Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Homegrown Management System - Feed
When I first released our management system it had no built in communication between users. You had to actively seek out the information you needed. You could of course pend items for your own purposes of followup but other people were not aware unless they happened upon that contact's file.
I quickly realized the need for intercommunication. In the second major iteration simple messages could be passed but were never attached to contacts. This lead to double entry and waisted information. In the next release the actual events had to be attached to a client and could then be brought to someone else's attention. This killed two birds with one stone. Communication and client history enrichment.
I am currently in the midst of my fourth major iteration of the software. With the widely accepted use of Facebooks main feature - "live feed", I think my management system can offer all data in a feed structure. This will increase communication by the teams along with proper documentation. You will essentially have the entire agency at your fingertips. The key to successful implementation of this feature lies in the algorithm which builds each users feed. Not only has it been interesting to delve into this feature but I know if it is useful it will need to be tweaked consistently. Every other feature of my system, once debugging is completed, is pretty much useful for years without the need for alteration.
Selling and servicing clients is such a social experience to begin with. I have many times walked the line between rigid workflows and open management. The important consideration in either case is E&O exposure and seeing that your promises to clients are met 100% of the time.
I quickly realized the need for intercommunication. In the second major iteration simple messages could be passed but were never attached to contacts. This lead to double entry and waisted information. In the next release the actual events had to be attached to a client and could then be brought to someone else's attention. This killed two birds with one stone. Communication and client history enrichment.
I am currently in the midst of my fourth major iteration of the software. With the widely accepted use of Facebooks main feature - "live feed", I think my management system can offer all data in a feed structure. This will increase communication by the teams along with proper documentation. You will essentially have the entire agency at your fingertips. The key to successful implementation of this feature lies in the algorithm which builds each users feed. Not only has it been interesting to delve into this feature but I know if it is useful it will need to be tweaked consistently. Every other feature of my system, once debugging is completed, is pretty much useful for years without the need for alteration.
Selling and servicing clients is such a social experience to begin with. I have many times walked the line between rigid workflows and open management. The important consideration in either case is E&O exposure and seeing that your promises to clients are met 100% of the time.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Homegrown Management System - Download
Download is the main method by which most management system are updated. When we write or amend a policy at our carriers we get a download the next day which syncs our management system. This allows us to keep our own records and check for errors. In this day in age this should be occurring in real time but we are still held to the overnight batch download. To be honest we are lucky our carriers have agreed to any unifying standard to begin with - but i digress.
When I set out to better understand AL3 and eventually the Acord XML personal lines standard I had little to go on. I could not afford the high Acord costs. There were no online articles to pour though. I mean, I can learn how to run a UNIX server and any software package out there for free but not AL3. When I started looking at the document something wasn't right. When I converted it to ASCII I noticed a strange character which allowed me to uncompressed the document. After that things were a little clearer. I eventually found an old IBM white paper which laid out the basic principals and I was able to build a script to move valuable download data to my proprietary database.
My initial goals were to save every drop of data from that download. I also wanted it to self check for accuracy to make my staffs job easier. My huge advantage here was that, with most mass marketed Agency Management Systems you are beholden to what the vendor designed for hundreds of agencies. I was able to design a specific process for one agency and thus was able to get more done in the script upfront. My staff could tell me what they liked or didn't like and I could alter the code accordingly.
One big improvement I made was adding a premium history charts. This allows us, at a glance, to see how the clients premiums have evolved, not just on a particular policy, but on that line. As we are an independent agency we may move clients to a different company that is a better fit. My chart follows this journey and adds distinct markers that help us better identify premium shifts. Now when a client calls we are able research their entire history in 10 seconds...this also allows us to remind clients what we were able to do for them over the years. Sometimes, as consumers, we remember what premium we paid ten years ago but the graph allows us to know new cars were purchased and a youthful driver was added.
Our next innovation here will be "Social Download". Ill leave that for another time.
When I set out to better understand AL3 and eventually the Acord XML personal lines standard I had little to go on. I could not afford the high Acord costs. There were no online articles to pour though. I mean, I can learn how to run a UNIX server and any software package out there for free but not AL3. When I started looking at the document something wasn't right. When I converted it to ASCII I noticed a strange character which allowed me to uncompressed the document. After that things were a little clearer. I eventually found an old IBM white paper which laid out the basic principals and I was able to build a script to move valuable download data to my proprietary database.
My initial goals were to save every drop of data from that download. I also wanted it to self check for accuracy to make my staffs job easier. My huge advantage here was that, with most mass marketed Agency Management Systems you are beholden to what the vendor designed for hundreds of agencies. I was able to design a specific process for one agency and thus was able to get more done in the script upfront. My staff could tell me what they liked or didn't like and I could alter the code accordingly.
One big improvement I made was adding a premium history charts. This allows us, at a glance, to see how the clients premiums have evolved, not just on a particular policy, but on that line. As we are an independent agency we may move clients to a different company that is a better fit. My chart follows this journey and adds distinct markers that help us better identify premium shifts. Now when a client calls we are able research their entire history in 10 seconds...this also allows us to remind clients what we were able to do for them over the years. Sometimes, as consumers, we remember what premium we paid ten years ago but the graph allows us to know new cars were purchased and a youthful driver was added.
Our next innovation here will be "Social Download". Ill leave that for another time.
Friday, May 03, 2013
Homegrown Management System - Part1
As my subscribers already know in 2006 I launched my own management system for my agency. Two years prior to that I set out to upgrade our system we were using, Doris. Doris was nice and simple but we wanted some campaigning features and some deeper policy features. On my journey I tried all the top management systems: AMS, Applied TAM, Ebix and Nexsure. They were all frought with high setup costs but had those advanced features we craved. We were at a crossroads. I knew each system had a strong point and there was no clear frontrunner amongst our trusted peers usage. We knew it would be an investment regardless of our final decision. It was then that we made an unlikely and risky move. We set out to design our own system. During this time period Applied aquired Doris and changed the price-point which made our launch an easy decision.
With almost a decade of real-world success I look back on that desicion with zero regret. In the coming weeks I will write about our experiences, the triumphs and the failures alike. Where we started and where we are going.
With almost a decade of real-world success I look back on that desicion with zero regret. In the coming weeks I will write about our experiences, the triumphs and the failures alike. Where we started and where we are going.
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Server Tribute
My main network has been served faithfully for over 10 years by a groups of 9 Gateway GP Desktop computers without fail.
They used to be our client computers loaded with windows 98 back in the day. When we upgraded in 2003 to Dell Optiplex I turned them all into single service Linux servers. They have been online 24/7 since 2003. Serving my websites and webapps and fetching my mail.
I cooled them to a steady 68 degrees that entire time and in return not one of them ever failed. Not one part ever needed replacement. In that same time period we have replaced our desktops twice more due to failure in every case. Dells then Compaqs.
They dont build um like they used to comes to mind. These towers would have languished had I loaded XP or anything of the like or they could have occupied some storeroom or landfill....instead they ran FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OpenWal and centOS flavors and thrived at their individual tasks for 10 additional years.
I think its amazing they performed so well as they did and in the end it wasnt hardware failure that did them in....it was the cloud.
I hate to see them go. Quality is rare these days.
PS: I have had 4 macbooks in this time period. They all still run fantastically however a few parts needed attention over that same time.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
ODE TO COPRORATE SUMMARIES
delivered to me pretty and new
in glossy colors red, green and blue
executive photo shoot must have been great
but I only care about how you operate
the company highlights contained within
bold and audacious we play to win
in helvetica font your harrowing tale
your goals from last year, they all tend to pale
your summary paragraphs all carefully crafted
while I sit at my desk your handiwork drafted
I wonder if you know of this job where I sit
it would help you alot to know this low-level.....[stuff]
so as you endeavor to increase production
think about diminishing your wild rate disruption
for planning in conference is great from that top floor
your brochure means little your actions mean more
in glossy colors red, green and blue
executive photo shoot must have been great
but I only care about how you operate
the company highlights contained within
bold and audacious we play to win
in helvetica font your harrowing tale
your goals from last year, they all tend to pale
your summary paragraphs all carefully crafted
while I sit at my desk your handiwork drafted
I wonder if you know of this job where I sit
it would help you alot to know this low-level.....[stuff]
so as you endeavor to increase production
think about diminishing your wild rate disruption
for planning in conference is great from that top floor
your brochure means little your actions mean more
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Chromebook for the Insurance Agent: Part II
A few weeks ago I purchased a Chromebook for our agency. I wanted to test it out as a viable solution in the near future. Here are some of the tasks it would have to successfully perform for me to run an insurance agency on it:
- run my agency management system
- open carrier websites
- allow me to complete tasks on these carrier websites
- Allow me to use a word processor
- Check my mail
- Run Quickbooks
Lets run through these items and Ill share my experiences with them:
Agency management system
This one will be the most important test to pass. I already knew my AMS (agency management system) ran in a chrome browser flawlessly so this one was easy for me. Unfortunately if you use a legacy AMS or one that runs in a terminal environment on a remote server you will have to wait on the Chromebook. I still remember wanting to buy my first mac. We were running Doris and I needed to buy virtual PC (which was a slow beast at the time) in order to run my AMS. This was a poor solution. You want that AMS running well - its your most important tool short of the web these days.
Carrier Websites
This is another thing you can test without buying a chromebook. Just try to open your carrier websites and run them in a chrome browser. If that works you are 20% there. Now perform all the tasks in chrome that you normally do in your standard browser. I say this because your carriers site may require you to have IE. Progressive used to require IE for their quote piece but all the inquiry functions worked in other browsers. Now I have no problem quoting business in chrome for Progressive. Fortunately some companies have been pushed to support webkit browsers in order for their agents to access their services using iPads and Android devices. That said I did have a few issues with my carrier sites. Some of the javascript wasn't functioning properly in chrome. This lead to forms not allowing me to submit or go to the next screen These sorts of issues likely mean your carrier's tech folks are testing for IE only and are not doing proper cross browser testing. Don't worry: as IE's market share continues to drop these carriers will begin to support other modern browsers.
Word Processing and eMail
This was another win for me because we already use Google Apps in our office. Since google is the purveyor of chrome browser and chromeOS you can be sure gmail and google docs works great on a chromebook. I would think most large online webmail products would work. If, however, your agency uses Exchange heavily with products like outlook and word you may be waiting on the chromebook for a while. But not as long as you think.
Quickbooks
My last must-have was quickbooks. Since we use the online version this worked flawlessly. If you are using the popular desktop version you will not be able to load that on a chromebook since you cannot run windows apps on chromeOS.
In closing I think we are near a virus-scanning-free, file-system-free and update-free office existence. Using platforms other than Windows for business purposes have always required creative thinking to get around large issues. Windows is still king but more and more apps run on the web and out there windows is less important. I have to introduce my employees to chromebook first, if they're not happy than im not saving any time in the end. I may be adding a part three somewhere down the line. Feel free to send me questions or comments if you are interested in this option going forward.
- run my agency management system
- open carrier websites
- allow me to complete tasks on these carrier websites
- Allow me to use a word processor
- Check my mail
- Run Quickbooks
Lets run through these items and Ill share my experiences with them:
Agency management system
This one will be the most important test to pass. I already knew my AMS (agency management system) ran in a chrome browser flawlessly so this one was easy for me. Unfortunately if you use a legacy AMS or one that runs in a terminal environment on a remote server you will have to wait on the Chromebook. I still remember wanting to buy my first mac. We were running Doris and I needed to buy virtual PC (which was a slow beast at the time) in order to run my AMS. This was a poor solution. You want that AMS running well - its your most important tool short of the web these days.
Carrier Websites
This is another thing you can test without buying a chromebook. Just try to open your carrier websites and run them in a chrome browser. If that works you are 20% there. Now perform all the tasks in chrome that you normally do in your standard browser. I say this because your carriers site may require you to have IE. Progressive used to require IE for their quote piece but all the inquiry functions worked in other browsers. Now I have no problem quoting business in chrome for Progressive. Fortunately some companies have been pushed to support webkit browsers in order for their agents to access their services using iPads and Android devices. That said I did have a few issues with my carrier sites. Some of the javascript wasn't functioning properly in chrome. This lead to forms not allowing me to submit or go to the next screen These sorts of issues likely mean your carrier's tech folks are testing for IE only and are not doing proper cross browser testing. Don't worry: as IE's market share continues to drop these carriers will begin to support other modern browsers.
Word Processing and eMail
This was another win for me because we already use Google Apps in our office. Since google is the purveyor of chrome browser and chromeOS you can be sure gmail and google docs works great on a chromebook. I would think most large online webmail products would work. If, however, your agency uses Exchange heavily with products like outlook and word you may be waiting on the chromebook for a while. But not as long as you think.
Quickbooks
My last must-have was quickbooks. Since we use the online version this worked flawlessly. If you are using the popular desktop version you will not be able to load that on a chromebook since you cannot run windows apps on chromeOS.
In closing I think we are near a virus-scanning-free, file-system-free and update-free office existence. Using platforms other than Windows for business purposes have always required creative thinking to get around large issues. Windows is still king but more and more apps run on the web and out there windows is less important. I have to introduce my employees to chromebook first, if they're not happy than im not saving any time in the end. I may be adding a part three somewhere down the line. Feel free to send me questions or comments if you are interested in this option going forward.
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