There is no doubt that the agency business has its ups and downs. But for the champion in National Underwriter's inaugural “P&C Agency Technology Achievement Award” program–conducted in partnership with ACORD, the industry standards and management facilitator–the “down” was almost “down and out” if it had not been for a series of technological lifelines grabbed with gusto by the firm's solo principal, Ed Higgins Jr.

There were certainly far bigger agencies entered in this year's award program, but none demonstrated better how the wise use of technology can level a playing field in competition with larger firms, and help turn a struggling organization around.

“For a business owner, the gravest prospect is losing the enterprise,” said Mr. Higgins, president of Thousand Islands Agency, which generated some $2.9 million in premium volume last year out of Clayton, N.Y., with one principal and six employees in all.

“In 1983, in the middle of a soft market, our agency business was on the precipice of losing the enterprise. I had one full-time employee,” he noted.

How did things come to such a sorry state? “What really got us in trouble was the fact that we were marginally profitable going into the soft market,” he explained. “Also, we were in limited markets, which was a mistake. When I joined the agency in 1974, 95 percent of our business was wet marine insurance. When that market dropped down, we were in trouble. I realized that as the market was changing, boat insurance was not a specialty anymore.”

According to Mr. Higgins, Thousand Islands didn't have adequate time to consistently re-visit the risk management process with every client, every year. Could tech save the day, and his agency?

After seeing a demonstration of the Redshaw Agency Management system, he realized the key to finding additional time for risk management consultation and growth was to employ technology to streamline the turnaround necessary for regular processing.

With the agency running in the red for 1983, “our purchase decision was an all-out risk of the enterprise,” he said.

It wasn't smooth sailing at first. Indeed, he described the initial experience with Redshaw as “disastrous, with the system electrically failing every single day for three months.”

Still, Mr. Higgins believed the system could work. The “green screen” Wang hardware-based system ran at that time on dual 8-inch floppy drives with no hard drive. Having seen a successful demonstration of the product, “I thought logically the problem is not that this won't work,” he recalled. “Finally the vendor brought in an expert who identified the problem in 30 seconds to be a faulty power line conditioner, and we were then able to get down to business.”

“We grew 50 percent in 18 months and upgraded to the next larger system size,” he noted. “We saved the enterprise with our total risk approach. That experience clearly cemented my commitment to technology and the business benefits it could provide.”

Mr. Higgins said the Redshaw system enabled his agency to do a direct marketing program that he thought was beyond the capability of an agency his size. “It has the capacity to profile prospects by ZIP code, so we sent out mailings by bulk mail,” he noted.

The push to leverage technology was only beginning, however.

“Every time a staff member left their desk, we asked what they were going to do and focused on ways to bring that information back to the Wang-based desktop,” he said. “We used the custom user-defined screen capability with hot-keys to achieve that in a work-around format.”

He added that the principle of keeping employees empowered with all of the information they need at their desktops prevails at Thousand Islands Agency today, 25 years later.

In 1994, the agency implemented a technology-based, in-house, 24-hour claim service that “out-called” to Mr. Higgins' cell phone whenever a claim was reported after hours.

“We wanted an answering system, so we utilized voice-mail boards in the PC,” he noted. “At night, we were able to re-route the phone line into the PC. I found out that I could have the calls redirected to my cell phone. It was a cool way to provide a unique benefit.” The function was taken over by the agency's Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone system in 2005.

“Customers always receive a reply call from the agency owner within one hour of their original call,” said Mr. Higgins. “Cardscan software was added as a capability to create an Outlook contact without a single key-stroke, with worldwide remote access through a free Cardscan Web site storage facility.”

In 2000, the agency acquired desktop scanners (later upgraded twice to fast 50ppm duplex capability) and began to experiment with how they would integrate within their work-flow, but had difficulty in developing a logical storage model, he recalled.

“In 2001, while attending a national user group conference, we discovered a way to make our T-Files electronic,” Mr. Higgins noted. “Simply understanding the logic of the process was empowering and meant we would never have to leave the desktop location to retrieve an old paper document.”

“Once we understood the logic of scanning, we moved every agency management operations document to the electronic environment,” he continued. “No paper documents were maintained on premises, and paper was discarded the next day after processing and backup-electronic filing was completed.”

Incoming faxes were printed directly to electronic files, and could become outbound e-mail attachments in seconds, he said, noting that it was no longer necessary to print out faxes. Multiple e-mail address books and distribution lists maximized communications capabilities with clients.

Mr. Higgins emphasized that his agency's commitment to being paper-free is virtually 100 percent, although he noted there may be a few exceptions for regulatory reasons, or if some companies ask the agency to keep “wet” signatures.

“In 2001, we added dual monitors at every workstation and began to maximize the leverage of our technology platform,” he said. “With convergence of multiple programs into an integrated model, speed of processing was multiplied, saving time and providing more time for client value-added servicing.”

In 2002, he noted, “we acquired a second location 35 miles away from our original site, and that was larger than our own agency. It was another big risk challenge, and the former owner left on the first day of our acquisition. Fortunately, we had coordinated agency management systems and company representation for several years before.”

Within two years, he said, “we successfully digested the acquisition with less than 5 percent attrition, and moved to a new modern building–all possible through technology leveraging. A VoIP phone system linked communications between the two offices, making call transfers between the locations and interoffice staff communications the equivalent of a free intercom call.”

In 2005, the agency installed triple monitors at every workstation, further leveraging the integrated desk-top model.

“We added real-time inquiry and agency management system inquiry with access for 80 percent of our personal lines premium volume through four carriers,” according to Mr. Higgins.

“The triple monitors gave us a huge advantage,” he noted, adding the agency just upgraded to 19-inch-wide angle units. “It looks like a traffic control center.”

As an example of triple-monitor efficiency, he pointed to the payment process on the agency's self-insured health care plan. “We can look at the PDF document on monitor number one, go out to a bank Web site and enter stop payment or other information on the second monitor, and compose a letter to the enrollee on the third monitor,” he explained.

“We figure you could make a case for four monitors, but we haven't got space for four,” said Mr. Higgins. “The power of this application is that you have different applications open on the screens, and you can drag and drop between monitors. You can do conventional tasks much faster.”

Bottom line, “it's all about time, and it's also about profitability” he observed. “An agency also needs to make enough money to pay the debt service for its own purchase. It also needs to be profitable enough to build a good benefits package to keep good people.”

In 2007, Thousand Islands Agency re-constructed both of its Web pages (www.tiagency.com and www.mac-brown.com) to provide more client access to the agency, said Mr. Higgins.

Live-chat is a planned upgrade to both Web sites this spring. He said the agency has also added a full document management system for the next generation of securely stored documents of all file types.

“By 2008, we converted to an ASP-based management system”–Ebix ASP–”which provides disaster protection for loss of our premises,” he concluded. While the agency's old management system is still on client-server duty as a backup, Mr. Higgins said his agency's systems are “totally” ASP (application service provider) driven.

“We've also added automatic gas-generator capability for continuous operation,” he noted.

Today, Thousand Islands Agency remains a relatively small operation (six total employees) with big aspirations, but tech helps level the playing field with bigger competitors.

“Technology has become a permanent leverage point for our agency over 25 years, moving us from the edge of extinction to a very viable rural agency prepared for the environment of the future,” said Mr. Higgins.

Special Reports /

Tech Helps Make The Difference Between Life & Death For One Rural P&C Agency

Related Stories

Recommended For You