Vertafore®, the leading provider of software that transforms the business of insurance, today announced a series of strategic partnerships debuting at NetVU15. Leading technology providers including, Microsoft Surface, Birst, and Mitek (MITK) are now working with Vertafore to help round out its end-to-end technology portfolio for modern agencies and carriers. On the operations side of the business, Vertafore's partnership with Birst will help agents and carriers obtain actionable insights from their data to manage their business. The partnerships with Mitek and Microsoft Surface will enhance customer capabilities with the latest technology and devices to manage their customers more efficiently.Unlike other insurance technology providers, Vertafore's portfolio of solutions address critical insurance needs for both agents and carriers, with capabilities that extend from back-end internal business operations all the way to the customer. Vertafore's depth and breadth of technology capabilities are further strengthened through its network of partnerships with leading enterprise technology providers. These partnerships reinforce Vertafore's commitment to help insurance professionals make more strategic business decisions and drive productivity in their workforce, positioning Vertafore's product portfolio as the solution of choice for top performing agencies and carriers. A leader in the market for over 45 years, Vertafore technology powers 85 of the top insurance carriers and 96 of the top 100 agencies.
"The new capabilities that come with our most recent partnerships will prove vital for insurance professionals, not only when it comes to enhancing internal operations, but also when interfacing with customers," said Guy Weismantel, vice president of marketing at Vertafore. "Adding to the major partnership deals inked in 2014 including Amazon Web Services, DocuSign, and Salesforce, our newest integrations further demonstrate our deep commitment to driving efficiencies across the entire insurance ecosystem. We'll continue seeking solutions to improve the connection between agencies and carriers while also making customer interactions as valuable and seamless as possible."
Vertafore has forged the following partnerships that will enhance the carrier and agency product portfolio in 2015:
Microsoft Partnership Brings Tablets To Insurance Professionals
Vertafore has also partnered with Microsoft to provide agents with special discounts on the Surface Pro 3, HP, and Toshiba Tablets. These devices will enable more seamless customer interactions with on-the-go access to Vertafore's cloud-based technology solutions. A recent survey by Channel Harvest Research, found that over the next two years, insurance agents expect a significant increase in tablet-based applications over smart phone apps, especially for display-oriented tasks like sales presentations and training. A quarter of agents (25%) expect tablet use to increase for sales purposes and 22% expect tablet use to increase for accessing training tools.
"We started using the Microsoft Surface Pro just as a test to see if it made a difference for our producers and account executives in the field, and as expected, it became so popular that more than half of our employees now have a Surface Pro 3," said Brent Rineck, CIO at ABD Insurance & Financial Services. "Our staff loves using them with clients. They can touch the screen, zoom in on things, show presentations and run all their business applications from a smaller, easy to handle device. It's really made a difference in not only the confidence of our producers, but also in productivity."
Birst For Vertafore Data Puts Customer Insights Directly in the Hands of Agents and Carriers
Data has long been the lifeblood of the insurance industry, but a limited number (13%) of insurers are confident in their ability to manage data, according to a recent Deloitte study. As a data-rich industry, both insurance carriers and agencies want to be in the driver's seat when it comes to utilizing data to make proactive business decisions. The challenge is finding scalable solutions that seamlessly integrate with existing technology, while also providing relevant, data-driven insights to help retain existing business and fill their prospect pipeline. Vertafore's partnership with Birst will enable agencies to interact with current customer data, apply analytics, and identify cross-selling and retention opportunities. Carrier customers can now be empowered to derive insights on consumer demand for insurance policies and evaluate strategies for optimizing agent-to-customer relationships.
"More and more, companies are asking for the ability to unify the centralized and decentralized data within their organizations. Our 2-Tier data architecture model allows them to do exactly that. It empowers business users with data they need and does so with the consistency and security that IT departments require. Making data-driven decisions from one unified source of truth is not only possible, but we believe it should be the expectation," said Brad Peters, chief product officer, Birst. "Partnering with Vertafore helps further execute our vision of transforming the world of business intelligence."
Mitek Partners with Vertafore to Improve Insurance Processes with Mobile Imaging
Rounding out the strategic of partnerships is Vertafore's integration with Mitek, the leading innovator of mobile imaging for transactions and identification. Mitek's partnership with Vertafore will give agents the ability to on-board and service customers quickly and efficiently, using a mobile device camera. Especially useful for auto insurance claims and processes, Mitek's patented mobile imaging technology will automatically capture images of vehicle and identity documents, extract relevant data, and auto-fill information into the Vertafore product. This will greatly reduce data re-entry and increase the accuracy of information as it moves from agent to carrier.
"Mobile imaging has significantly improved operational efficiencies and customer interactions in the banking industry, a data-entry heavy vertical," said Michael Nelson, VP of business development, Mitek. "Similar to banking, mobile imaging will drive the same value in the insurance industry. As a leading technology vendor in the space, Mitek was a natural choice to help Vertafore transform the insurance business."