5 Ways Insurance Distribution Licensing Software Makes Life Easier for Insurance Carriers

This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync.

Investing in technology can be daunting. The thought of setting up an entirely new system, or migrating from an old one, is enough to stop progress in its tracks for many organizations. Obviously, the benefits need to outweigh the costs, both in monetary terms and also when you consider the time spent.

Luckily, implementing insurance distribution licensing software doesn’t have to be a major disruption to business. With AgentSync, which is built on Salesforce.com (although you don’t need to be a Salesforce customer to use it) automating the producer licensing process requires minimal startup and implementation time.

With that out of the way, it’s time to reap the benefits of a distribution management system. Here are five ways doing so will make life easier for those working at insurance carriers. If ease of doing business is important to you (spoiler alert: it should be!) then each of these aspects of your distribution licensing software will enhance the experience and give your insurance company a leg up over those still doing it the old way.

While AgentSync isn’t the only distribution licensing system out there, we think these five components are vital to reaping the benefits of any system you may choose.

Self-service onboarding

What better way to lighten the workload than to distribute it across more people? With self-service producer onboarding, each producer is responsible for his or her own set-up, with carriers able to automate reminders for upload and submit agents’ personal information changes directly to NIPR and the states.

This makes life easier for insurance carrier partners because for the first time, you have a single source of truth, straight from the horse’s mouth. Rather than rely on producers filling out endless forms in different places, and then relying on staff to gather and transpose that data into your own system, a producer licensing management system that offers self-service onboarding provides producers with the ability to enter their information once, into one location, and be done with it. Then, that information comes directly to you through real-time integrations.

With a streamlined process, producers are up and running (and selling!) more quickly than ever before. That makes your job as an insurance carrier simpler and better.

Appointment processing

When you work at an insurance carrier, you know that a producer license doesn’t mean much without the right carrier appointments. That’s why a producer licensing management system should also make the appointment process easy for everyone involved from start to finish.

If your system happens to be AgentSync, we work with your team to load in state-based and line-of-authority-based rules and settings. Then, the system will show available appointments for each agent based on what they’re eligible for according to their licensure. You can choose real-time or automated “Just-In-Time” appointment submissions, depending on your preference and needs. It really couldn’t be easier to get agents properly set up to sell!

Bulk producer onboarding with real-time NIPR sync

Getting agents licensed and ready to sell is one of the most important, and also most time-consuming, parts of the business. With the right technology, it doesn’t have to be!

Thanks to real-time, two-way syncing with NIPR’s Producer Database, AgentSync can provide bulk producer onboarding just by entering the producer’s national producer number (NPN) – either individually or by uploading a CSV with up to 5,000 NPNs at a time. If one upload sounds better than 5,000 manual entries, then a producer licensing management system that syncs with NIPR is for you.

That’s not to mention, the real-time NIPR sync also means you can keep an eye on the status of those agents’ licenses – for example, monitoring changes to contact information, appointments, and even regulatory actions. If you’re wondering whose life is easier thanks to this feature, just ask the folks in charge of monitoring compliance at your company.

Built-in contracting via Docusign

A time-consuming producer contracting process is a thing of the past. In as little as one click, or no clicks if it’s set up as part of an automated workflow, insurance carriers can generate producer contracts that are auto-populated with accurate information. No one will have to hunt down the producer’s information including their W9 form and E&O policy. Everything captured during self-service producer onboarding (see above) feeds straight into the contract.

With an integration into Docusign or your contracting vendor of choice, automated reminders and redlined contracts save in your system and let you know when your agent is greenlit to sell – or flag trouble spots in the process – without the manual checklist.

Automated license verification

With real-time communication between AgentSync and NIPR, each producer’s license status can be instantly verified. No more waiting to make sure a producer’s license is valid: as soon as the producer completes their onboarding tasks, you can rest assured of their license’s validity and proceed with your appointments as needed.

While traditional methods of verifying licensure rely on the honor system, an annual license check, or a complex web of spreadsheets, they leave you wide open to legal liability. While everyone in the sales channel bears some responsibility for producer licensure, carriers are ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance of their sales teams, period. AgentSync’s unique daily sync with NIPR and our Scorecard feature give your team daily assurance of your license situation, with at-a-glance data.

These five features are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how the right producer licensing management system can make life easier for insurance carriers. Not to mention, everything it can do to give the same time (and sanity) saving advantages to other members of the insurance distribution channel.

To learn more, see what AgentSync Manage can do for you.