Nine insurers were named finalists in two different award programs from the AMS Users Group (AMSUG). The winners will be named at The AMS Users Group 33rd National Conference, March 12-15, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
Five members of The AMSUG have been selected as finalists for the 2009 Automation Excellence Award, which recognizes AMSUG members that best exemplify excellence in agency automation implementation and make the fullest use of available technology.
Two awards are presented: one for an independent insurance agency with 25 users or less, and another for more than 25 users.
The finalists, up for two awards—one for an independent insurance agency with 25 users or less, and another for more than 25 users—are:
Lakenan Insurance of Ste. Genevieve is paperless and customer service representatives work in Real Time with dual monitors.
McQueary Henry Bowles Troy LLP has pioneered a “single sign-on” between client-access sites and portals to make for a “one stop, one logon” experience for clients.
Pierson & Smith Inc. operates in a paperless environment for personal lines, small commercial and large commercial.
Swan & Sons-Morss Co. Inc. improved its operations through a paperless initiative, a VoIP telephone system with direct numbers, dual monitors, an intranet and a Web site.
Whorton Insurance Services became a paperless agency by implementing scanning in 2005, and began utilizing dual monitors in 2007, as well as using VoIP with just one staff person handling calls for all locations.
Four carriers have been selected as finalists for the 2009 Quantum Award from The AMS Users Group. The award recognizes achievements in interface technology between insurance carriers and agencies that have produced a quantum advance in productivity, profitability and customer service for AMS agencies. Quantum Award finalists have successfully deployed single-entry interfaces that incorporate ACORD standards and Real Time programming.
The 2009 finalists are:
Allied Insurance, a Nationwide company, was selected for its suite of Real Time tools that include personal lines and commercial lines download; personal lines and commercial lines policy, billing and claims inquiry; and commercial BOP, business auto, property, liability and workers’ compensation quoting.
EMC Insurance Cos. implemented additional lines of business to download, improved Real Time transaction quality, and introduced new Real Time functions.
The Hartford is a finalist for two efforts: 1) Expressway technology, which uploads information from agency databases to the carrier’s Web-based rating system for eligible small accounts and personal lines. 2) A bundle of four initiatives: a new Real Time connectivity for commercial bonds, small commercial quoting for Real Time in two to three minutes, enabling TLS e-mail encryption, a World Wide Web Consortium standard, with agent/vendor partners and a new download strategy.
Selective Insurance rolled out support for Real Time initiatives for policy servicing and quoting via AMS TransactNOW for AMS management systems that have the ability to export data.
