This put up is a part of a collection sponsored by AgentSync.
We discuss so much on this weblog in regards to the hassle with information silos, the ache of handbook information entry (and re-entry), and the way irritating it’s for producers, staff, and enterprise companions to consistently take care of these points.
In case our prior arguments haven’t been convincing, I wish to let you know a narrative that would seem, on the floor, to don’t have anything to do with insurance coverage or your insurance coverage enterprise. Simply humor me for a minute although, and I believe you’ll perceive the way it relates.
Nearly two years in the past, I moved homes. By no means a enjoyable endeavor, however I’ve moved no less than a dozen occasions in my life and it’s by no means been this dangerous. It wasn’t the truth that the shifting truck bumped into our powerline and knocked out the web for every week. Nor was it that our new neighbors quickly proved to be busybodies who’d voice their each criticism about garden upkeep to the county authorities.
It was the mail. The change of handle kinds to be actual.
The issue is twofold:
First, we moved to a rural space the place the Postal Service doesn’t ship mail to the bodily home handle. If one thing doesn’t have our P.O. Field quantity on it, neglect about it. As a result of the put up workplace doesn’t have a simple, fast, and automatic manner for our handle to be related to our field quantity, the employees simply flat-out refuse to do the work of redirecting our mail into our field.
This implies something addressed to the house itself will get returned to the sender as undeliverable. When you attempt to think about the variety of vital issues we don’t obtain as a result of somebody had our bodily handle and never our P.O. Field, multiply it by 100 and also you may be shut.
Second, regardless of submitting change of handle kinds (and sure, together with itemizing the P.O. Field quantity) with everybody from the Postal Service, to the IRS, to the state division of income, to the division of motor autos, to the county treasurer, county tax assessor’s workplace, and extra, mail remains to be despatched to our previous handle – or typically despatched to our new handle however with out the field quantity, which means it’s equally undeliverable.
Final time I received a chunk of mail that lastly made it to me due to the very form new householders of my earlier residence, I referred to as the federal government entity to appropriate the handle (once more). I used to be actually at my wit’s finish with the poor girl on the cellphone who needed to hearken to me rant about all of the occasions, and all of the locations, I’ve already stuffed out my new handle over the past 18 months.
“How is it potential that you just nonetheless have the fallacious handle for me?” I begged to know.
“I’m sorry. It’s simply, the techniques aren’t related.”
It was at this level I noticed there was a really giant disconnect between my expectations as a client and the technological capabilities of each authorities company I’ve to work together with as a citizen.
Are you beginning to see the similarities between my story of woe and what your employees, producers, or insurance coverage distribution companions could also be going by? Simply to be tremendous clear, let’s break it down:
Handbook-only processes: It’s potential that the folks in control of producer license compliance at your group are tasked with some crazy-manual processes. Like cross referencing between paper paperwork, spreadsheets, and web sites. It’s potential that they must re-check issues regularly as a result of there’s no real-time method to immediately confirm a producer’s license standing.
All of this implies it’s potential, identical to my native postal staff, that they merely opt-out of doing a little handbook work, or let issues slide, or simply don’t have time of their day to get to it. Even when everyone seems to be taking the time to diligently work by these handbook processes, they’re nonetheless error-prone, so that you probably find yourself with less-than-ideal ranges of accuracy. Just like the time somebody transposed the numbers for my P.O. Field and unintentionally gave another person a field of reside wasp larvae meant to manage the fly inhabitants on my farm.
A number of, disparate techniques: When you’re an insurance coverage provider that contracts with many various companies (or different intermediaries), or an insurance coverage company or MGA/MGU that contracts with a lot of completely different producers, it’s virtually assured that somebody alongside your insurance coverage distribution channel is coming into the identical data into a couple of place. Actually, they’re most likely coming into the identical data into greater than two or three locations. Not solely is that this irritating for everybody concerned, however it may result in errors and oversights that might put your group into compliance sizzling water.
No single supply of fact: Think about the frustration of a licensed producer who’s attempting to replace or appropriate some piece of data. Possibly it’s a brand new non-resident state license, or possibly they only handed a licensing examination for a brand new line of authority. What number of completely different locations have they got to enter this data? Relying on what it’s, they may must go to your organization’s human assets data system (HRIS), your company administration system (AMS), your buyer relationship administration system (CRM), your incentive compensation administration system (ICM), their state division of insurance coverage, and different regulatory our bodies – simply to call a couple of! And, since we don’t know what we don’t know, they’ll proceed to play whack-a-mole with incorrect data for so long as it takes for every location housing that data to floor.
Now, think about, if that’s how it’s for one single producer, what it should be like for anybody within the distribution channel who’s tasked with managing data for a number of producers. Do you might have a headache but?
To sum it up, the worth you pay for sticking with handbook, labor-intensive processes might embrace:
- Knowledge that’s outdated as quickly as you examine it
- Pissed off staff, producers, and distribution companions
- Danger of compliance and regulatory mishaps
- Shedding the very best folks to a company that makes their jobs straightforward and painless
The nice information is that AgentSync will help eradicate these points to your insurance coverage group and its companions. On my finish, I’ve received no selection however to fill out kinds for the umpteenth time and pray that the day will come when everybody who wants my handle has the correct one. You don’t understand how a lot I’d give to have an answer at my fingertips that might make this drawback disappear faster than my ever-shortening endurance.
So, for all of the individuals who don’t have an answer to the issues of knowledge silos, handbook processes, and outdated know-how wherever these might creep up in life, don’t you owe it to your self to take a look at AgentSync?