The Agents Council for Technology (ACT) Small Commercial Rating work group has released “Carrier Bridging Best Practices” recommendations. This project’s intention is to assist with increased Bridging adoption among agents in using carrier portals and ultimately help carriers become the ‘carrier of choice’ of their agents.
“Bridging” is the process of an agency transmitting existing quote data from its agency management system where data is exported (‘bridged’) from the management system, then ‘bridged’ into the carrier’s agency portal to complete the quote in fewer keystrokes.
“These recommendations are an important step to reaching the ultimate goal of Real-Time Comparative Rating but, even more importantly, give our distribution channel the strategic template needed to implement consistent, intuitive workflows,” says Ron Berg, ACT executive director. “Ultimately, we hope the Small Commercial Rating work group’s hard work will lead to an increase in return on investment in bridging and carrier portals.”
The guiding principles for these recommendations were provided by Best Practice carriers for the development, testing and rollout phases. As one example, bridging development should focus on the following as guiding principles (listed in order of priority assigned by surveyed carriers):
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Agent ease-of-use (overall intuitive flow and integration into workflow)
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Minimal field entry
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Data prefill functionality wherever possible
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Intuitive error messages (guides correction on edit mismatch, or missing field entry)
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Good training & support (dedicated team to handle training & support)
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Minimal underwriting questions
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Speed – returning a result quickly
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Interview’ process (screen dedicated to confirming accuracy on required fields)
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Quote accuracy (returning a bindable quote)
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Use of ACORD XML
The work group is co-chaired by Jim Armitage, owner of Arroyo Insurance in Arcadia, California, and Susan LaBarre, Liberty Mutual Insurance director of agency automation and quoting.
Additional detailed insights on the recommendations as well as the full working document is available on the ACT website.
Our thanks to Jim Armitage and Susan LaBarre (work group Co-Chairs), as well as to the entire Small Commercial Rating work group for your efftorts!
Also, thanks to the carriers participating to provide ‘best practices’ insights: Cincinnati Insurance, Columbia Insurance, Hanover, The Hartford, and Travelers.
You might say that CHS Insurance, a large agribusiness insurance broker in the Twin Cities area, has doing good in its DNA. The Minnesota company encourages its employees to give back through Days of Service — two days of annual leave they can use to work on service projects and volunteer in their communities.
Debbie Buckner, CHS Insurance’s director of operations, explains that serving is part of her company’s culture. “We really believe in making a difference in the communities where we live and work. And one way of doing that is through volunteering our time and talent to help others.” Eligible full-time employees receive 16 hours of paid leave for service — eight for team activities and eight for individual activities.
Sara Fish, an account executive with CHS, gives a day of service each year to a local Habitat for Humanity home-building project. In June, she helped build a house near her home. “This is a project that has personal meaning for me. I drive by it every day on my way to work. For my other day of service, I do team projects that I can work on here in the building. This year we packaged food for children.”
Buckner says Days of Service has a positive impact on local communities, and it pays dividends for the company in increased team building and employee engagement. “Employees who volunteer together get to know each other better,” she says. “It facilitates cooperation and makes for a happier workforce.”
Tera Fair, a communications specialist with CHS Stewardship, explains that her role is to put together some of the larger group projects in the Twin Cities office. Providing 50,000 meals for hungry kids around the globe may have been the company’s biggest project yet, she says. “We took over the fifth floor of our building to package the meals and had 250 CHS employees participate.”
The project was for Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit that distributes meals internationally. Feed My Starving Children uses a soy protein produced by the farmer-owners of CHS Inc., CHS Insurance’s parent company, so employees felt a special connection to the project, Fair explains.
About a third of CHS employees participate in Days of Service, Fair estimates. The company organizes two to four large projects a year; employees are also encouraged to do community work on their own, either in small groups or individually.
Company projects in the past year have included annual United Way campaigns, a holiday toy and gift drive, packaging diapers and other newborn-care items for Second Stork, and helping to sort food and stock shelves at local food pantries. In August, a group of about 20 employees is scheduled to visit Cornerstone, a local domestic violence shelter. Employees have also made blankets for homeless shelters and worked with battered women.
Deb Arocho, an insurance p-c supervisor at CHS, calls Days of Service “a good way to boost morale while giving back to the community. It brings everyone together to share ideas and work towards a common goal. It builds camaraderie.”
While CHS is a large organization, Buckner notes that it has a small office in The Woodlands, Texas, with 11 employees. “Those employees are doing Meals on Wheels and visiting a senior center. No matter your size, you can make a difference. There’s a lot of need out there. You just have to open your eyes and look for opportunities to serve.”
Fair adds that there are many resources available for agencies that might want to do community service. She recommends visiting VolunteerMatch.org to see what’s available in your area.
It can be challenging to fit local user group meetings into your schedule, but NetVU Chapters, Education, and Partners are here to help. Our user group volunteers have been working hard to provide virtual opportunities on the latest hot topics to help you better utilize your Vertafore system.
The best part of these virtual meetings is that they’re open to all NetVU members so you have the opportunity to connect to other users and education that you might not normally have access to for a local meeting. Sign up to receive a copy of the webinar recording if you aren’t able to join during the designated meeting time.
View our Meetings & Events Calendar, and Register Now.
Upcoming Virtual Meetings:
Tuesday, 10/11 Exceeding Customer Expectations - Presented by Vertafore – 11:00 a.m. Pacific
Hear a few presenters discuss how to keep up with raising customer demands and improve the customer experience to ultimately grow customer loyalty in this rapidly changing digital era. New technology brings new customer demands, and in this digital era customer behaviors are constantly evolving. Will you be ready to meet their high expectations?
Wednesday, 10/12 Making Download Work for You - Part 2 – 10:30 a.m. Central
Come back to Part 2. You’ll learn how to include the information found in the download reports in your written plan, and ask any questions that have come up during your review of download in your agency and your implementation of your agency’s written plan.
NetVU offers monthly download webinars. If you missed Download Part 1, stay tuned to our Meetings & Events Calendar for details on the next webinar.
Thursday, 10/13 Who Is Really In Charge? - Easy Insurance Procedures – 2:00 p.m. Central
Audience: Owners & Managers
Do you ever feel a little out of control? You have staff, producers, customers, carriers all pulling in different directions to have things done their way. Who should decide how your agency does business? In this class you will learn not only the answer to this important question, but specific ways to always have control.
Thursday, 10/13 London Discussion Group Meeting – 10:00 a.m. Central
Join the NetVU AIM and MGA User Group for their London Discussion Work Group Meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to gather a group of MGA's who write business in the London Marketplace and want to work together to help move forward with bordereau data extraction out of AIM as well as identify other London challenges.
Wednesday, 10/26 Personal Lines New Business - Easy Insurance Procedures – 2:00 p.m. Central
Audience: Owners, Managers, & Personal Lines
This class discusses issues faced when writing New Business, topics will include:
• Will you pre-qualify prospects?
• Will you incorporate technology such as screen sharing and Outlook?
• Will you provide carrier quoting guidelines to staff?
• Will you provide a script for EFT?
• Will you use a policy checklist?
Wednesday, 10/26 The Leadership Advantage – 11:00 a.m. Central
Successful leaders recognize and appreciate the differences within their teams and manage to those preferences. Our Leadership Advantage Session explores how behavior influences your management style. Learn how to use behavioral insight to build and maintain a cohesive, loyal and productive team. Walk away with real advice on how to “handle” different types of employees. Understanding your team’s natural work practices and communication preferences allows you to play into their strengths and navigate around weaknesses. Receive honest feedback into your strengths and challenges and how to use that knowledge to your advantage.
Thursday, 10/27 The Hartford - NetVU Partner Webinar – 2:00 p.m. Central
In this session, participants will receive an overview of The Hartford’s latest time-saving automation capability, and what they have on the horizon and just how simple we have made the self-registration process.
Tuesday, 11/1 WorkSmart Chapter Meeting – 1:00 p.m. Central
Join the WorkSmart Chapter for their upcoming quarterly meeting.
View our Meetings & Events Calendar, and Register Now.
Do you or does your organization use AgencyEDGE or ProducerEDGE or another Vertafore product?
One of the pillars of NetVU’s mission is advocacy with Vertafore to provide feedback on their products from the user base on how to improve the existing systems in order to maximize the efficiency and productivity.
Please click here and provide your feedback and suggestions to improve AgencyEDGE and/or ProducerEDGE. This feedback will be shared with product managers for review, prioritization and potential future product releases. We are also considering forming a volunteer Product Maintenance & Enhancement Task force for these products and will need volunteers. Let us know as you complete the survey if you want to get involved.
NetVU was created as a forum for user-to-user/peer-to-peer connections through networking. We invite you to join the Sircon Licensing Management online community on NCOM, the NetVU Community. This is a place for those of you using AgencyEDGE and ProducerEDGE or those considering a solution to connect. Let us know if others in your organization should be part of this group. All NetVU members are welcome!
Take a moment now, join the group and introduce yourself.
About AgencyEDGE and ProducerEdge built by Sircon, a Vertafore company.
AgencyEDGE is an online service that provides a single-source platform to quickly perform licensing transactions in any jurisdiction, and easily ensure that your agents are authorized to sell. While you complete our interview-style questionnaire, your agents’ applications are seamlessly completed behind the scenes. Click here for more information about AgencyEDGE.
ProducerEDGE is a personal licensing and compliance tool that allows producers to manage all of their licenses in one place. With instant access to licensing services, CE completion tracking and convenient email reminders, ProducerEDGE helps producers stay on top of regulatory requirements. Click here for more information about ProducerEDGE.
AgencyEDGE can interface with ProducerEdge to allow agency administrators the ability to manage licensing for all.
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