NetVU News Flash

September 2, 2016

Connection to PIA

NetVU CEO Kitty Ambers was featured in the June 2016 issue of PIA Connection. Her article "Don't Leave Money on the Table: Take Advantage of Your Tech User Group" noted the numerous resources available to independent agencies through NetVU.

NetVU proudly supports insurance agent organizations and actively reaches out to engage insurance professionals to support them on their journey toward full-system utilization. 

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NCOM Benefits

Many members sign up to be part of several communities, based on their specific roles and interests. They can get email notifications when a post or reply occurs. Or they can be notified through the NetVU mobile app.

Cathy Hall, vice president at Forest Agency in suburban Chicago, offers a handful of tips that can make your NCOM experience better:

• “Sign up for groups that interest you.” You can unregister later if you wish, or you can change notification frequency by topic if you’re getting too much or too little. I like instant notifications for groups I’m really following; if I know a quick answer for someone, I can just stop what I’m doing, give them an answer and then move on.

• “Download the app.” It’s a great way to get notified when something takes place in a group you’re following. In addition, it’s a really easy way to check activity when you’re away from the office.

• “Do more than just download the app; use it!” You can reply to questions through the app or via email. And you can always post a request for guidance or information through the app.

• “Be confident.” It’s easy to doubt whether you might have the best possible answer. Don’t worry about that. Just answer. You never know whether you might have just experienced something someone else is wondering about. Don’t doubt yourself; just share. 

• “Look for answers to questions you didn’t ask.” Take a few minutes here and there to scan through questions and answers. You may well find a topic that you never thought to ask about, but that might be a struggle for you or someone else in your company.

• “Keep the app running if you’re at a meeting.” There’s a new feature that lets you scan someone’s member bar code, which is in their member profile, and automatically connect to that person in the Community.

• “Update your profile.” Be sure to include a picture. This makes it easy for someone you may have met at an in-person meeting to recognize you and put that proverbial name with a face.

• “Let your colleagues know you’re a user.” Either encourage them to get involved or make sure they know they can come to you with questions, which you can then ask on the board to make their jobs easier.”

What advice do you have about NCOM? We’d love to hear and share that with others in the Community.

Learn more about how Cathy Hall connects with members 24/7 by reading her blog.

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Risk Advisories: Agents Council for Technology Tackles Changing Nature of Risk

Work Group releases first of six Risk Advisories. 

The Agents Council for Technology (ACT) ‘Changing Nature of Risk’ work group discusses drones, Peer-to-Peer and other critical trends in the first of six ‘Risk Advisories’ designed to evaluate the independent insurance agency system’s “Changing Nature of Risk: Moving from trends to critical action.”

The 'Risk Advisories' are intended to drive strategic discussions among industry leaders to help the distribution channel evolve. The advisories are short, focused overviews which define each trend, the implications to the independent insurance agency distribution, economic impacts, recommended actions and resources for more information.

While the Changing Nature of Risk work group will continue to tackle all major risk trends, the following are the first six issues, each addressed in their own ‘Risk Advisory’:

1. Telematics, in the insurance industry, refers to data about behavior that affects insurance premiums and acceptable level of risk. Telematics can be applied to tracking and diagnostics such as driver behavior, fuel management or maintenance scheduling, but it also includes GPS and navigations systems. Auto policies with premiums based on the telematics data is also referred to as usage-base insurance.  


2. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) insurance is new terminology for an old idea. Entities with commonality have been banding together to defray their financial risks for many years. Some of these approaches are known as risk retention groups, safety groups and risk pools. The major differentiator in these new efforts is the innovative use of new technologies that is improving customer service, product distribution and reducing costs.  


3. Machine Learning has the ability to impact the distribution channel by providing a new way to communicate with prospects and clients. By supplementing staff with timely, on-demand guidance, agencies, carriers, and vendors can improve service levels and better meet customer needs.  


4. Smart Homes & Buildings technology has the potential to have significant impact on underwriting, claims, and loss mitigation for property insurance in the near future. These technologies will enable the insurance industry to monitor, in real-time, the health and status of the insurance exposure (homes and buildings being one of the largest combined assets covered by insurance), as well as use analytics to identify loss potential prior to a loss.  


5. Drones continue to grow in popularity and as their useful applications increase, the exposures and insurance needs of consumers and businesses will also increase. In addition to becoming better educated on the impact drones will have on the independent agency system, it’s important to be proactive in developing products that will address personal and commercial consumer needs. 


6. The Sharing Economy is an ever-changing space with little to no regulation. Insurance carriers are struggling to create best practices and products in a timely manner, agents are unsure of what questions to ask and are opening themselves up for E&O exposures and consumers are vulnerable because they are unaware of exclusions on their policies. 

“ACT is pleased with the Changing Nature of Risk work group efforts to identify and discuss critical issues such as machine learning, drones, smart homes and how they impact the industry,” says Ron Berg, ACT executive director. “Although these technological developments and trends often present challenges, they’re also blooming with opportunities for agencies to build their business and provide better service.”

The complete ‘Risk Advisories’ on each topic are available on the ACT website.

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Securing Office 365 with Layered Security

Security is hands down the number one concern insurance companies have when considering moving their data to the cloud. And why wouldn’t it be? The cloud is your storage unit for all things personal, confidential and business-centric. You don’t want to hand that key out to just anyone. Office 365 can do a lot of things but, like most platforms, it can’t do everything. This is why a layered security approach is so important.

What is layered security?

Keep in mind that any single security defense may be flawed. And, unfortunately, the quickest way to find out is by falling victim to an attack. So the best defense is a series of defenses that can fill in any gaps that might exist in O365’s security arsenal. While each defense can be great on its own, layered security assumes that the whole is greater than a sum of its parts. Each defense is capable of protecting your network in ways that one another cannot, so incorporating several solutions into your security plan will increase your odds of keeping the bad guys out.

How can layered security benefit the insurance industry?

Layered security counts on the strength of one layer to protect the weakness in another. Insurers hold credit card information, medical/health information and other underwriting information, so it’s no surprise that they’re a major target for cybercriminals. Securing your network with a layered security approach weaves together a stronger defense against major data breaches and cybersecurity attacks to ensure your data is always in the safest of hands.

What are my options?

If you only worry about stopping spam, you open your network to Web-based malware attacks. And if your email filtering fails, you expose your workstations to phishing and virus attacks. Bottom line is that you need more security than just one platform can provide. You need a security suite! AppRiver has you covered with SecureTide™ Spam and Virus Protection, CipherPost Pro™ Email Encryption and SecureSurf™ Web Protection. These solutions work together to give your business the maximum protection it needs without the risk that it doesn’t! We welcome you to read more at www.appriver.com or call with questions (866) 223-4645.  

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Is it Possible to Have it All? You Bet Your Boomers It Is!

By Sharon Emek, Ph.D., CIC, WAHVE CEO

Until recently, people looked to retire by the time they were 65; they simply did what the calendar told them to do. Career over. But as the Dylan song goes: “The times, they are a-changin’,” and boomers are leading that change.

Boomers turning 60 can expect to live another 25 years, which is a lot longer life span than the previous generation was afforded. Many boomers also have different expectations than their parents did. Boomers don’t want to spend their later years simply “getting by.” They want to stay engaged and healthy; they want trips, vacation homes, dining out and new experiences.

While the ultimate lure of retirement persists — more time — so do the fears: loss of purpose, social interaction and income. So what’s a boomer to do? Can they really “have it all” — fulfillment, personal interaction, income, mental engagement, career satisfaction, autonomy, a sense of accomplishment … and more time? You bet.

Because boomers have steadfastly refused to accept a one-size-fits-all kind of anything, they’ve led the charge to reimagine many aspects of society. Consider the fact that nearly 34% of today’s work force includes remote workers, independent contractors, who work remotely, and by 2020, that number is anticipated to hit 50%, according to the global consulting firm, Insight, which also reports that 89% of organizations will offer “mobile workstyles” by 2020. That’s a lot of workers working in new kinds of ways. And as hiring models have changed, so have retirement work options. 
 
Of course, if you discovered you still needed to work in retirement, the traditional notion was to find a part-time job, maybe at a local store or in another office. But then you were back in the regular workforce and not really retired. There was no work-at-home option which would provide life-work balance and flexibility.

But attitudes and technology have allowed boomers to challenge the status quo. Since the insurance industry employs one of the largest boomer populations, with an average employee age today of 58, it is not surprising that it would be the first to embrace work-at-home “pretirement” — both for the boomer worker who wants to “pretire” by working from home and by the boomer business owner or manager who recognizes the value of keeping “pretirees” by accommodating a work-at-home arrangement. 

Work At Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE) has been enabling this change for more than six years.  Our industry’s retiring knowledgeable, experienced professionals can now pretire and work from home. They can continue to stay engaged, contribute their knowledge, and earn an income. Our industry’s retail brokers, wholesale brokers, and even carriers can now fill their staffing needs when they can’t find the talent with proven “wahves,“ work at home vintage experts.  

WAHVE manages every aspect of screening, matching and on-going review, so it’s a simple process for everyone involved. And because different agencies have different needs, there’s always a fit to match just what a pretiree and insurance firm want: full-time or part-time. 
Mobile work styles are the future and boomers (and millennials) are leading the way. So is WAHVE:  Become a wahve or hire a wahve.

WAHVE is a proud partner of NetVU. If you, a friend or associate are getting ready to retire or if you are a hiring manager, check out wahve.com and learn more about retiring the WAHVE way.

About the author
Sharon Emek, Ph.D., CIC, is the CEO and founder of Work At Home Vintage Experts (WAHVE), an innovative contract staffing talent solution. WAHVE matches retiring insurance professionals leaving the regular workforce to insurance firms to meet their full- or part-time staffing needs. Insurance firms benefit by improving productivity and lowering costs. WAHVE’s unique qualifying process and technology platform match the right “pretirees” wherever they may live to the needs of insurance firms wherever they are located.
WAHVE bridges the gap between insurance firms’ staffing needs and seasoned professionals’ “work-life” balance preferences as they phase into retirement.

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Dermott Larkin, Larkin Insurance, Westwood, MA

Could a feature be added that would allow you to store PDF templates so they are available to pull into any customer?

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Monica McCool, Vertafore, Westminster, CO

Announcing a new ReferenceConnect feature:  Martin & Company comprehensive online rate anf form filing database.

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Joe Murphy, Gunn-Mowery LLC, Camp Hill, PA

Why are some scanned documents not selectable in My Documents?

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Tammy Mohr, Atlantic Smith Cropper & Deeley, Willards, MD

How do you file information received from your carriers that does not pertain to a particular client?

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