ANAHEIM, CALIF.–Applied Systems introduced a new automated agency management system here at its user group meeting while at the same time criticizing similar products from its arch competitor, AMS Services, as "a bunch of crap."
Company Chairman and CEO James P. Kellner said the new system, Applied Systems Epic, is a simple-to-use, secure, scalable, rich Internet application that is free of browser-based inefficiency.
"Agency automation is hard, and I saw us making it harder," said Mr. Kellner in explaining the reasons behind the product development.
"We wanted to take the technology out of the office, so agents would have more time to solve business problems," he noted, adding that Applied's new system would feature reduced deployment costs and better risk management, among other features.
Mr. Kellner said Applied Systems Epic is the culmination of "a lengthy and intensive undertaking to create a new system, to construct it on totally new architecture that would be flexible and scalable for any agency or brokerage."
He emphasized that the new system is not an update of any existing system, including Applied's flagship, TAM (The Agency Manager).
"We could have just bolted on features to our [existing] products, like certain others have done," he told some 1,500 attendees at the conference general session. "Did I say I hate AMS? I really do. [Their products are] a bunch of crap."
Mr. Kellner also noted that his company will continue development of TAM as well as its other systems, Vision and DORIS. The Epic system is another available offering, he pointed out.
Mr. Kellner said the Epic system will be in general release on November 12. He described a careful and lengthy beta process that included input based on some 100,000 requests from agents. "I am thrilled to report that the agencies that are up and running their businesses with Applied Systems Epic are extremely satisfied," he stated.
He added that Epic includes improved security controls; new, faster search capabilities; and enhanced reporting features that would help enable "more and bigger policies written per person for maximum efficiency."
Epic, said Mr. Kellner, "has a new technical structure that no one else has," adding that there is also a migration path for each of the existing [Applied] systems.
He acknowledged that Epic as a product "isn't quite finished yet," but expressed confidence in having the full product ready for the Nov. 12 release. He also noted that in order to migrate to the new system, agent users must have updated to the most current version of the Applied product they are currently using.
"By the 2009 TENCon, version two of Epic will be in general release," he promised. Referring to arch-rival AMS Services as "The Evil Empire," Mr. Kellner stated, "We're gonna win and we're gonna win big."
Mr. Kellner added that response to the product from beta-testing agents has been "overwhelmingly positive."
According to Buck Stimson, vice president of development for Applied, at the heart of Epic's architecture are "components that can be scaled," including Microsoft's .NET platform, Microsoft SQL Server (a database management system) and SSL (a data encryption program). This architecture enables Applied to more easily replace components, if necessary, without doing a major program rewrite, he explained.
"What we have built, nobody else in the technology industry has," he stated.
Kathy Laatz, vice president of sales for Applied, said Epic provides a data management system that can track the life of a policy at all points.
The product's Service Summary Comparison Tool can compare a policy as submitted to a carrier against what is sent back by the carrier and delineate any changes made, she said.
In addition, the product's reporting engine provides "a custom report writer that most people would purchase as a third-party product," she stated, adding that users can customize the form in which they receive such data.
Pricing for Applied Systems Epic was not announced.
Applied Systems, based in University Park, Ill., develops, sells and supports insurance agency and broker management systems and provides services for accounting, customer, policy, claims management and all related broker functions.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.