Over 1,900 Applied Systems users came together in New Orleans for the 18th Annual ASCnet 2003 TENCon Convention Sept. 10-13. Dubbed by newly-inducted ASCnet president Stu Durland as “the conference for agents in the fall,” this year’s meetings offered a plethora of breakout sessions ranging from “TAM Utilites” to “Marketing Workflows,” but the main focus was on leadership, dual product development, and further education for ASCnet users.
The Agency Manager (TAM) and Vision, Applied’s two distinctive agency management systems, will continue to be the focal point of Applied Systems in the future. “Applied is making it clear that they will focus on both products,” Durland, vice president and co-owner of Warwick, N.Y.-based Seely & Durland Inc., said. “Several years ago everyone thought Vision was going to take the place of TAM. Jim [Kellner, CEO of Applied Systems] made it very clear that wasn’t the case, that TAM was going to live on because it suited a certain set of agents. Now Vision has the feature sets to target it’s own agent base and, where it makes sense, provide an upgrade path for certain TAM agents.”
Durland also emphasized the importance of further education for the Applied Systems users. Applied Systems users would now attend the annual “TENcon,” ASCnet’s new name for the convention. “Technology, education, and networking” is the motto of future ASCnet conferences. Durland promised that agents would see more workflow classes coming back into the conference, geared towards CSR’s as well as continued educational tracks for principals, bookkeepers and companies.
ASCnet also plans to gradually increase the number of “regional mini conferences” offered year-round by partnering with their local chapters around the country.
In addition, Applied Systems recently unleashed a new program called “Feature of the Month,” where users are delivered a brand new system feature each first Friday of the month. The new features allow for CSRs to be more efficient and continuously keep them updated on the latest version of their respective agency management system.
For TAM Series 7, over 22 features have been introduced in the Feature of the Month program, including 32-bit migration, color coding of activities, quarterly updating and posting of ACORD forms, and additional fields to handle contact information.
Vision has been subject to its own performance testing, revealing 60 percent gains and revenues without additional staff for its users, and on an hourly basis, performing 25,000 data retrievals and 6,000 written invoices equaling 31,000 transactions.
Kellner and Durland also celebrated the success of the last year’s “Get Lit” campaign, in which Applied Systems and ASCnet worked together to get as many users as possible to connect in real-time with carriers. To date, over 16,000 users have connected, and the campaign continues to gather more users and carriers.
Above all, Durland attributed the success of ASCnet and Applied Systems to the excellent working relationship they have with each other. “ASCnet has the benefit of being independent of Applied, but we work so very closely with them,” Durland said. “This open communication has provided many opportunities to advocate technological advances to Applied users and our members.”
“[Applied is] continually working on new, forward thinking technology. They don’t react to the industry. They have an outward vision as to where they are headed, they develop the product, they develop it right, so we’re always seeing leading edge technology. They’ve just got a process that works really well,” Durland added.
Other newly-elected members to the ASCnet Executive Committee include Sallie Knighten as immediate past-president, who serves as operations manager of Roseville, Calif.-based ISU Francis-Pinney Insurance Services Inc.; Robby Dunn as vice president, who serves as vice president and agency manager of Houston-based Hotchkiss Insurance Agency; and Donna Abramson as secretary/treasurer, who serves as IT manager for Alberta, Can.-based Western Financial Group Inc.
To learn more about ASCnet, visit www.ASCnet.org. For more information on Applied Systems, visit www.appliedsystems.com.
Topics Agencies Tech Training Development
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