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Thank you for attending the 2007 Assurex Global commercial Lines Meeting in Houston last month. Your presentation on Best Practices was very informative for our attendees...
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Technology
Reflecting on User Group Meetings
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
I am on my way to a user group meeting. I have been to many of these over the years. User groups vary in size and the structure of their meetings. Generally they are structured on the premise of providing information and training to their user base. Some user groups do a better job at this than other do. Does this picture look familiar.? Have you ever felt like this during a session or several sessions?
While traveling I got to thinking about what I see and experience at the various user group meetings that I attend. I frequently see agencies send staff that are not well prepared for the meeting. Sometimes an agency owner sends someone just to have a representative attend and be seen. Very often I find people that attend a lot of sessions but never share with anyone else in the agency what they have learned.
So what is your pan for attending the next user group meeting for one of your agency’s products?
- Who will attend?
- What sessions will each person be attending?
- How will information learned at the meeting be shared with the rest of the agency?
I would like your feed back on how your agency would answer these questions. I would also like to hear what you and your agency expect your user group to do for you.
Technorati Tags:
Insurance Agency management system, technology, technology user group meetings.
Apple School
Monday, October 26th, 2009
Last week I attended my first Apple school session. My One-On-One session was great. Rachel, my instructor, was knowledgeable, had great teaching skills and was fully engaged in our session. However, it was a challenge to keep my people watching habit under control and pay attention to why I was there.
Moving to MacBook Pro
Monday, October 19th, 2009
I have been thinking about a new laptop for awhile. My current one is 4 years old and giving me a good deal of grief. When we visited with our granddaughter in September she had acquired a MacBook Pro. She is studying graphic arts and the classes require that she use Mac software. I enjoyed using her MacBook and added this to my list of considerations. I have spent a great deal of time researching what I want. I am tied to a windows computer in order to work with certain programs used by my clients. So who says I can’t have two laptops? Here she is all dressed up and ready for the party(ies).
Producer Intelligence – Not Captured in Agency Management System
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
One of the big issues I find that every agency I work with has is how to capture conversations the producer has with clients, underwriters, etc. In some agencies producers aren’t allowed to log into the agency management system to enter their documentation into an activity. Other agencies that do have producers logging into their system don’t get better results. Unless a producer has a laptop configured for access to the agency management system, the chances of them to entering this information is nil to none. Even for those producers with laptops and access to the agency management system, only a minority of them will update the system.
Getting Results for Change to Agency Management System
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
I have previously outlined what I think are a number of issues relating to agency management system vendors not taking proper care of the software and not being future thinking. I also covered what I think are the issues agencies have in resolving issues with their agency management system.
Agency Managements System Agency Blind Spots
Friday, September 11th, 2009
For the past few days I have been talking about the blind spots of the agency management system vendors. While I feel that they haven’t moved far enough fast enough.
Agencies spend thousands of hard dollars on agency management systems. They waste thousands of dollars in using them inefficiently or not using them to their maximum potential. What leads to this waste?
Agency Management System Vendors Blind Spot – Part 3
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
For the past two days I have beaten up on you pretty badly. I know that some of you are making progress, but it seems so very slow and it seems like no innovation is happening. What I do find is that when a vendor does have something new is that vendors struggle to get the information to their client base in a meaningful way.
I know that usually the information is sent to them prior to release and again at the time of the release. I know that in some cases the user group also communicates as well. However, often there are many items in the release notes and the agency is usually just looking to see what has been fixed or an item they are interested in.
Agency Management System Vendors Blind Spot – Part 2
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
As promised in yesterday’s post today I am going to talk about Real Time and future enhancements. I recently read a blog that said if you are just keeping up with technology you are behind. You must be looking to the future and anticipating what your clients will need and want.
At a recent industry event they asked each of us to tell them what we wanted to hear about and get out of the event. I said that I wanted to hear their thoughts and planning on the use of touch screen technology.
Agency Management System Vendors Blind Spot
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
In the past few weeks I have been asked by two different sources for information and opinions on issues with agency management systems. One of these inquires was about Real Time, client portals and new functionalities. The other was about systems being current with ACORD forms. My response to each spurred me on to write about this issue.
This will take more than one post. Your clients have a lot they want me to discuss with you.
LifeWork 2.0 – July 2009, Nashville, TN
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
My friends Steve Anderson, Karen Anderson and Sissi Haner had attended this seminar in the past. They each had spoken highly of the seminar and said if I had a chance I should attend. I have watched the available dates for about a year and always had a conflict. However, when July date was announced and it was available on my calendar, I registered immediately.
