4/5/2018

NetVU Newsflash - tips, tricks, and events for users of vertafore products
NetVU
Education
Chapters
NCOM
Partners

Volunteer Power Strengthens Accelerate & You Can Take Part!

 

While education will always be the No. 1 reason for Vertafore users to attend Accelerate, powered by NetVU, opportunities for volunteering rank high as well. In fact, Norm Meister with Tri County Insurance Services in Woodland Hills, California, says, “Volunteering at conference is just as important as the education. It is so rewarding to help others enhance their conference experience.”

 

From the breakout instructors to the registration greeters, volunteers power this conference and contribute to its high level of enthusiasm. Nowhere is this more evident than in the friendly, eager group of volunteers who serve as greeters and help attendees find their way to registration or breakout sessions.

 

Notes Meister, “It’s especially rewarding to help the first-time attendees find the right educational sessions, set up their name badges, or tell them where to go for lunch and networking receptions. Something as simple as providing directions to any attendee is usually rewarded with a smile and a thank you. It’s just a great experience seeing so many people and being able to lend a hand.”

 

 

To volunteer at Accelerate, powered by NetVU, May 17–19, simply go to the online sign-up page. Volunteer opportunities are listed by area and time slot. The number of volunteers still needed for each area and a description of volunteer responsibilities are also shown. Here are specific areas where we need you:

 

  • Registration greeter
  • Directional assistant
  • NetVU Neighborhood volunteer (for seasoned conference attendees who can answer questions about all aspects of NetVU and Accelerate)
  • Chapter meet-and-greet usher

 

“My No. 1 reason for volunteering is that I love meeting new people and getting to network with them,” explains Shyla Lankford, CRIS, NcAM, with Lipscomb & Assoc. in Dallas, Texas. “My favorite place to volunteer is the registration desk. This allows me to take a minute with each person who comes to my queue, greet them and help them find their way.”

 

Day of Caring, another volunteering opportunity at the conference, gives attendees a chance to give back to the local community. This year’s Day of Caring project will support MUST Ministries, an Atlanta-area nonprofit dedicated to serving those in need. Volunteers will put together 1,000 “blessing bags” filled with toiletries, decorate 5,000 bags for children and assemble 10,000 flatware sets.

 

 

“The Day of Caring is a great way to spend some time with a smaller group of people volunteering with one of the local charities,” Lankford says. “If you are coming a day early and can participate, I highly recommend it.”

 

 

This year’s Day of Caring will be Wednesday, May 16, 1–4 p.m., at the Georgia World Congress Center. Conference attendees are welcome to join as their schedule permits but should register online. See the Day of Caring page to register and to find out about donating items for the project.

 

 

Kevin N. Wheeler, CIC, CPIA, CFI, with Cardinal Insurance Services, Indianapolis, Indiana, is a past NetVU chairman and a big believer in volunteering. “Giving back to help others has been such a great reward, and NetVU has been an organization unlike any other that I have been involved in. Agents — who typically are competitors — are at the same table working on issues that affect their agencies, their business and the industry — all to make themselves and our industry better.”

 

 

It’s not too late to register for Accelerate, powered by NetVU. Information about registration, hotel accommodations, events and education tracks can be found at the Accelerate website.

Sign Up to Volunteer

The Real “Millennials”? Older Americans

By Sharon Emek, Ph.D., CIC

Known for their prioritizing of personal values over pecuniary interests, Millennials are considered the generation most likely to challenge the practices of the traditional workforce and radically shift the working landscape. While they’re certainly driving the working world to reconsider its practices, it’s older Americans who are more extensively embodying these qualities most stereotypically attributed to the youngest generation in the workforce.

 

A recent piece for The Atlantic paints a picture of a “generation of U.S. workers with those non-monetary values and gig-style jobs” that’s not Millennials but rather America’s oldest generation. It might sound bizarre to consider that the generation that worked the nine-to-five office job, clocking in decades of quintessential 40-hour-work-week discipline could be described as such, but Derek Thompson, who wrote this article paints a vivid picture of the conditions that have led older Americans to be actually more millennial than Millennials themselves:

 

“There is little question that an aging workforce — and an aging country — is one of the most important features of the modern economy. By 2024, one quarter of the workforce will be 55 and over — more than twice what the share was in 1994. And as they extend their working years, sometimes by choice and sometimes by necessity, it’s older Americans who are quietly adopting Millennial stereotypes, far more than actual Millennials are.”

 

Moving beyond the standard career model that concludes in a complete removal from the workforce, retirement-age Americans are coming to increasingly adopt alternative employment opportunities that prioritize their lifestyle preferences, like increased time for family, travel, and hobbies, all the while meeting their either need or desire to continue earning income and engaging their advanced professional skillset. As Thompson explains it, the “stereotype of the carefree freelancer who values meaning over money seems like it would most apply to somebody who’s not desperately poor, yet is anxious enough about their financial condition to work several jobs to make extra cash.” Which is exactly where an increasing number of retirement-age professionals are finding themselves.

 

 

With Americans over 65 being four times more likely to be working part-time jobs or to be self-employed than Americans in their mid-30s and under, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as workers from 55 to 75 years of age being 70 percent more likely to be engaged in freelance or part-time work, non-standard work arrangements are becoming a major workforce trend in the last decade, and older Americans are driving it.

US Labor force shares by age

 

In industries like insurance, which face daunting talent gaps if the majority of their retirement-age professionals follow past protocol and retire fully, it behooves employers to consider how the gig-economy and contract-based employment might be mutually beneficial to both employers and the generation of seasoned professionals that are proving themselves still to be incredibly capable of work, as well as highly adaptive and motivated to continue earning income creatively and efficiently.

About the Author

Sharon Emek - meet the author

Sharon Emek, Ph.D., CIC, is founder and CEO of Work At Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE). WHAVE is a unique contract staffing talent solution that brings companies and pretiring professionals together across the country to meet their work needs, full-time or part-time. WAHVE’s areas of specialty are insurance and accounting. Companies get the right matched talent and vintage experts get to extend their careers working from home.

Generational Expert Jason Dorsey to Keynote Accelerate, Powered by NetVU

Acclaimed generational expert and author Jason Dorsey will be the keynote speaker at Accelerate, powered by NetVU, May 17-19, in Atlanta, Georgia. Dorsey will speak at the general session luncheon on Friday, May 18.

 

Dorsey is the author of Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business, and My Reality Check Bounced! He is the president and cofounder of The Center for Generational Kinetics, a research and consulting firm in Austin, Texas. The firm solves tough generational challenges for clients around the world, delivering practical solutions grounded in research to drive measurable results.

 

At age 25, Dorsey was one of the youngest ever to win the “Austin Under 40 Entrepreneur of the Year” award for education. He now serves as an advisor to CEOs in industries ranging from software and real estate to retail and venture capital.

 

He has been interviewed on 60 Minutes, 20/20, The Today Show and in The New York Times. Adweek has called him a “research guru.” A sought after, high-energy speaker, he was a featured TED Talk presenter in Houston in 2015.

 

“Jason Dorsey is the perfect speaker to keynote Accelerate, powered by NetVU,” says Barb Dale, CPIW, CISR, CPCU, this year’s conference chairman. “Jason works with leaders around the world to separate myth from truth when it comes to generations. He’s repositioned global brands to win different generations, advised leaders on multi-billion-dollar acquisitions, and taken clients from last to first in employee retention and customer growth.”

What do we know about the generation after millennials? | Jason Dorsey | TEDxHouston

 

Dorsey’s presentation will give conference attendees new insights and strategies on generations in the workplace. “Generations are not boxes, but powerful clues that drive measurable results,” Dorsey says. “They are so predictive in driving communication, trust, innovation, sales and growth.”

 

Information about Dorsey’s groundbreaking research on generations can be found on the Findings page of The Center for Generational Kinetics website. Downloadable white papers include “The State of Gen Z,” “Generations on the Move,” “Millennials and Banking” and the “Future of Digital Experiences.”

 

The center’s research has uncovered hidden spending drivers that are different for older versus younger millennials; key insights that increase employee retention across generations; and unexpected ways to shape how Gen Z thinks about investing, employment and brand trust.

 

Accelerate, powered by NetVU, is the premier learning and networking event for Vertafore users. Information about registration, hotel accommodations, events and education tracks can be found on the Accelerate website.

See the Full Event Schedule
Start thinking Smarter About Technology

Stop Thinking Regional vs. National; Start Thinking Smarter about Technology

By Michael Foy

Regional or national?

 

That’s a question producers have long considered when deciding where to place their business—whether to go with a regional company that has close relationships with their agency and a keen understanding of the market, or to choose a national carrier that may have an advantage in pricing or coverage.

 

Technology was supposed to upset the applecart. Those companies that had deep pockets to invest in technology — presumably the largest carriers — would be the winners. Digitalization would create greater efficiencies and provide new ways to measure and control risk, engage with customers, and drive down prices. Small and regional carriers, it was thought, would be squeezed out of the market because they couldn’t modernize fast enough.

 

Technology is certainly transforming our industry. There have been a dizzying number of developments in just the last few years: big data, mobile platforms, the Internet of Things (IoT), telematics, drones, wearables, artificial intelligence — to name just a few. It’s an exciting time, but the digitalization of insurance is happening slowly and unevenly. McKinsey & Company has reported that digital penetration is still less than 40 percent in the financial services sector (February 2017 McKinsey Quarterly article, “The case for digital reinvention“), and I would guess it’s even less in insurance.

 

What this means is that the regionals are still very much in the game, and the smart companies—the ones that do technology right—will have a leg up on everyone else, regardless of size.

 

In my judgment, regional carriers still have an advantage because they have close ties with their agents and brokers, they tailor products to meet the needs of the local market, they can make underwriting decisions quickly, and they can change their business processes faster than the nationals. However, they are not immune to disruption or competition. So here’s what all carriers need to be doing to better serve agents and brokers and their policyholders:

 

  • Get the technology spend right. A number of regionals in our area have stepped up their technology spending. They’re collaborating with each other to make their processes more efficient and investing in new systems that make sense for everyone involved—the carrier, agent and consumer. They share ideas and discuss solutions they’ve implemented for their agents and policyholders. They understand that if one of them makes the vendor system better, it benefits everyone through reduced costs and a better user experience. While regional companies may not offer fancy apps like the big direct writers do, they still can provide 90 percent of what a consumer wants online, such as bill pay, claims reporting and ID cards. They also understand what I need as a producer on a day-to-day basis, and they usually get it right.

 

  • Use agents as a sounding board and ally for change. Too often carriers pay lip service to their agency advisory councils or don’t even solicit agent input. I’ve seen companies roll out new systems with glitches like not being able to notify the agent that a renewal has been issued. Things like that drive agents nuts and could be avoided altogether by establishing a channel for users to provide feedback before new systems are implemented.

 

  • Don’t be selfish with automation. Automation that saves the company money but puts an additional burden on agents is not really an improvement. Having the agent mail the policy to the policyholder saves the company money, but it raises our costs. Allowing the policyholder to update an auto policy online is great, but when we can’t access the declaration page and print it out or do a binder that is satisfactory to the bank or dealer, then it’s not really a cost savings. Increased efficiencies should have end-to-end benefits—from the company to the agent to the policyholder.

 

  • Use data analytics to help agents be successful. Insurers collect tons of data, but they don’t always share it with their agents in meaningful ways. Companies are doing a relatively good job of sifting data to analyze claims losses, measure marketing effectiveness, underwrite and price more accurately, and provide more tailored products. It’s rare, though, for a company to extend that analysis to an agent’s book of business. I appreciate those companies that are willing to provide insight into my customers—for example, show me which clients are vulnerable to switching to another carrier. By partnering with the companies on analytics, we can work together to retain business, increase sales, improve customer satisfaction and drive down costs.

 

  • Understand that relationships matter. Smaller companies may not be able to invest in new technology at the same level as the big nationals, but they make up for it in other ways. That Zig Ziglar quote—”You don’t build a business. You build people, and people build the business“—very much holds true today. All things being equal, relationships trump technology. As they invest in technology, companies need to do it in a way that builds lasting relationships with their agents.

 

  • Get active in industry groups. Agents that are involved in groups like the Agents Council for Technology (ACT), AUGIE, ACORD and ID Federation are passionate about creating a culture of innovation. These organizations are bringing together key players in our industry to collaborate on technology solutions. User groups such as Network of Vertafore Users (NetVU) are a force in advocating for systemwide efficiencies and greater productivity. For example, the Vertafore Connectivity Forum held in conjunction with the Accelerate, powered by NetVU, Conference (to be held next in May 2018), is an excellent in-person learning opportunity for connecting technology users with vendors. Through industry forums like these, we can work to improve operations for agents and carriers and pass along those savings to our policyholders as well as increase customer service.

 

Technology can help everyone in our industry better meet customer expectations and improve profitability. So whether you are a regional or national company, being nimble is important. Being tech-savvy is important. But don’t forget the importance of building solid relationships with your agents and brokers.

View Michael Foy's Bio
Central Illinois Users Group Chapter Chair, Donna Parker

Off & Running: New NetVU Chapter, Central Illinois Users Group

The Central Illinois Users Group is one of NetVU’s newest chapters. The group, founded by its president, Donna Parker, CISR, NcIA, began last September and recently held its second meeting in Normal, Illinois. Participants learned about AMS360, PL Rating, accounting and farm data entry.

 

“I started the group last year after deciding that driving two-and-a-half hours to Chicago, St. Louis or Indianapolis for a NetVU meeting was too far,” says Parker, who is a producer and the manager at Peterson Insurance Services Inc. in Clinton, Illinois. “I felt we needed a chapter in our area, which is very rural — one that focused on farm and crop insurance as well as personal and commercial lines.” Working with NetVU , agencies within a 60-mile radius that use AMS360 or Vertafore Agency Platform were contacted to see if they might be interested in joining, and she posted invitations on NCOM.

 

While the group is still small it is growing, and Parker has ambitious plans for the future. “We’re hoping to meet quarterly, with our next meeting in late June,” she says. “We’re also looking at ways to partner with carriers and vendors to secure speakers and offer courses through The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research. The real value of the group is the networking, though, and we’re already seeing the benefits of that.”

 

Parker points to several connections that came out of the group’s recent meeting. “During our discussion time, one of the attendees said she felt PL Rating wasn’t very accurate,” Parker relates. “I knew from my own experience that it is capable of generating extremely accurate quotes, and I thought perhaps she needed some help. So I invited anyone who wanted to learn more about PL Rating to come to our office for a meeting with a person on our staff who is an expert. Another attendee has volunteered to do the same thing with farm data entry, which also came up at our meeting.

 

“That’s the benefit of NetVU,” she says. “We’re sharing information with other agencies that would ordinarily be competitors. It’s about working together to increase our collective knowledge so that we can all use our systems more efficiently and accurately.”

 

Parker says the group’s meetings are small enough that “everyone feels comfortable asking and responding to questions. We’re also close enough that we can visit each other’s offices. We like having one-on-one meetings where we can see each other and solve a problem together.”

 

Parker has been with Peterson Insurance Services since 2008. The agency uses AMS360, Vertafore Agency Platform, ReferenceConnect, PL Rating and an accounting add-on. “We are paperless at our agency thanks to AMS360,” she says. “If our building burned down, we wouldn’t have to worry. We could log in to any computer and everything would be there. We went on AMS360 in 2011, and by the end of 2012 we didn’t have any filing cabinets left.”

 

Parker is a big believer in automation. “Everything is in our system,” she explains. “The declaration page, application, any discussion with clients — it’s all there. The system gives you every tool you need. You just have to be willing to learn to use all of its features.”

 

“In this business, you have to be willing to adapt,” she adds. “Everything is changing, including technology. If you’re not willing to change, you’re going to stagnate.”

 

Parker encourages other NetVU members to get involved locally. “Join a group,” she says. “It’s an extremely valuable resource. You’ll meet people you can call at a moment’s notice and ask for help.”

 

Central Illinois Users Group Officers

President: Donna Parker, CISR, NcIA, Peterson Insurance Services Inc., Clinton, Illinois

 

Vice President: Lyndi Boensel, CISR, Ogden Insurance, Petersburg, Illinois

 

Secretary/Treasurer: Rebecca Billiter, CISR, McAfee Insurance Services, Pana, Illinois

Learn more about Chapters
Why the Best Email Evidence does not Eliminate the Entirety of Disputes

Why the Best Email Evidence does not Eliminate the Entirety of Disputes

It is well accepted worldwide that the Registered Receipt™ email record is the gold standard for email proof --- timestamped and verifiable proof of successful email delivery including content delivered, regardless of recipient settings, and without need for any recipient compliant action or clicks (watch 10-minute technical overview video).

Empower your email video

 

Many prestigious law, insurance, and financial services associations and regulatory bodies, like The Florida Bar, have endorsed this for over a decade. The largest companies, law firms, governmental organizations, including the United States Government Accountability Office (the arm of the US Congress that audits the US Federal Government) and United Nations have been using for more than a decade for email delivery proof.

 

Why, then, will this best evidence not eliminate the entirety of disputes about who sent what when, whether and when received, or what was said, by email?

 

Simple. People often like to debate; and often (lawyers) are paid to debate.

 

So, what happens in the real world situation if you (an email sender) have irrefutable timestamped, third-party authenticatable proof of email content delivered (in the form of a Registered Receipt email record), but the recipient says, "I didn't get it?"

 

The first step is to simply forward the sender's Registered Receipt email record. This is a standalone record of the forensic delivery detail as well as the content delivered. Since there is no storage of the information elsewhere, this receipt is specially electronically packaged to be not only self-contained, but verifiable by anyone that holds it. When forwarding the receipt, the sender can simply say, "you may forward the receipt by email as instructed on it, if you would like to independently verify its authenticity and have more forensic data and original message content re-constructed automatically. There is no cost to do this, so feel free to verify it yourself or forward it to your IT staff or consultants for them to verify."

 

Sometimes even after doing this, the receiver will come forth with some excuse and say, "but I still did not get the email." Since the receipt shows the record of the receiver's agent signing for the message (the mail server they authorized on the Internet to be listed as their agent to accept their email) and often more information related to the IP addresses, network path, server, and mailbox or opened data, this excuse is no different than the sender having a FedEx receipt signed by the office manager and the office staff member claiming they didn't get the FedEx. What happens in this situation? The sender has proof they met their obligation to deliver. The receipt protects the sender. As long as the sender is not required to confirm that the recipient read and understood the information, the sender is protected. (Note, if the sender needs a record the recipient understood specific text or they need to obtain a legal signature on a document, try RSign).

 

 

Consider a registered investment advisor having an obligation to deliver notice of investment risks. Proof of delivery of the risks protects the investment advisor. The investment advisor is not required to verify whether or not the client read the risk statements. The Registered Receipt proof of delivery proves the investment advisor met their obligation without need for a recipient to click a link or acknowledge. By contrast, sending a link to "retrieve" a risk disclosure (with proof of having sent a link) will not protect the sender as the information is not delivered unless the recipient clicks to download and download was completed successfully in a readable format.

 

 

There are endless excuses -- old world excuses transposed to electronic. The most common being, "it must have been flagged as spam". While this may be a reason why the recipient never read the message, it is not different (legally) than someone saying they did not read their mail because the important letter got mixed in with all the coupons, marketing mail, and credit card offers sent to them in the mail; or, their office manager signed for the certified letter, but they were out of the office so did not get it.

 

Lawmakers considered all of these situations and issues when they developed the standard definitions for legal delivery of email, which have been adopted in some form in countries worldwide. This is most clearly read in US state law; in the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, Section 15(b) and (e). Locke Lord, a premier law firm has prepared a landmark analysis of these issues in a 30-page legal analysis available (Click here, See page 11). Readers may find this is useful to cite as it not only includes reference to the statutes and case law, but also discusses these in the context of common questions and answers. (For those in the UK, read analysis here)

 

What is the bottom line?

 

If you send your important email and have a Registered Receipt email record that proves delivery, you have the upper hand in any dispute. You have shifted the argument from a receiver claiming that you (the sender) did not do what you were supposed to do within a specific timeframe, to the recipient putting forth excuses trying to defend their position as to why they may not have "seen" or "read" the email. This is a far better position to be in, in any situation. And, with the verifiable forensic record of the Registered Receipt email, and legal analyses supporting this record, you will have the courtroom edge should the dispute formalize.

 

RMail includes Registered Email™ services, which return a Registered Receipt email delivery proof record for each message sent by RMail.

 

To learn more visit www.rmail.com

 

Learn More
Tips and Tricks from NCOM

Month End Reports

 

Which reports does your agency run at month end?

 

 

| Read More |

Office365

 

 

For those currently using Office365, are you using the premium secuity version with encryption?

| Read More |

Posting Commission Statements

Any suggestions on splitting commissions statements once business is sold to another agency?

| Read More |

NetVU Partners

FOUNDING PARTNER

2018 Founding NetVU Partner
Vertafore

PLATINUM PARTNER

2018 Platinum Partner
app river
Imperial PFS
The Rough Notes Company

GOLD PARTNERS

Gold Corporate Partner
The Hartford
Nationwide
Travelers

SILVER PARTNERS

2018 Silver Corporate Partners

ACORD

 

AGENCY REVOLUTION

 

ANGELA ADAMS CONSULTING

 

ARCHWAY COMPUTERS

 

AVYST

 

BANKDIRECT CAPITAL

 

BRIGHTFIRE

 

CHUBB

 

CINCINNATI INSURANCE COMPANY

CORELOGIC

 

EMC INSURANCE

 

EPAY POLICY

 

THE HANOVER INSURANCE GROUP

 

INSURESIGN

 

IVANS

 

THE KOTTER GROUP

 

LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE

 

LINCHPIN-IT

 

MOTORISTS INSURANCE GROUP

 

OMNIA

 

PROGRESSIVE

 

QUIKER

 

RPOST

 

SELECTIVE

 

TRUSTEDCHOICE.COM

 

WAHVE

 

WESTFIELD