Speaking of "Real Time"
by Industry News

A broad industry coalition is offering independent agency owners and employees a free, convenient opportunity to understand how to leverage a wave of change underway to improve customer service and agency profitability. The Real Time/Download Campaign is hosting a new, monthly webinar titled, “Real Time: The Next Major Advance in Agency Workflow.”


The first session was held on January 30th, with another session scheduled for March 4. There is no charge for agents or others to attend the webinars. Audio will be available online or via telephone.


The Real Time/Download Campaign, with widespread support by independent agent trade associations, carriers and technology providers, does not advocate a specific technology, but rather a workflow approach that frees up time for agencies to sell, process and service business. Most agents can leverage tools already embedded in their management systems or comparative raters.


In the one-hour webinar, campaign leaders will explain Real Time, demonstrate its capabilities, discuss its benefits and outline steps agencies and brokerages can take to implement Real Time or increase its usage. Session presenters also will discuss the increasing importance of download, which completes the round trip of data between agency and carrier.


“Real Time lets us perform as independent agents again, especially with quoting,” says campaign co-chair Lisa Parry Becker, vice president of sales and marketing at William B. Parry Agency in Langhorne, Pa. “In our agency, it has cut our new-business quoting time in half.”


The webinar makes the case that Real Time is not just a “nice to do,” adds Parry Becker, who also is a national director of ASCnet, the Applied Systems user group. “It is the next major advance in agency workflow. It allows agencies to help their employees become trusted advisors and transforms service operations into true sales organizations. It is a critical tool agencies can employ to be successful competitors in the future.”


Fellow co-chair Cyndy Smith, vice president and director of technology at Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Inc., Syracuse, N.Y., added, “For 2007-2008 we will have worked with more than 30 state agents associations to conduct Real Time demonstration sessions. Agency management system user groups have helped spread the word, as have the carriers, but we need to reach more people.” Smith also is Industry Affairs Committee chair of The AMS Users’ Group.


The webinar, designed for principals, systems professionals and CSRs, runs an hour long, with time available for questions and answers. Live demos of real-time quoting and inquiry transactions will be shown. Plans call for a recorded version to be available on-demand at getrealtime.org.


Agents can register for the March 4 event, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. EST, at link:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/309452840.


About the Real Time/Download Campaign:
Launched in April 2007, the Real Time/Download Campaign is dedicated to improving the competitiveness of the independent agency distribution channel. The campaign goal is to double the number of real-time transactions each year.


Real Time is the ability to click on a button from a client file in the agency management system or comparative rater for immediate access to carrier information on that client. The transaction may be a quote, billing inquiry, claim inquiry/loss run, policy view, endorsement or a request for information. This approach provides a single workflow for servicing or quoting.


Campaign participants include agents, brokers, carriers, technology providers, user groups, and agent and industry associations. The campaign is sponsored financially by ACORD, ACT, AMS Services, AMS Users’ Group, Applied Systems, Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet), Artizan Internet Services, AUGIE, EMC Insurance Companies, Grange Insurance, IIABA, IVANS, Liberty Mutual Agency Markets, MetLife Auto & Home, Nationwide/Allied, PIA of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut & New Hampshire, SilverPlume Rating Solutions, Strategic Insurance Software (SIS), The Hartford, and Westfield Insurance.

Published: 2/4/2009