Industry Relations Committee Hits the Road
By: James T. Armitage, CPCU, AAI, Arroyo Insurance Services Inc., Industry Relations Committee Chairman
The Industry Relations Committee, together with members of the NetVU board of directors and Vertafore, recently met with senior executives of four insurance companies to discuss ways to improve agency connectivity. These meetings laid the groundwork for what will be a continuation of our company outreach program this year.
The primary goal of our Committee is to influence positive change in technology that will benefit all our members. We accomplish this by, among other things, visiting with our key partners throughout the industry. From amongst our top 50 carriers, as identified by the NetVU leadership, the committee plans its visits oftentimes accompanied by a senior representative from Vertafore. The goal for 2011 is to visit five of the top 50 carriers.
The objectives of these visits are first, to strengthen our relationships and second, to convey our members’ top issues as identified by the NetVU Playbook, originally created in 2009 and updated annually. This currently includes looking at increasing Real Time adoption and usage, improving and increasing the usage of Commercial Lines Download, improving and increasing the use of Real Time Multi-Company Rating, identity management of passwords, and insuring customer information privacy through the implementation of encrypted e-mail.
This is a lot of ground to cover and will take a concerted and continuous effort to have the positive impact we all want. The dedication of my committee members to this task is greatly appreciated.
The Industry Relations Committee works on your behalf and, therefore, it is important that we represent your thoughts, concerns and questions when visiting with these companies. The Carrier Connectivity Forum of the NetVU Community area at www.netvu.org is a perfect place to share those thoughts. The Committee relies on your input for guidance and welcomes your comments.
To review a current copy of the NetVU Playbook, go to www.netvu.org/playbook.
NetVU visited Selective Insurance in December 2010. (L to R: Jim Armitage, Arroyo Insurance Services Inc.;
Brady Polansky,NetVU; Vance Huntley, Verafore; Carl Schlotman III, CAI Insurance; and
Steve Aronson, Aronson Insurance)
The December 2010 visit to Chubb included (L to R: Rebecca Gough, Chubb;
Brady Polansky, NetVU; Jim Armitage, Arroyo Insurance Services Inc.;
Judy De LaRosa, Chubb; Steve Aronson, Aronson Insurance; and
Carl R. Schlotman III, CAI Insurance Agency)
Upon completion, the SSA will be able to fully support the various users of the Sagitta system, and will be permitted to skip Level One Support when contacting Vertafore.
Have You Registered for Conference Yet?
By: Deb Bergren, Vertafore, Senior Product Manager, Sagitta
Have you heard that Sagitta is moving to the next generation? The user experience is about to change with an improved design and navigation, and will be making its debut in some early adopter agencies prior to the NetVU Conference on April 28-30. The new UI (User Interface) for Sagitta will make its public magical debut in Orlando. Be the first, with a few hundred of your closest friends, to see what the excitement is all about.
I realize that many of you may not have heard about the changes coming to Sagitta or, if you have heard, you may have no idea what the fuss is all about. The clean, fresh, bold look that’s coming has many benefits for you—reduced cognitive overhead, less confusion when moving throughout the product, easier to learn, more efficient interaction and consistency throughout the product. The changes will be so intuitive that any training will be minimal, not only for current users but for the new hires you will have moving forward.
So, have you registered for conference yet?
Looking for Local Education?
Many of us today are dealing with reduced training budgets, but does that mean education isn’t important in a slow economy? Nothing could be further from the truth! Most businesses are asking employees to do more, with less. So how does one thrive in this type of environment? The answer….technology…and taking full advantage of the tools your agency already has at its disposal.
NetVU currently has 40+ local Chapters throughout the United States, all designed to deliver local, affordable education and networking. These groups are organized and run by volunteers, and their agency supports their efforts because they are reaping the benefits of high quality education, delivered to their local area, on the topics they need most.
If your area doesn’t have a Chapter, NOW is the perfect time to start one. Thanks to the generosity of Silver Corporate Partner Angela Adams Consulting, all new start Chapters are provided with one free training session, compliments of Angela Adams Consulting and NetVU.
It doesn’t get any better than this! All it takes to start a new Chapter is a couple of willing volunteers. NetVU’s Chapter Relations Coordinator Sara Krueger can guide you through the steps of organizing YOUR local group. Send Sara an e-mail at sara@netvu.org, and together you can make local training a priority for your local area!
Newsletter to Focus on Education
Education is a core value for NetVU; therefore, we decided it should be a core feature of our newsletter, as well. Rather than just making sure information about upcoming NetVU educational opportunities appear in each of the newsletters, we believe it is so important that we will be dedicating every other issue to education.
You will continue to receive up-to-date news items relevant to NetVU members every first and third issue of NetVU NOW. However, the second and fourth issues will be dedicated to Education. What’s upcoming from your Chapter, Vertafore, AUGIE and ACT, as well as other industry educational opportunities will be there for you to review. Whether online or face-to-face, real time or recorded, if it’s educational information you can use, you’ll find it in the new Education newsletter every second and fourth issue.
So, keep an eye out for the change. It’s happening soon. And, if you know of an upcoming program you’d like us to help promote, let us know. We’ll try to get it in the next education issue.