California-based eAgency Systems announced an agreement with Research In Motion Limited (RIM). The focus of the new project is to build a platform to support the 800,000-plus insurance agents in the U.S., that is designed to increase their sales while complying with the highest market conduct standards. Key features of the platform will include wireless access to eAgency’s Nice OfficeSM suite of marketing tools, client and prospect management capabilities, continuing education resources, and underwriting, sales, and commission reports via BlackBerry handhelds.
“BlackBerry has been deployed in thousands of organizations and vertical markets such as the insurance industry because it enables mobile professionals to increase productivity and improve customer service while in the field,” Mark Guibert, vice president, Brand Management at Research In Motion, commented. “The combination of our leading BlackBerry platform and eAgency Systems’ powerful custom insurance applications will provide insurance agents with wireless access to important information such as sales tools and client profiles.”
Robert Lotter, CEO and founder of eAgency Systems, referred to the initiative as a “ground-breaking event marking the beginning of a new era in the insurance industry. We’ve seen that the successful insurance companies have been those that aggressively support their independent sales force. Until now, this has been accomplished through proprietary systems which fail to provide agents with access to the applications and information they need in the field.”
A recent study by ACORD shows that over 91 percent of agents surveyed consider proprietary systems the number one factor complicating their sales efforts. Agents need to maintain different usernames and passwords, learn different user interfaces, and enter the same data over and over again for each of the companies they represent. In addition, delivery of important client data and sales applications to the agent in the field has been complicated by recent privacy and security legislation such as HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Privacy Act.
“That’s all about to change,” Lotter said. “The agents of tomorrow will provide a more comprehensive package of financial services and products. Our goal is to facilitate their efforts with a multi-company, open-platform application that delivers secure access anytime, anywhere, to marketing services, planning tools, client sales data, prospect management, and everything else needed to make a sale or support a client.”
The eAgency platform for BlackBerry will be available on GPRS, Mobitex, iDEN, DataTAC, and 1xRTT networks, covering over 98 percent of the metropolitan U.S, and will include end-to-end security encyrption. In addition, through the use of eAgency’s Wireless Information Exchange Platform (WIX™), customers will have quick access to the eAgency platform without the need for a WAP or micro-browser.
The expected release date for the platform is Feb. 2003.
Topics Agencies New Markets
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