Carrier Login credentials & agency staff

[threed]

Most of our business is with 8-10 P/C companies. Most companies require separate producer codes for each branch location. The challenge we're having is managing login credentials for the different carriers/producer codes. It seems like every day someone is asking for a password that recently was changed or having to use the 'forgot your password?' option.

What do other agencies with branch locations do to manage this? Do you limit what staff members can access the carrier site? Do any agencies only write under a single producer code and list a PO Box for the policy paperwork?

[Brenda H]

I don't work in an office that has branches, but I have worked at a rather large agency that had about 20 companies, that all required logins. Most, if not all of the companies, requrired separate login information for each person who was accesing, which helped to minimize that problem. In addition, I was given the responsibility as admin to assign logins/passwords to each employee when newly hired, or when the left , could deactivate them. For the companies that let us all use the same login/password, I, as the admin, kept up with what was and sent out mass emails to everyone as to what the changes were.

Most companies I have worked with have the admin function, so that only one person can make any type of additions, changes or whatever, and with email it is not hard to keep everyone informed. This too, also, will give the agency control over what an employee can "take" with them when they leave.

[jtownagent]

At our agency we use "transact now", which helps a great deal. If you are a BIG I member go to www.iiaba.com and review the Virtual University articles that address this issue, as well as review the Agenct Council for Technology (ACT)section. There is a great deal of good info for free for any IIABA member.

[sgoebel]

I wholeheartedly agree with Brenda H. Especially the “control over what an employee can "take" with them when they leave” part. I’ve done Tech Support for Arrowhead General Insurance and I used to cringe whenever a new agency appointment needed help setting up their agency access and would say, “We’ll all just share the same user account.” Of course I’d always suggest otherwise because in my opinion, sharing the same user account should only be considered safe in a one-office family-run agency where you’ll have little to no employee turn-around.
Regarding the multiple offices part, I’m sure set-up is different for other companies out there. In the case of Arrowhead, when there are multiple offices for an agency appointment, the main office code is set up so that it has access to all the policies regardless of which sub-office code wrote the policy. In our case, if your multi-office agency has a call-center for customer service, I’d suggest setting up the call-center CSR’s with user accounts on the main code so they can access any policy without regard to which office wrote the policy. You may want to check with your companies to see if they are similar, and that could help you decide which employees need user accounts on which code.
-Steve G-

[threed]

Great suggestions, thanks! I wonder how common it is in agencies where only certain level staff members are permitted to actually log in to a carrier site to transact business? Training every staff member for every carrier's site can be difficult.