Mike’s Mind

If you are an independent agent then the answer is probably yes. But the more accurate answer is, it depends on your definition of an agency management system. Agency management systems were around long before the internet so they had to do all the functions for the agency. They have been added to and added to until now most systems are so complex and expensive, many small agents don’t have the necessary resources to learn, support, and pay for these systems.

So what do you do? Today there are a lot of creative ways you can use free and low cost technology to accomplish your automation goals. One of those ways is by using company websites. Many people disagree, especially those with the big agency management systems. But they forget that you must start somewhere and if you can’t afford a system now you have to solve the problem somehow. Company websites are getting better and better every day. Many company websites allow you to do many of the necessary transactions all online. The problem begins when you represent more than one company. Now you need to know which company site to access to complete your transactions. So at a minimum you need a quick and easy way to tell you which site to go to.

That can be accomplished in a variety of ways. You can simply keep paper files. But in today’s world it is much better to limit the use of paper records (more about this in another post). So your computer needs a program that can tell you where to go to look up the information on each client. The more companies you represent and the more lines you sell, the more difficult this gets. So it’s important to address this issue early in your agency. It is only going to get worse.

Chances are if you have a Microsoft Windows based computer, you already have a very basic solution to address this “Rolodex” need. (In case you don’t know what a Rolodex is look here). Typically you will have a program called Outlook Express that besides getting your email, can keep an address book. You could use this address book to keep your basic customer information. This will work well with one computer but if more than one person needs to access the information it is inconvenient and messy. Another alternative is a free service from Microsoft called Office Live. This online program allows you to keep track of customers and can be accessed by everyone in the agency at the same time.

E&O is a big issue for agents. Everyone wants to blame someone else for their mistakes, and that someone is you. The best defense for E&O is documentation. Every transaction, conversation, email, note, telephone call, meeting, etc., needs to be documented. The key to this documenting is to be consistent. If you write some of it down and keep some of it in your computer, you are not being consistent. You need one place to keep this documentation and everyone in your agency needs to use it consistently. Make sure you track dates times and names. Going to court with shoddy records really limits your ability to prove your documentation is reliable and consistent. Establish a procedure in your agency that this documentation must be kept and enforce this procedure with your staff. Make spot checks after phone calls and other contact activity to assure the procedure is being followed. You need to do this on a regular basis to emphasize the importance to your staff. Again, Office Live can keep track of this information.