6/7/2018

Accelerate, Powered by NetVU, Points Vertafore Users to the Future

Over 2,000 property-casualty insurance professionals gathered in Atlanta last month for Accelerate, powered by NetVU. Agents, brokers, MGAs and insurance carriers who rely on Vertafore products to manage their firms converged on the Georgia World Congress Center, May 17–19, for three days of meetings, educational sessions and industry recognition.

It was the 40th anniversary of NetVU’s first users conference, also held in Atlanta; and it was the first year the conference featured a new name, “Accelerate, powered by NetVU.”

“Whether it was learning from industry experts, networking with peers or seeing the latest solutions in the exhibit hall, Accelerate, powered by NetVU, pointed us to the future, providing attendees with cutting-edge knowledge to improve efficiency, enhance profitability and drive growth in their firms,” says NetVU CEO Kitty Ambers, CIC, CPIA, CISR.

The conference attracted 600 first-time attendees, giving many their first glimpse into what NetVU has to offer Vertafore users. A full 15% of attendees were agency principals, signifying the importance of the conference in the eyes of decision-makers. In addition, 10% were company or MGA personnel. The majority (70%) of attendees said they use AMS360 as their primary office management system, while 17% said they use Sagitta.

General Sessions

The conference boasted two general sessions, featuring Vertafore CEO Amy Zupon, generational expert and author Jason Dorsey, and NetVU’s executive leaders — Kitty Ambers, Chairman Brent Rineck, CPCU, CLU, ChFC, and Chairman-elect Michael J. Foy.

Rineck spoke about the accelerating pace of change and its impact on technology users. He noted that the name “Accelerate” aptly describes the ever-increasing speed at which we are learning, adapting and connecting. “We need to chart our way through an increasingly complex world,” he said, and NetVU is the way forward, preparing its members for the future.

Foy noted that while it’s important to embrace change, we must do so in a disciplined way and not forget that relationships matter the most in the insurance business. “Relationships trump technology,” he said. “We need to get the tech piece right, but at the end of the day it’s all about people helping people.”

Zupon announced a number of changes to Vertafore products, including powerful new updates to AMS360 and ImageRight. These will include the capability to create commercial property-casualty proposals, automatic e-docs processing, business process analytics, optical character recognition, and numerous other enhancements and improvements. In addition, Zupon announced the expansion of Vertafore’s compliance network on Sircon.

Education, Recognition & Product Demos

NetVU’s annual conference combines hands-on experience from users and Vertafore experts to provide a unique blend of learning. “We had an amazing lineup of sessions — 187 separate breakouts on all the major Vertafore systems and products,” Ambers says. “There were also tracks on carrier education, executive leadership and IT/tech education. A new ‘Go Grow U’ track focused on technology, marketing, branding and workplace issues.”

NetVU also recognized those who have made significant and lasting contributions to the NetVU community and insurance industry at its Awards Gala. Winners were announced for this year’s automation excellence, technology advocacy, leadership, volunteer service and chapter management awards. The 25 participants in NetVU’s inaugural Volunteer Development Program were also recognized, along with chapter and NCOM MVPs and Vertafore’s most engaged employees.

In the exhibit hall, vendors and technology providers showcased innovative products and services, and demonstrated how firms can more fully utilize their business and customer relationship management systems. In the TechHub, attendees learned firsthand about product enhancements and had one-on-one discussions with Vertafore experts.

Giving Back to the Community

This year’s conference included a Day of Caring with MUST Ministries, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to serving neighbors in need. NetVU volunteers put together 1,000 “blessing bags” filled with toiletries, decorated 5,000 bags for children and assembled 10,000 flatware sets. The Georgia NetVU Group and Vertafore’s Atlanta office helped coordinate and The Cincinnati Insurance Company sponsored the event.

In a second effort, attendees also raised $12,827 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation by purchasing 628 teddy bears, over half of which were then donated to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, a local consortium of children’s hospitals.

Of course, no NetVU conference is complete without networking and entertainment. Chapter meet-and-greets, receptions and forums were held throughout the conference. This year’s Friday night party was the Vertafore End Zone Celebration at the College Football Hall of Fame, where attendees wore their favorite college football team gear.

To learn more about future NetVU events, and engage with other Vertafore users, be sure to connect on NCOM.


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Congrats to NetVU’s 2018 Volunteer of the Year, Cathy Hall

Cathy Hall, CPRM, CIC, AAI, AIM, chair of NetVU’s Chapter Committee, received this year’s Volunteer of the Year Award in Memory of James M. Gibson. The award recognizes an individual for outstanding volunteer service to NetVU and its members during the past year, and for leading through example and achieving results.

Hall is vice president and personal lines manager at Forest Agency Insurance, an independent firm in Forest Park, Illinois. She heads up the personal lines department and also manages IT.

Hall has been active in users groups since 2000 when her firm switched to AfW as a result of the Y2K scare. She has served as a chapter leader, NetVU Chapter Committee member and now Chapter Committee chair. She is also the Chapter Champion for NetVU’s virtual chapters. In addition, she helped rejuvenate the Windy City NetVU Chapter and currently serves as its president. She also is on the NetVU Advisory Board.

Tonya Wagner, CIC, CISR, personnel development manager for INSPRO Insurance in Lincoln, Nebraska, has served with Hall on the Chapter Committee. “This past year, Cathy took on the chair position and has done an excellent job,” Wagner says. “She is full of energy and ideas, and always thinking of new ways to get us engaged and interacting with each other. I always see her commenting on NCOM posts, providing ideas and knowledge to others.”

Hall is also active in the International Association of Insurance Professionals (formerly known as the National Association of Insurance Women). She was a founding member of her local chapter, the Northwest Suburban Insurance Professionals.

“I’ve been fortunate in that I came up in the industry believing in education and in users helping users,” Hall says. “I can’t imagine buying products designed to grow your business without investing in the training to get the most out of those products. That would be like giving someone a new car but not showing them how to drive it. NetVU’s local chapters do a great job of teaching members how to fully utilize their Vertafore products and focusing on local issues.”

Hall adds, “If you’re new to the NetVU community, I urge you to get involved. Start small — post a question or answer on NCOM, attend a chapter meeting and raise your hand. Ask what you can do to help. If you’re a new chapter leader, gather ideas from other leaders and reach out to your NetVU Chapter Champion. This is truly a great community of giving, caring volunteers, and we all want you to succeed.”

The award was presented to Hall at the May 16 Awards Gala at Accelerate, powered by NetVU, by Janet Tuttle, the 2017 winner, and Joyce Sigler, CISR, CPIW, CPIA, NcAM, NcSA, the 2009 winner.

To get engaged with a local or virtual NetVU chapter, visit us online.


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The Importance of Connectedness

Summer is upon us, and by now many of us find ourselves moving out of the hibernation mode that takes over in winter and the chilly early months of spring. Those cold, slow months impact our ability to get out, see others, stay engaged, and this can perpetuate feelings of loneliness and lack of connection. While this time of year’s gift of warmer temperatures and growing daylight makes it exponentially easier to get outside and reconnect with everybody from old friends to new coworkers, there are some simple steps any one of us — employers and employees, both remote and in-office — can put into practice all year long to stay better connected and less lonely. A recent piece on relieving loneliness in work culture aptly describes these tools for maintaining healthy connection and socially positivity no matter the season:

1. Take Advantage of Digital Social Tools to Strengthen Relationships.

“Sitting alone in front of a screen all day may be the root of isolation, but that's also where you find some of the most powerful tools to bring people together” says author and founder of Acceleration Partners, Matt Wool. Leverage social tools so that employees, both in office and remotely, can communicate regularly, confer support, and publicly share positive thoughts and congratulations with each other as individuals. When employees feel seen and known, there’s no place for loneliness. A bonus to this is that the act itself of encouraging and praising forges connection: “Letting someone else know that you value them is a great bonding experience. This helps keep the virtual high-fives going, as it motivates employees to pay it forward.”

2. Prioritize Face-to-Face Communication

We communicate a lot through body language and vocal inflection, which is made possible with face-to-face conversations either in person or via video. When meetings frequently offer face-to-face interaction in person through video chat, employees experience greater sense of belonging and integration. Employees then avoid the “disconnectedness caused by miscommunication, which can damage working relationships and increase feelings of isolation.” On top of that, feeling fully present in personal or video meetings increases employees’ and employers’ engagement and makes it possible everyone to benefit from a feeling of team coherence and unity.

3. Support In-Person Connection

For in office employees, this means providing accessible, work-friendly spaces that encourage collaboration, social interaction, and meaningful engagement. For remote workers, this might look like “hiring hubs” which enable employees working in a given geographical area “to meet if they want to collaborate or just interact socially with their colleagues,” but this idea applies to in-office employers and employees as well. Don’t think that just because workers sit by each other in cubicles that they feel connected—fostering meaningful interaction that allows employees to work together productively in person and also get connected socially will decrease isolation and boost your work culture’s social positivity.

4. Hire the Right Talent

Use unbiased tools that help you assess and hire people who are good candidates for your company’s work culture. Testing and filtering that removes personal identifiers which bias us and prevent us from accurately assessing skill and professional compatibility allows you to employ qualified, reliable workers. When employees have clear expectations of the degree of interaction, pace of work, and other dynamics of the work environment, and you’re mutually agreed they’re a good fit, your workforce is poised to be engaged, collaborative, and productive, no matter whether they’re sitting in a cubicle or working in their remote home office.

Appreciating the spring and summer seasons’ natural affinity for positivity and connectedness, it’s important to remember that humans need personal connection and meaningful interaction all year long. Thankfully, as both in-office and remote workers and employers, we have practical steps that help each other stay productive, resilient and engaged, combating isolation and fostering connectedness all year long.

WAHVE.com

About 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.


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SAUCI’S Allyne Miller Honored for Her Many Years of Leadership

Allyne R. Miller, operations manager for Allen Lawrence & Associates in Canoga Park, California, is this year’s winner of the Leadership Award in Memory of Louie E. Woodbury Jr. The award recognizes longtime leadership, proven achievement, and contributions to NetVU and the industry.

Miller has long been recognized for her leadership in the Sagitta All Users Chapter Inc. (SAUCI). She was a founding member of SAUCI and currently serves as its treasurer; she served as the Sagitta education chair in 2011; and she serves on the board of her local chapter.

Tonya Wagner, CIC, CISR, president of the Midwest Sagitta Users Group and personnel development manager for INSPRO Insurance in Lincoln, Nebraska, was one of those who nominated Miller for the award. “Allyne’s passion for Sagitta, and the community of professionals that surrounds it, is a key part of keeping us all together and moving forward,” Wagner says.

“She was at the center of seeing the Sagitta Custom to Core project through to completion, giving us the ability to control whether custom fields would carry from one policy renewal to the next,” Wagner notes. “This was a huge win for many agencies, and without her leadership in making that happen for SAUCI, it would have been available only to a select few instead of everyone in the core product.”

Brad Booth, a systems and data specialist at SullivanCurtisMonroe in Irvine, California, and a member of the NetVU Chapter Committee, credits Miller with helping to save the Pacific West Sagitta Users Group. “The chapter may not have existed anymore if not for her,” he says. “She has pushed to keep chapters alive, and she is always ready to ‘voluntell’ someone that they are needed. This is how I became involved so deeply in the users group.”

At Allen Lawrence & Associates, Miller has been the operations manager for 19 years, managing all administrative and processing departments. She has primary responsibility for all commercial and personal lines workflow, along with the implementation, use and auditing of all automation systems.

“It’s easy to say ‘get involved,’ but just being part of your local chapter introduces you to the workings of Vertafore, NetVU and other agencies working with the same products as your agency,” Miller says of her volunteer experience.

“Learning the ins and outs of how other agencies handle the process and bringing that back to your office is how you enhance your role within your agency,” she adds. “Once you are comfortable with the local chapter, you can work with NetVU to be a committee volunteer or even help people with directions at conference.”

To connect with Miller and other SAUCI members, visit their community on NCOM. To join NetVU’s volunteer efforts, please complete this quick survey.


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Of Course, Alexa Has Control of Your House

Recent reports of the amazing eavesdropping power and home control Amazon's Alexa has (similar to other voice-assistance devices) should not surprise. It's inherent in how these virtual assistants work.

Alexa has to always be listening to be able to respond to a voice command that may come from you yelling across the kitchen. She has to be ready to respond to back-and-forth question-response to receive further clarifying instructions if needed, so she often may keep listening in case you may add a detail. She needs to record the conversations onto Amazon computers and transcribe the resulting instruction, in order to process the data and invoke the commands. She takes good notes of what you would like to have happen (i.e. keep logs that Amazon staff can see, in case there is a need to trouble shoot). She has access (or will soon) to your internet connected devices (think door locks, heating, lights, and much more as people upgrade utilities).

And, you have invited her into your house to hang around the main areas where you may need her assistance.

So, considering you know all of this, why then might you be shocked by the reports that are starting to come in; about how Alexa may not be perfect, or may be “spying” on you?

Here are two interesting reports that may open your eyes to what is to come in the near future.

Amazon is reported to have confirmed that Alexa, while listening in to a muffled background conversation, misinterpreted the discussion for commands to record the conversation and send to someone in the contact list. There was shock all around when a stranger received a recording of someone else’ living room banter. Alexa keeps recordings of your conversations. Alexa can share these. It seems from the reports that Amazon staff can listen to recordings or read transcripts (in the name of "troubleshooting" or "improving" service).

Researchers have identified ways to create hidden commands that humans cannot hear, but Alexa (and Siri and Google Assistant) can. They can embed these commands into normal music that you may ask Alexa to play. When Alexa plays the song, the embedded (human inaudible) commands could be asking Alexa to open the door, record a conversation and send it somewhere, or to do other things (based on what devices are connected to your home network). Perhaps ultrasonic commands could be sent through your windows to awake Alexa and task her with an activity.

These are early days of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Digital Assistants. Alexa is just a few years old. She is like an old Motorola flip phone compared to the power and influence she will have when she becomes a teenager, in a few years to come.

Privacy may become a quaint concept for those that want to enjoy the latest technological innovations; for those that invite Amazon, Google, and Apple into their living rooms.

To learn more visit www.rmail.com.


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How to Get in Front of Your Ideal Prospects

Insurance is and always will be a relationship business. With today’s insurance buyer visiting up to a dozen digital touchpoints, mobilizing your online marketing in a targeted, smart way is essential to capturing and engaging your ideal insurance buyer’s attention. So, what’s the best way to get in front of online insurance prospects for the type of business you like to write?

Choosing the right tools and tactics to build your online brand and visibility . . . but deciding where to invest your time and money is often easier said than done. The team at Agency Nation set out to change that by building valuable, tactical resources for small- to mid-size agencies to help them excel in today’s competitive, digitally driven marketplace.

Learn Digital Marketing by Doing

Whether you want to enhance your close ratios with video proposals, build email campaigns targeted to niche prospects or place your first ad on Facebook, Agency Nation’s University members learn digital marketing by doing.

The educational hub’s on-demand workshops are taught by industry pros who work in and know the insurance industry. Each course offers an actionable blueprint to achieve real results, using the right digital tools. Plus, access to a private online community and interactive coaching keep members moving forward.

According to independent agent and Agency Nation University member Alex Dopazo, “Whether you are already in the trenches of digital marketing, thinking about it or even if you just want to find out how your competition is doing it, the courses are a MUST for all independent agency owners and agency marketers."

If you’re ready to step into the future with digital marketing tactics that really work, Agency Nation offers NetVU members an exclusive offer to a monthly membership for only $77/month—a $20 discount off the regular monthly fee.

Email [email protected] to introduce yourself and request a no-obligation demo—the Agency Nation team would love to show you around. And hurry, the offer expires June 30, 2018!


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The Payment Processor Changing the Insurance Game

It’s undeniable. If you’re not adapting to the ever-evolving landscape of technology, you’re lagging. We live in a world where we can 3D print organs, control the temperature of our homes from the office, and even get in line for the DMV online!

So, why would anyone opt to use outdated processes when everything they need is right at their fingertips? Enter ePayPolicy - the tech company that created an insurance payment processor to trump all others.

ePayPolicy allows agents and brokers to accept payments via credit card and ACH, while also passing on the transaction fees to the insured. The payment solution effectively eliminates the need for paper checks, and instead focuses on utilizing technology to improve each customer’s bottom line.

“We only had one goal,” said co-founder Milan Malkani. “Todd [Sorrel] and I wanted to make accepting and tracking payments more efficient for insurance professionals,” he said. “It was that simple.” Sorrel, ePayPolicy’s other co-founder, views the payment processor as a game-changer for the industry.

“Our clients don’t have to default to paper checks anymore, which are continuing to decline,” he said. “With us, customers can accept credit cards, speed up receivables, and bind policies faster than ever,” said Sorrel. “And they can do it all while improving the payer’s user experience.”

Several state associations, including IIAT, MAIA, IIABCal, and more, endorse ePayPolicy as their payment processor of choice, with several of them citing the company’s numerous integrations as a deciding factor.

“One of the biggest things that stood out to us was their integration with AIM,” said Teresa Hamm, Accounting Specialist at Towerstone, Inc. “We looked into several credit card processors, but we just kept coming back to [ePayPolicy].”

Vertafore’s AIM is just one of several management systems that integrates with ePayPolicy, with Sagitta, FinancePro (both Vertafore systems), MGA Systems, and i-Engineering’s ALIS also on the growing list.

“The reality is that tech is here to stay,” said Malkani. “Our customers realize that, and they want a solution for a more seamless payment experience,” he said. “ePayPolicy is that solution.”