Attention NetVU members (yes, that’s you reading this!). NetVU is relaunching its newsletter in early 2018 and needs your opinion to shape its content and frequency. Make your voice heard, and qualify for some fantastic prizes (including Conference registrations) by completing this survey.
The answer is no! At least, not in the long term. As agency owners, we can be lulled into the false sense of security that we can sell our way out of operational problems. Selling is what we do best! Operational challenges often need solutions that aren’t in the skillset of an agency owner, and ultimately these challenges will negatively impact the bottom line. Where do we allocate what little time we are willing to spend outside of our comfort zone to yield the most positive results?
At Angela Adams Consulting, we have identified key areas agency managers and owners need to monitor to ensure client satisfaction, growth, and the overall health of the agency.
Customer Experience
Guard the prospect/customer experience in order to keep existing – and attract new – business. Step into a client’s perspective while reviewing touch-points including your office, online presence, and phone and email interactions to ensure all public contacts support your agency’s mission and vision. Know that client service standards are being met by putting a system in place to monitor weekly or monthly Activities, Suspense, Documents, Renewals, Downloads, Expired Policies, and New Business transactions. Ensure staff have proper training, are adhering to agency procedures and standards, working efficiently, and nurturing positive relationships with clients.
Cross Selling Initiatives
Round out accounts with programs and initiatives that encourage cross selling in all client interactions. Run Target lists from your management system for marketing and monitor results. Institute a Coverage of the Month program focusing on specific coverages so your employees sell more and reduce coverage gaps thus better serving customers.
A Procedure Manual
Have a well-written, complete, and actively USED procedure manual. This is critical to limiting operating cost, E&O exposure, and ensure customers are delivered a consistently positive experience. Auditing procedures to ensure compliance should occur regularly.
If you find that your passion and energy are better spent developing new and existing client relationships, our Virtual Operations Management service would be a great fit for your agency! Call us at (888)485-7779 or visit our website to learn more and request samples of our customizable dashboards that will help you manage your agency in less time allowing you the freedom to do what you do best!
Insurance has historically been known as a paper-heavy industry that mails all notices, policy information and general messages. To remediate this industry-wide inefficiency, IVANS has connected more than 30,000 agencies to their insurer and MGA partners to automate the exchange of policy-related information between systems to increase ease of doing business and improve customer service.
Notably, to eliminate paper-driven processes, eDocs and Messages download allows for the exchange of policy documents and communications between insurers and agency management systems.
Understanding the eDocs and Messages opportunity
Adoption of eDocs and Messages enables immense time savings and enhanced customer service benefits for both agencies and insurers. Key benefits of eDocs and Messages for agencies and insurers include:
- Increases operational efficiency: Agencies and insurers eliminate time spent re-keying data and processing requests and quickly access client policy documents on demand. According to a recent IVANS study, 79% of agencies saved at least one hour per day per employee when using eDocs and Messages.
- Reduces cancellations: Automated insurer notifications can enable agents to reduce coverage lapses and subsequent reinstatements.
- Enhances overall customer service: Quick access to policy and claims information enables agents to provide timely and effective customer service.
Get started now
Agents may now communicate their interest in receiving eDocs and Messages from their insurers through IVANS Exchange, a free online tool to review insurer download connections available to your business. IVANS Exchange enables you to expand and customize your insurer connectivity opportunities to match your current and future business needs, like eDocs & Messages, as well as to communicate directly with your insurers to ensure you stay current with the latest download offerings.
If you are downloading information via IVANS, your agency already has an IVANS Exchange account. Before you can access any dashboards or reports in IVANS Exchange, you must first log in using your IVANS User ID and Password or register for a new user account. To log in or register, visit exchange.ivansinsurance.com.
When AppRiver and NetVU first entered into a partnership in 2003, cloud-based computing was on the brink of a boom.
Fast forward 14 years, more and more small businesses are using the technology to enhance services without having to commit to expensive infrastructure costs or increase in-house support staff. Although many businesses are seeing the benefits of cloud computing, just as many are still confused as to what it is and why they should consider switching.
Cloud computing, simply defined, is using the Web to deliver software services that can eliminate the need to have physical hardware and software in house. With cloud computing, companies can reduce the size of – or even eliminate – their data centers, dramatically reducing IT expenses.
Here are five reasons your agency should consider cloud-based services:
1. Costs
Perhaps the biggest benefit of cloud computing is cost savings. With cloud-based technology organizations can provide services as their business scales and avoid big up-front capital expenses.
2. Collaboration
Cloud services allow work to be accessed anytime, anywhere and on multiple devices. If a user has access to the Internet, they have access to what they need from anywhere.
3. Flexibility
Cloud-based services allow business to increase or decrease consumption of services quickly.
Businesses find they are able dial back cloud services quickly when they need to reduce expenses. On the flip side, as their businesses grow, they are able to add on without having to purchase new equipment or spend money on hardware or other aspects of operation.
4. Disaster recovery
SMBs are able to implement cloud-based backup and recovery solutions that save time, avoid large up-front investments and remove the physical risk inherent with in-house systems.
5. Security
Cloud computing gives you greater security when devices are lost or stolen. Because your data is stored in the cloud, you can access it no matter what happens to your machine. And you can even remotely wipe data from devices so it doesn’t get into the wrong hands. Security is also better for cloud-based solutions than an SMB can manage by themselves with in-house solutions.
Over the past 14 years, cloud-based solutions have made the leap from an interesting concept to the way business is done. If your agency isn’t in the cloud yet, there’s no better time than now to make the transition.
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 can connect to other users and education that you might not normally have access to for a local meeting!
View our Meetings & Events Calendar, and Register Now
Thursday, 9/7 at 12:30 p.m. Central – QQCatalyst — The True Value of Retention — NetVU Education - Join Vertafore’s Dickinson Merrin for this webinar that will help agencies to examine the cost of customer acquisition, the amount of time it takes to turn a profit, and how much can be lost if customers aren’t retained until the breakeven point.
Tuesday, 9/12 at 2:00 p.m. Central – BenefitPoint Data Export & Automation - Are you struggling with extracting data from BenefitPoint? Confused which report to run or parameters to include to get the right results? And, what are those “Subscriptions” all about? Join the BenefitPoint Users Group (BPUG) for our next virtual meeting on September 12th where BBI experts will show you how to export data from BenefitPoint more intelligently and add some data automation for your organization!
Tuesday, 9/12 at 1:00 p.m. Central – How to Keep your Agency Data & Systems Safe from Hackers, Presented by Archway Computer - As threats to technology continue to grow in number and sophistication, the need to secure our networks has never been greater, and agencies have no choice but to keep up with the ever-changing technology landscape. In response, Brad Ruben, owner of Archway Computer will share information about the most recent security threats and how to reduce the risk of cyber-security attacks.
Wednesday, 9/13 at 11:00 a.m. Central – See What You Get in AMS360 — Lesson 1 - Let’s Talk Audit: Look at what you are doing, and learn how to see what others are doing in your system. We’ll discuss setup considerations for workflow processes too.
Join this five-part series to learn how data flows through your AMS360 system, how consistently used workflows impact all aspect of data quality, and why it is important to audit your data at all touch points to ensure data quality and integrity.
Wednesday, 9/13 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific – AMS360 Accounting: Embezzlement, Trust Accounts, Reports - Join the Golden State NetVU Chapter for our one-hour AMS360 Accounting session with Angela Adams Consulting's Cathy Biby. Learn about these hot topics:
- Embezzlement - It will never happen to us! Or will it?
- Is your trust account in balance?
- Are you running these reports to understand your business?
Wednesday, 9/13 at 1:00 p.m. Central – Understanding Office 365, Presented by AppRiver - AppRiver has been helping businesses answer their Office 365 questions since the beginning, and in the process, logged the highest cloud service provider scores ever measured by independent evaluators of customer experience. We know you have questions, and we’re ready to help.
Wednesday, 9/20 at 11:00 a.m. Central – See What You Get in AMS360 — Lesson 2 - New Business: We’ll talk about tracking, recording, and understanding new business considerations from entry to quality control.
Join this five-part series to learn how data flows through your AMS360 system, how consistently used workflows impact all aspect of data quality, and why it is important to audit your data at all touch points to ensure data quality and integrity.
Wednesday, 9/27 at 11:00 a.m. Central – See What You Get in AMS360 — Lesson 3 - Policy Changes: We’ll talk about endorsements from processing to tracking to quality control.
Join this five-part series to learn how data flows through your AMS360 system, how consistently used workflows impact all aspect of data quality, and why it is important to audit your data at all touch points to ensure data quality and integrity.
Tuesday, 10/3 at 1:00 p.m. Central – Save the Date for a Presention by AppRiver - Save the date for a virtual webinar brought to you by NetVU Gold Partner, AppRiver.
Wednesday, 10/4 at 11:00 a.m. Central – See What You Get in AMS360 — Lesson 4 - Cancellations: What is lost — is it really lost? And other considerations across your agency.
Join this five-part series to learn how data flows through your AMS360 system, how consistently used workflows impact all aspect of data quality, and why it is important to audit your data at all touch points to ensure data quality and integrity.
Wednesday, 10/4 at 1:00 p.m. Central – How Vertafore Agents Are Using eDocs and Messages, Presented by IVANS - Join this webinar presented by IVANS’ Kathy Hrach and Jones-Wenner’s Joyce Sigler to see how eDocs and Messages work with your Vertafore management system. Discover how eDocs and Messages can help increase insurer-agency connectivity.
Thursday, 10/5 at 12:30 p.m. Central – QQCatalyst — Agency Checkup — NetVU Education - Join Vertafore’s Dickinson Merrin for this webinar that will serve as a routine checkup for agencies to determine if they have the right people, the right processes and the right positioning.