Jun
29
Do you know what your carriers are quoting, declining or accepting? Can you easily determine the status of a submission with just a few keystrokes? Calling all AMS360, AfW and Applied TAMs users – Implement carrier submission tracking and have the results at your fingertips.
Not sure how to implement? Contact Nettles Consulting for a coaching session guaranteed to get you up and running.
Jun
20
In 2008, I released the Best Practices Guide to Agency Business Processes and Information Management through the Big I. This 155 page workbook took an immense amount of time, thought, and expertise to write. It serves as a an industry standard for processing work and has been used as a teaching tool at many industry conferences.
Now that it is 2011, I’m thinking it’s time to write an update. However, as I look through the guide, I see that it is still spot on for where we are today in our industry. The sales, service and processing roles are all clearly defined, the recommendations are designed to fully utilize existing technology, it provides a benchmark for assessing current technology implementation and it provides a method for monitoring results.
Have you used this guide in your own agency? I’d love to hear from you. Leave me a comment below. What areas would you like me to cover in an update? What challenges are you having in 2011?
If you haven’t yet had a chance to make use of the Best Practices Guide to Agency Business Processes and Information Management, download it here today or from www.iiaba.net.
Laura Nettles, Nettles Consulting Network
Jun
15
Want to know who is working and who is not? Review the management system activity list by servicer for the last month. This report will give you invaluable information about staff workload. You can review a summary report or a detailed report. Include the activity code (document type, category or action code) to breakdown new business, renewal, marketing, certificates, endorsements, etc.
If you are a WorkSmart client, take a look at your Business Process Reporting to review staff work.
Not sure how to access or analyze this information? Nettles Consulting will perform an Assessment for you. Contact us for additional information.
Jun
08
Is your service staff complaining that they are too busy to handle all the work on their desks? Do you have trouble getting renewal submissions to the carriers in a timely manner? Does the staff complain about all the interruptions? Consider creating a New Business Coordinator role to handle all application input and submission preparation for new business. Take a less busy AM/CSR/Processor and make them responsible for new business input and marketing. Not sure how to assess who is busy and who is not? Stay tuned for next week’s tip.
Jun
03
Sometimes we attend conferences or read about Best Practices in our industry and the advice we receive gets us excited and charged for implementation. Only to return to the office to face push-back from employees or find small details that prevent us from fully realizing the benefits.
I received a question recently about one of those particular workflow details and I thought I would post my response here for everyone’s benefit. If you have a particular workflow question, post it here in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer it in a future post.
Dear Laura,
I was in your class in Florida and absolutely loved it. I also read the Best Practices a few years ago and obtained some great tools to help me manage the office and staff better. In Florida when you mentioned that they should not be using the email, telephone, fax, action and it really made sense to me. So, I implemented the change and I am now getting a lot of resistance. I explained the reasoning behind it in that it is difficult for another person to know who that communication was obtained, email, letter etc. They really want to use correspondence for various letters from companies that aren’t an inquiry. What is your thought on that? I am just afraid that instead of email, they will just make it correspondence. Do you have any words of wisdom for me? We are on AMS360.
Elise Alias, Operations Manager
Neal-Truesdale Insurance
The action code is being used as a document type – not a way of grouping processes together. For example, if you record a “Non-Pay” cancellation, then follow with a “phone or email”, then follow it with a “reinstatement” activity– you can only search by document. If all non-pays were recorded under the same code, simply filter by “non-pay” code and all transactions related to the non-pay are there.
Another advantage is in the order screens appear on AMS360. Here are some examples:
Best method for implementation is to pick one or two workflows to start. I like endorsement and certificate – since there is a lot of activity. All phone calls, emails and documentation related to these two processes are recorded under 2 codes: POLICY CHANGE and CERTIFICATE.
Best wishes, Laura Nettles
May
02
It always amazes me to see vendors, clients and interested parties (me) come together for conferences. The recent NetVU conference certainly delighted all 1800 (and counting) folks in attendance. It is a time for gathering, socializing, seeing old friends and meeting new friends. It is a time for learning new technology and re-implementing the current technology. NetVU is a happening.
This year, Nettles Consulting moved away from the standard workflow presentation and introduced some new concepts. We did a presentation titled “Delegating Work from Staff to Technology”. It takes a whole new approach to technology implementation focusing on role-based processing guaranteed to give you results. With this approach, you will be able to process more work with the same staff. You will be able to grow revenues without hiring additional staff. You will be able to have the existing staff deliver value added services – something that distinguishes your agency from all the other agencies.
The keys to role-based processing are:
Nettles Consulting introduced a new concept called pre-active planning to the conversation. It is based on the model Daniel Burris creates in his new book Flash Foresight. Technology advancements are happening at a record pace right now – it’s impossible for us as independent agents to keep up with all the changes. Pre-active planning provides us a road-map for selecting and implementing those technological advancements that support our vision for the agency. Once the agency pre-actively establishes a vision, workflows turn the vision into action!
Apr
29
Hello and welcome to Nettles News. A blog by Nettles Consulting Network. Here you will find articles, case studies and surveys for maximizing the efficiency and profitability of the independent insurance industry.
