What We Heard from Vertafore CEO Jeff Hawn (Part 1)
By Kitty Ambers, CPIA, CIC, CISR | 6/30/2016
Members who engage with the Principal Connection Virtual Chapter heard recently from Jeff Hawn, chairman and CEO at Vertafore, in a NetVU “Town Hall.”
To benefit all NetVU members, I want to note key points of the discussion that I hosted with Jeff at the NetVU studio in Dallas on June 7, 2016.
Jeff — who joined Vertafore in April 2015 and previously joined our Town Hall last September — summed up his objectives for Vertafore in three simple phrases:
- Provide great products.
- Deliver great service.
- Be easy to do business with.
We also covered specific issues:
Vertafore has a commitment to quarterly product releases. The company wants to be consistent in getting system updates out to users. “More frequent releases,” even if smaller, “serve the customer better,” Hawn said.
Hosted performance is higher. Vertafore’s goal is “high availability” of the data center for hosted customers. Performance was boosted to 99.99% for the first quarter of 2016, for the first time ever for the company. The company aims to increase it further to 99.999%.
Vertafore recognizes the hurdle of migrating to a hosted system. Vertafore wants to lessen agency decision makers’ hesitancy about migrating to a hosted agency management system solution. “We take the worry about the infrastructure away” so users can maximize performance and speed, said Jeff. “You want it to perform. You want it not to crash.”
“Availability, performance, scalability and security” of all products (in-house or hosted) are of paramount performance. Vertafore’s developers and product managers understand that, he said.
Focus on customers is foremost. Jeff said, and I quote: “We do not run this place for the amusement of the associates.” Rather, he said: “We run this for the benefit of the clients.”
He wants Vertafore’s focus to be on responding to users. He noted his aim that the “overwhelming majority of folks out there” feel Vertafore is successfully responding to their needs. “That would be the sincerest form of flattery. That means I think we’re getting it right, and being responsive to what they say matters.”
“NetVU is very beneficial to Vertafore” in synthesizing feedback from customers, said Jeff.
Jeff Hawn (read about Jeff’s background on his
LinkedIn profile) leads Vertafore as chairman and CEO. Vertafore, with more than 45 years of insurance expertise, now provides more than 500,000 insurance professionals with insurance agencies/brokers, insurance carriers, managing general agents, and others with technology solutions. The company’s products include the AMS360 and Sagitta management systems, ImageRight, and Sircon agency and carrier solutions.
More from the Town Hall in Part 2 next week.