunker said, and has made the system more customizable. “We've also made a number of enhancements to facilitate multidivisional reporting,” he said.

AMS expects to release an upgrade to Prime, its system for small users, in the near future. The biggest change, Bunker said, will be its incorporation of the widely used and supported Microsoft Access database for the storage of client records and all other data.

In March, AMS announced a new product, Performance Analyzer, which is available for an additional charge to users of AMS 360. It is expected to be available to Sagittta users by the end of this quarter.

Bunker said Performance Analyzer goes beyond the typical operational reports or spreadsheets found on all agency management systems. “It gives you a much more dynamic environment for slicing and dicing and changing the way that you're viewing the data,” Bunker said. “One second, you can look at it by producer, then flip the data around and look at it by carrier, or by carrier and producer. You can look at claims and incidents against revenue for particular customers to see who's profitable and who's not. … You can see trends much more quickly than you could if you were just playing with a spreadsheet.”

AMS also offers AMS Benefits, a system for agencies that have group benefits operations. Bunker said an enhancement made to the product in the past year enables users to provide benefits administration services to their benefits customers.

Bunker said AMS continues to make enhancements to its TransactNOW product, which facilitates real-time transactions between insurance agents and carriers. In the past year, “we've seen an increase in transaction volume of over 150%,” he said.

Finally, Bunker mentioned that AMS is in the process of integrating its formerly separate operating units into a single entity, which he said is expected to improve service. “If you're an AMS Rackley (rating) customer and a AMS Services customer, you'll get the same, integrated experience” for both products, he said. benefits administration services to their benefits customers. Bunker said AMS continues to make enhancements to its TransactNOW product, which facilitates real-time transactions between insurance agents and carriers. In the past year, “we've seen an increase in transaction volume of over 150%,” he said. Finally, Bunker mentioned that AMS is in the process of integrating its formerly separate operating units into a single entity, which he said is expected to improve service. “If you're an AMS Rackley (rating) customer and an AMS Services customer, you'll get the same, integrated experience” for both products, he said.

Applied Systems
(www.appliedsystems.com)
In its latest releases of its agency management systems, Applied Systems has worked to reduce agents' errors and omissions exposures, said Jeff Purdy, senior vice president and national sales manager. The vendor's chief products are The Agency Manager (TAM) and Vision, a system for large agents and brokers. Version 8.0 of TAM and 4.0 of Vision are in beta testing and scheduled for release this summer.

One way the vendor has reduced users' E&O exposures is by more closely integrating both systems with Microsoft Outlook, Purdy said. The systems enable users to automatically attach e-mails sent to clients to the clients' files. Automatically triggering documents as a result of an activity ensures agents that internal E&O procedures are followed, he noted.

Another feature that will lower the odds of E&O claims is document management, Purdy said. “With so many offices going paperless today, and the requirement for agents and brokers to manage multiple sources of information–whether a fax or inbound paper mail, or paper generated as a result of activities within the system–we've enhanced both TAM's and Vision's ability to manage documents electronically,” he said.

Both TAM and Vision are available as hosted (ASP) systems or as in-house systems. About 75% of new TAM users are hosted, as are at least a majority of Vision users, Purdy said. “As our client base look to upgrade their technology, many select the benefits of the ASP model.”

Purdy said Applied also continues to make strides with Transformation Station, the agency-carrier Internet data exchange product it developed for IVANS. In the past year, the number of insurers using the system has grown by 40% to approximately 100, he said. One added capability, which is called Agency Alerts, allows insurers to transmit past, current or future actions into the Applied Systems management system. Some carriers have used this feature to notify CSRs of impending cancellations for nonpayment, while others are using them to alert agencies of up-sell and cross-sell opportunities for existing policies, he said. “There is a lot of interest in expanding the use of alerts.”

Purdy said carriers also are using Transformation Station's real-time quoting capability in a more extensive way than before. “More carriers are looking at predictive underwriting, as opposed to older “table-based” rating and underwriting methodologies” he said. As a result, he said, they are using Transformation Station to obtain more data from agency systems, then run it through the “black box” rating engines that reside within their own systems. All this has enabled agents to make greater use of the quote transaction, he said.

In the past year, Purdy said, Progressive Insurance Co. activated 5,400 independent agents selling insurance under its “Drive Insurance from Progressive” brand. “This is a great message to the marketplace about the industry acceptance of Transformation Station,” he said.

A couple of years ago, Applied Systems purchased DORIS system. Until this year, DORIS had continued to run as a stand-alone entity, but now it is being integrated with the Applied Systems operation, Purdy said. “DORIS is an extremely well-respected brand, and the product has been very successful in the market segment that it was built for,” Purdy said. “We absolutely are maintaining the brand and the product, and will continue to add features to the product, where appropriate.”

Asked where he sees DORIS fitting into Applied's product line, Purdy said the system is targeted at agencies smaller than those served by TAM. “We are going to offer the DORIS clients a migration path to TAM or Vision, if they require it,” he said. “If they don't, they can maintain the DORIS product.” He added that Applied also has been working with carriers to get DORIS certified for download and other services via Trans- formation Station, “so we can bring more interface functionality to the DORIS client base.”

Choices Software
(www.acords.com)
Choices Software long has been known as a vendor of ACORD forms software. In 2004, it expanded into agency management systems, announcing its Agency Anywhere system, in beta format, at the 2004 ACORD Conference. At last year's conference, a fully operational system was introduced.

Dean Westover, president of Choices Software, said Agency Anywhere is a “forms-centric” system that can be used to automate client files, conduct invoicing, track expirations, manage “to do” lists and handle other common agency management system functions, while not providing anything extraneous.

“Our primary objective was to create a system simple enough that anyone in an agency could learn, and feel confident using, in a few days,” he said.

Choices Software can host the system, or users can purchase an in-house version. The system uses Java open architecture, one advantage of which, said Westover, is that it is “cross-platform.”

“Most of our users are on Windows XP,” he said, “but Agency Anywhere can work with Linux and Macintosh as well.”

Westover said Java standards also promote ease of use from remote locations via the Internet–hence the system's name, Agency Anywhere. “We decided that it would be good to focus on … agencies that have multiple locations or that require access sometimes from home, on the road, etc.,” he said. An advantage of using Java for this purpose is that it doesn't have a built-in cost per user, as some multi-location network systems do, he added. “By using Java open standards, we're able to deliver the multiple-location usage at a more competitive price point,” he said.

A recent upgrade to the system enables users to access it in real time from a hand-held personal data assistant, Westover said. Thus, a user can enter information directly into the system using a PDA, rather than enter data in a PDA and then synchronize it with the agency management system back at the office.

Choices Software also is making Agency Anywhere more modular. Many users prefer to have the system customized to their specific needs, Westover said. “If someone issues a lot of certificates,” he said, “we can give them a specialty module that lets them have their customers self-issue their certificates” via the Internet.

Westover said Agency Anywhere's technology largely eliminates the process of receiving forms revisions and system upgrades via compact disk. For instance, Westover said, by clicking a button while working with an ACORD form, a user can see if a newer version of it is available at the Choices Software Web site and, if so, download it on the spot.

Agency Anywhere, along with the vendor's ACORD forms product, is available for a one-time charge of $500, plus $99 per user per year, Westover said. For an additional charge, users can add a module for self-issuing certificates of insurance.

Ebix
(www.ebix.com)
The latest improvement to the EbixASP system is the Client Manager, a module using the Microsoft.Net platform that gives users a comprehensive yet streamlined way to access client and policy information, and to perform related tasks.

Michal Herron, product manager, said the new user interface resulted from the vendor's interaction with the Affiliated Network of Ebix Users, the system's users group. “We spent several months just making sure that it had all of the functionality that they needed,” said Herron.

The Client Manager was the first major upgrade to come from the vendor's collaboration with the users group's product development committee, Herron said, but it won't be the last. For the next major release, he said, the committee is requesting the downloading of commission statements. “Right now, our system can do automatic invoice entry through download, but a lot of people hate reconciliation,” he said. “They'd rather just download the statement.”

EbixASP integrates with most document management systems but doesn't have a preferred one, said Graham Prior, senior vice president of agency management systems. “We find that in addressing the document management requirements, you need to be dealing with a reasonably large agency before they can actually afford a document management system,” Prior said. Consequently, Ebix has made enhancements to its system that “enable people to upload attachments … without having to go through the process of buying a document management system,” Prior said. “So we have a strategy for the small agencies as well as the larger ones.”

Users “can upload any document they want in any format,” Herron added, “but a whole integrated document management system–we find most clients don't want to pay for that.”

EbixASP users can conduct real-time transactions with insurers via IVANS Transformation Station. Separately, the system enables users to conduct direct real-time transactions with some carriers that do not use Transformation Station, Herron said.

Most EbixASP users pay the vendor to host their data and programs, but Herron said several clients are self-hosting it. The cost for the vendor-hosted system is $85 per user per month, Prior said. The price for self-hosting the system various with a client's characteristics, he said.

InStar
(www.instar.com)
InStar, which for years functioned as an independent agency management system vendor, was acquired by AMS in May 2005. Tom Hatcher, InStar's vice president, said the transition has gone well, and that the InStar brand and product are going to be maintained.

“We have a full development staff,” Hatcher said. “We have full support staff. We have our objectives. It's really clear what we need to do: Focus on making our products and services better for our customers.”

Hatcher said InStar fits well with the rest of the AMS product line. “We fill a market segment that strengthens AMS total offerings,” he said. InStar serves agencies ranging from one-person shops to those with 65 users and seven locations. Hatcher said while there is some overlap between InStar and AMS 360, he also sees InStar as a “bridge” to that product for some users.

Hatcher said the primary focus over the last year has been improving InStar's workflow, mainly by reducing the number of steps needed to navigate through the system, and adding features, including a PDF generator, to increase agency efficiency. InStar Imaging, a document management system that was in beta testing last year, is now part of the product, he added.

Another improvement provides the capability to maintain multiple contacts for prospects or clients, Hatcher said. “You can say, 'this is the president; this is accounting.' You can have an unlimited number of e-mail addresses, phone numbers and mailing addresses per contact.”

In the past year, enhancements also have been made to the system's download capabilities, Hatcher said. For instance, the system can be used to download information from “Write Your Own” flood insurance companies as well as from the North Carolina Beach Plan.

Additional improvements have resulted simply from being acquired by AMS, Hatcher said. For instance, InStar is now the only agency management system that can conduct real-time agency-company transactions via AMS TransactNOW or IVANS' Transformation Station, he said. “So you have (access to) more companies and more ways to access data in real time,” he said.

Another benefit of the acquisition, he said, is that InStar is now integrated with the AMS Prevail premium financing network. “So with just a right-button click,” he said, “an agency can send data out across the Web, get a quote from multiple premium finance vendors, select one and print the premium finance agreement.”

Quickfile Agency Management System
(www.quickfile.net)
One of the newest enhancements to the QuickFile system enables users to create their own editable forms, said President Ira Saunders. He said agents use this function to create client qualification forms, data-gathering forms, etc. Another new feature allows users “to print, fax or e-mail any document (e.g., an ACORD form) or item contained in the software,” he said.

A change in the system's imaging section enables users to group ACORD forms or other documents into a single packet, enabling them to be handled collectively, Saunders said. Agents use the “drag and drop” method of combining multiple forms or multiple pages of a single form into one document, then print, fax or e-mail it or save it in a folder, he said. Previously, he said, all forms were organized and clearly labeled in a client's file, but there was no way to group them.

Saunders said the system now has an improved commission calculator. It can be customized to calculate commissions for products on which agents have worked out unusual compensation arrangements with their insurance companies, he said. The system now also integrates with the Dymo line of label printers, he said, enabling users to print shipping labels directly from the system. Those agents who still use paper files also use the printers to create labels for file tabs, he added.

Saunders said QuickFile can generate the great majority of ACORD forms, but continues to add new ones as users request them.

Last year, for instance, the vendor added about 30 forms, he said. The system also now has fully integrated bitmap signatures that users can affix to ACORD forms, he added. Users can create blank ACORD forms or ones automatically filled in existing policy data or even data from a prior year, thus reducing duplicate entry, Saunders said. Last year the vendor introduced an ASP model of its system, called the Enterprise edition, according to Eric Finstad, QuickFile's regional sales manager, “I'd say that probably a third of all new clients who sign up with us are going for that,” he said. Hosting services include storage and retrieval of scanned images, he added. As with most hosted agency management systems, users can access their data from any location and enjoy the security of redundant data backup, Saunders said.

Another focus has been on company downloads, which QuickFile offers through a separately sold module called QuickDownload. “I'd say maybe two-thirds of new agents who sign up with us implement that,” Finstad said, adding that the system can accept personal-lines and commercial-lines download from “literally hundreds” of carriers. Saunders said that enhanced download capabilities have probably been the most significant enhancement to the system over the past year. He said the system automatically downloads information into clients' files and performs other transactions on autopilot. “It will create an ACORD form automatically, if necessary,” he said.

Looking ahead, Finstad said a priority will be improving the system's capabilities to execute transactions with carriers in real time, via IVANS Transformation Station. “If you asked us what our project was for this year, that would undoubtedly be it,” he said.

Finstad said the vendor also is developing a “Web jump” capability that will enable users to view carrier information without exiting QuickFile. When viewing policy information in a client's file, a user will be able to click a button “and it will launch you directly to the Internet site for that carrier and take you directly to that client and straight to that policy,” he said.

The QuickFile system sells for $629 per year per office, Finstad said, with no additional charge per user. The company download module costs an additional $149, and online hosting is available for $150 per year.

Strategic Insurance Software Inc.
(www.sisware.com)
Strategic Insurance Software's new Partner XE system is expected to be nearing launch about the time this article appears, according to Mark Miller, SIS's chief operating officer.

The vendor's current system, Partner 6.2, is not offered in a true ASP hosted format, Miller said. Partner XE, on the other hand, can be purchased as a hosted system or users can install the system on their own local servers, he said.

“We took everything that we learned through Partner over the past 10 years and went back to the drawing board,” Miller said. “What resulted was a much more scaleable solution (i.e., a system that can easily and economically accommodate a large number of additional users and multiple locations).”

Compared with Partner 6.2, Miller said, the Partner XE system offers stronger support of commercial lines, a more powerful accounting package, tighter integration with Microsoft Office Suite, and a more streamlined navigation system. Partner XE has greater document imaging capabilities, he added, but also will integrate with third-party document management systems.

For the past year, SIS has used a series of “Web events” to keep clients informed about the new system, Miller said. A majority of Partner 6.2 users have expressed interest in migrating to the new system when it becomes available, he said. “We're excited to demonstrate how well it performs and are expecting to generate a lot of new interest from the marketplace.”

Like Partner 6.2, Partner XE will enable users to conduct real-time transactions with carriers via the vendor's WebLink service. Among other things, agents can use the service to send insurers electronic payments; quote and submit business; and view dec pages, billing status and claim status. As of last month, Miller said, the service could access 12 carriers: Arbella, Celina, EMC, Grange, Integrity Mutual, Ohio Casualty, Drive from Progressive, State Auto Insurance, Westfield and Frankenmuth Mutual.

Last year SIS released its Data Service and Print Service products, which are geared primarily to carriers. The Data Service transforms AL3 to ACORD XML, and vice versa. Carriers can use the Print Service to enable their agents to access any P&C ACORD form as well as company-specific applications and supplemental forms, via the carriers' Web site. “You feed it AL3 or XML (data) and you can produce a PDF of a form,” Miller said. Besides offering the Print Service product to insurers, he added, “We've had interest from large agencies that want to use it internally.”

XDimensional Technologies
(www.xdti.com)
XDimensional Technology's Nexsure agency managmement system is aimed at national and regional brokers and large agencies, according to President Bob Juracka. He defined the typical user as a member of the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, which endorses the system. Juracka said the latest major enhancement to the system was the addition of a “market analysis” function, which can help brokers document that they made a diligent search of the marketplace on a client's behalf and demonstrate why the broker selected the quote the client received.

Investigations over the past two years into broker behavior by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and other state attorneys general and regulators have underscored the desirability of creating such documentation; but until recently the process was manual, Juracka said, “and I think many would admit that the labor involved made it impractical.”

Juracka said that for a given line of insurance, a Nexsure user can activate the market analysis function to compare different “iterations” of coverage. A broker might submit a risk to three or four carriers. Each would be given its own marketing record within the system. The market analysis tool creates “an unlimited side-by-side column view of all of these would-be policies, maybe comparing them against the in-force policy.” Juracka said. “Wherever there is a difference (in limits, deductibles, rates, etc.), it highlights it in red text. Users also can compress the view, to show only coverage differences.”

At the end of the analysis, the broker is prompted to select a winner, and provide additional detail backing up the choice, Juracka said. The completed analysis is then permanently attached to the client's file.

“If two years down the line, someone asks, 'Why did you sell this policy? It cost more than some of the others,' you can go back to the market analysis and … say, 'The policy was a little more expensive, but it provided a much better combination of coverages.'”

Nexsure uses the Microsoft .net operating system and ACORD XML standards. Since its inception, it has been offered only as an ASP system. “It's not something that we're close-minded about,” Juracka said. “We just have not had a client that has decided to take it private.”

The Nexsure system gives users the ability to conduct real-time transactions directly with carriers, Juracka said. No translation “middleware” is required, he said, adding that Nexsure “natively” wants to communicate in ACORD XML, which is used for most real-time transactions. Just about any kind of transaction can be conducted in real-time via the system, Juracka said. Without the need for an intermediary to enable such transactions, he said, “It's up to the agency and the carriers they represent to decide what they want to tackle.”

XDimensional Technologies is majority-owned by the Hartford Financial Services Group. Recently Choicepoint bought a minority share of the business. One result is that Choicepoint's menu of services is being embedded in the Nexsure system, Juracka said. Without leaving it, users authorized to do so by their carriers will be able to seamlessly access Choicepoint's MVRs, credit reports and other products, he said.

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