By Earl Kelly

A recent IVANS carrier survey showed that, faced with a continued soft market in 2010, 93% of insurance carriers are increasing investment in automation technologies to improve operational efficiency. “Adoption of technologies that streamline transactions between insurance carriers and agents will continue to grow in 2010,” IVANS noted, “as carriers look for ways to maintain profitability in a sluggish economy.”

As many of my fellow newsgroupies know, I recently met a company that was doing this very thing—or at least they thought they were. It was at a meeting of the Florida Users Group in Lakeland that representatives of a regional carrier’s IT department came to get agent and broker feedback on their recently enhanced website. 

The reps did a good job of explaining the site, highlighting specific features and showcasing what they believed were important new improvements. The key words in that sentence were “what they believed were important.”

Nov/Dec -By Stu Durland

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These days, everyone has a “Top Ten” list: The top ten movies of the year, the top ten sports teams, David Letterman’s Top Ten Reasons for just about anything. Top Ten lists are popular because they’re a great way to quickly describe the subject’s outstanding attributes. So it is only fitting to list the top ten advantages of user groups within ASCnet.

October 2009 - By Bill McNulty

Upon “retirement,” Bill McNulty reflects on highlights of his 18 years of ASCnet participation.

Some 18 years ago, I was asked to represent our local chapter at a mid-year meeting in Matteson, Ill. Not knowing exactly where I was going, I entered the meeting a few minutes late. The first thing I saw was Brian Bartosh’s tie being cut off and the surprised look on his face. This was my introduction to NAUGAS, now ASCnet. I quickly learned that this group could work hard and play with the best of them.

September 2009
By Joseph F. Robinson, CPA

Valuable lessons learned from agency/bank integration

From 1999 to 2003, the nearly 100-year-old independent agency I worked for tried to acquire four different agencies. We were successful with one. In 2004, Philadelphia’s largest bank approached us about buying our agency as part of their quest to boost non-banking revenue. While we “weren’t for sale,” we recognized the potential benefits of being aligned with such a local icon.