Although you may have heard of an insurance automation system, you might not understand the difference between Insurance Automation Systems and CRM. One of the main things to note is that an insurance automation system is essentially a CRM plus added features. CRMs are generic systems. They have many capabilities, but they also can be quite expensive and need to be updated often. Insurance automation systems are better in three main ways: they are specific, total, and productive.
Two Forms of Insurance Automation Systems
There are many benefits to using technology, such as workflow automation, efficient commissions processing, and high-quality customer service. Despite this, if your agency is not organized, these systems will not fall into place.
If you are looking to select an agency management system then there are two types of systems to look out for:
- Contact-Based
- Policy-Based
As it would be pretty obvious, policy-based systems have a core organization that is centered around policies. Contact-based means it is centered around contacts.
Contact-Based
These types of systems track information based on individual contact. This means that all of the systems track information that is provided from a contact. All of these aspects can include policies, agents, commissions, groups, carriers, and relationships to the contact.
These systems begin with an individual client. This person may have one or more policies with you. You will be able to see each of these policies and how they are connected to that client. It does not matter if the policies are from different providers, they will still be connected to that client.
Policy-Based
As the name hints, a policy-based system centers everything around the policy. Each policy will be tied to the client, the carrier, and the agent who connected the three. The commission will also be connected. Rather than seeing one person connected to all of their policies, you will see individual policies and individuals as multiple records. If you use a spreadsheet system, this is most likely a policy-based solution.
Aspects of Insurance Automation Systems
Specificity
The major benefit of insurance automation systems is that they are built for your industry. It can also cut down implementation time. This means you can cut down your time focusing on remedial tasks, and focus more on your clientele.
Totality
There are many more aspects to an insurance automation system than simply helping with tracking communications. These systems can help with tracking agents, tracking policies, managing commissions, and managing email marketing campaigns. They can also help with task management, business performance analysis, and insurance specific reporting. This is why insurance automation systems are a total system.
Productivity
Instead of working harder, you can be more productive by using an insurance automation system. By using these systems, you will boost your productivity, your efficiency, and automate all of your workflows.
Many tasks can be automated such as:
- Happy birthday/holiday emails
- Policy renewal reminders
- New lead notifications
- Licensure management
- Policy status updates
- Follow-up alerts
Overall, insurance automation systems work by helping you do your job better. Rather than spending countless hours on slow tasks, you can use your system to automate workflows, and stay organized better than you ever could with a CRM.