This publish is a part of a collection sponsored by AgentSync.

We discuss loads on this weblog concerning the bother with information silos, the ache of guide information entry (and re-entry), and the way irritating it’s for producers, staff, and enterprise companions to always cope with 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 feel 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 not less than a dozen instances in my life and it’s by no means been this unhealthy. It wasn’t the truth that the transferring truck bumped into our powerline and knocked out the web for per 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 deal with types 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 deal with. If one thing doesn’t have our P.O. Field quantity on it, neglect about it. As a result of the publish workplace doesn’t have a simple, fast, and automatic approach for our deal with to be related to our field quantity, the workers 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 necessary issues we don’t obtain as a result of somebody had our bodily deal with and never our P.O. Field, multiply it by 100 and also you may be shut.

Second, regardless of submitting change of deal with types (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 automobiles, to the county treasurer, county tax assessor’s workplace, and extra, mail remains to be despatched to our outdated deal with – or typically despatched to our new deal with however with out the field quantity, that means it’s equally undeliverable.

Final time I received a bit of mail that lastly made it to me because of the very variety new owners of my earlier residence, I known as the federal government entity to right the deal with (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 instances, and all of the locations, I’ve already stuffed out my new deal with during the last 18 months.

“How is it doable that you simply nonetheless have the incorrect deal with for me?” I begged to know.

“I’m sorry. It’s simply, the techniques aren’t related.”

It was at this level I spotted there was a really massive 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 workers, producers, or insurance coverage distribution companions could also be going by means of? Simply to be tremendous clear, let’s break it down:

Handbook-only processes: It’s doable that the individuals accountable for 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 doable that they must re-check issues regularly as a result of there’s no real-time solution to immediately confirm a producer’s license standing.

All of this implies it’s doable, similar to my native postal staff, that they merely opt-out of doing a little guide 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 means of these guide 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 regulate 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 plenty of totally different producers, it’s nearly assured that somebody alongside your insurance coverage distribution channel is getting into the identical data into a couple of place. Actually, they’re in all probability getting into the identical data into greater than two or three locations. Not solely is that this irritating for everybody concerned, however it may well result in errors and oversights that would put your group into compliance scorching water.

No single supply of reality: Think about the frustration of a licensed producer who’s attempting to replace or right some piece of data. Possibly it’s a brand new non-resident state license, or perhaps they simply handed a licensing examination for a brand new line of authority. What number of totally different locations have they got to enter this data? Relying on what it’s, they might 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 just a few! 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 have to be like for anybody within the distribution channel who’s tasked with managing data for a number of producers. Do you will have a headache but?

To sum it up, the worth you pay for sticking with guide, labor-intensive processes could embrace:

• Knowledge that’s outdated as quickly as you examine it
• Annoyed staff, producers, and distribution companions
• Danger of compliance and regulatory mishaps
• Shedding the perfect individuals to a corporation that makes their jobs simple and painless

The nice information is that AgentSync may also help get rid of these points in your insurance coverage group and its companions. On my finish, I’ve received no selection however to fill out types for the umpteenth time and pray that the day will come when everybody who wants my deal with has the appropriate one. You don’t understand how a lot I’d give to have an answer at my fingertips that would 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 information silos, guide processes, and outdated know-how wherever these could creep up in life, don’t you owe it to your self to take a look at AgentSync?