Agency Management System

[stacy713]

Hi, I am also trying to decide which Agency Management System will be the best for my start up independent agency. I found a small start up company named "Agency Automation Team" & their product seems to address a lot of the issues discussed on this forum. The problem is, the product has not officially been rolled out yet, so I"m not so sure whether to trust that it will work as mentioned on their website.....anyone have any comments about what things I should consider before selecting my agency management system?
thanks everyone

[movingbug]

My name is Jane Marie Burkart and I wanted to ask you to look at our system at www.xanatek.com. The start up cost for a one user which includes unlimited training via live webinar and live trainer(5 users and up we train in house) is currently $995(1495 reg price). The monthly fee is 75 and we have alot to offer a start up agency or any other agency. We have a great system with wonderful support and help anytime you need it. You call we answer. We have alot of experienced staff in the insurance industry and we love to help you. We listen to what our clients say and really try to build the system to fit your needs. If you email me at jmburkart@xanatek.com I can offer you an additional 3 months of free support if you mention INsurance Journal and this forum. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

[mccloud55]

warning to potential quomation rater users in california!
i recently paid the $199 set up fee thinking that quomation was going to be good deal, read on and beware!
i quickly found out that several companies that quomation listed on their service list, did not allow bridges to the applications!! this basically made the product useless for me because i would have to go directly to the carriers website and duplicate my efforts by having to enter all the same client data again and then print the app. if quomation lists a carrier that is not compatible with the bridge function should'nt they advised a customer of this before selling their product? during one of my client appointments, i had to call quomation tech support and after they could not fix the probelm, they referred me back to the carrier who told me that it was "quomations problem" that they had advised quomation that their software had not been set up yet to work properly with the quomation bridge, "there are alot of bugs that have to be worked out he claimed and stated i would have to complete all the apps by hand! i lost a customer due to this embarrassment. quomation seems to have jumped the gun in offering services they could not produce, possibly in efforts to compete with the fsc product?? after detailing my complaint and taking a couple of screen shots of the carrier list and asking for a full refund this is what i was told by their accounting section; you are obligated to give 90 days notice to cancel and our policy is to not give refunds for the set-up. ok... so much for customer satisfaction!
here is my bottom line for any new agents / brokers considering quomation: pay a little extra per month and avoid the quomation trap. go with the "fsc" rater ; www.fscrating.com
plus many carriers that i have wanted to get appointments with to be competitive in my market are telling me that i can only write with them through fsc rater!!!!
good luck to all!

[movingbug]

IMS from Xanatek works with several raters. I wanted to mention that EZLynx works with IMS from Xanatek, Inc. You can enter the information either into IMS or EZLynx. If you start by entering information into the rater then you can start a new file or add it too a file in IMS at the end of the quote so you are not doing any double entry. If you start in IMS and enter the clients information then you can send it up to EZlynx as a quote and then at the end of the quoting process you can send the clients information back to IMS and set up a client file with the quote attached.

We work with other raters as well. Check our system out! jmburkart@xanatek.com

[Pathway]

I could not disagree more with your comments about Hawksoft. We made the switch to Hawksoft December 2009, and it was a very good decision for our agency. Hawksoft is very reasonably priced and offers similar features that the big boys (who charge significantly more money) offer. We have increased efficiencies within our agency by 30% or more, Hawksoft can help you go completely paperless it's a very good system.

http://www.pathwayinsurance.net

I looked at Instar and Hawksoft and they are just too outdated to consider.

[AgencyMatrix]

For $89/ month Agency Matrix is hard to beat. Unlimited users allowed. Just $89/per office. Only $399 setup and we are able to do conversions on 90% of the systems out there. Call John at 972-788-8834 for more info and discounts if you mention this forum.

[movingbug]

Wow Agency Matrix has an awesome website but it doesn't look like they do downloads??

[edmundich]

What if I am owner of a tiny agency with only 30 or so clients and all i need to to do is to be able to enter my clients info, generate acords and attach emails. what would you suggest me to purchase. So far i couldn't find an agency management system inexpensive enough.

[AgencyMatrix]

You are correct that Agency Matrix does not have downloads at this time. However, we will have them in the very near future as well as many more additional features. Agency Matrix is a really great web based management system with great service and affordable rates. If you are in need of a management system or are ready to switch to a more affordable system, feel free to give us a call.

[stacy713]

Has anyone had any experience with the New Epic version 4 product from Applied Systems? Any feedback on pros & cons would be great. Thanks

[JasonBHBCo]

Stacy,
I've worked with two agencies in the last 8 months in implementing Epic and setting up their workflows. I'd be more than happy to talk to you briefly about some of the pros and cons about the system. You can send me an email at Jason@bhbco.com if you'd like to chat.
Regards, Jason
Disclosure: I am a consultant, but I am independent and not connected with any system vendors.

[mccloud55]

Our agency has been using Quomation products for 7+ years. We have 6 offices with 3-4 agents in each, 85/15 PL/CL. Their products have been sufficient so far but we feel that the management system is lacking in so many ways.
1. It doesn't encourage any specific work flow, i.e. Activities in TAM or Actions in Hawksoft (both of which we're considering). Basically each agent uses the system in their own way. Most of them simply use it as a place to store names, phone #s, policy #s, etc...
2. Quomation's support is great but their training is poor.
3. We have found that downloaded policy data often duplicates clients and policies which render reports inaccurate.
4. The commission calculator is bad and our commissions are still being calculated manually each month.
5. They ARE a comparative rater company that also throws in an AMS.
6. While the interface is aesthetically prettier than the "dinosaur" systems, what does that matter if the workflow is fundamentally flawed?
7. It doesn't automate marketing, account-rounding, cross-selling, etc...

I like TAM but the price for 20 users is over $25K and then $2,500 p/month. Hawksoft is about 1/5 the price and seems to be a better fit for our agency. Just a little foFeedback welcome from agencies with similar makeup.

just a follow-up to your post about Quomation Comparative Rater, much more forthcoming;

BBB Rating for Quomation Insurance Services
Based on BBB files, Quomation Insurance Services has a BBB Rating of F on a scale from A+ to F.
Reasons for this rating include:
•BBB does not have sufficient information to determine how long this business has been operating.
•BBB does not have sufficient background information on this business.
•Failure to respond to one complaint filed against business.
•One complaint filed against business that was not resolved.

[koctail]

Help.

We are currently running TAM 7.5 and 2 of our computers are virtually non functionable running Windows 2000 Pro. We are in need of an upgrade. We run TAM on our servers and have not been up on support for years. The last time we talked to Applied they wanted tens of thousands in back support. I am almost scared to call them at this point.

I contacted AMS and they gave me some numbers for Instar and AMS360. Instar seems like a step backwards for our agency but we are small with only 4 ee's and really only use TAM for download, accounting, Acord forms. The price for AMS360 web version is going to be more than $500/month for 4 users. Instar hardware specs indicate they dont support Windows 7? That is a no go for me.

I was going to also look at Nexsure but from what I have read on this forum the reviews are negative. I feel like I am taking a huge risk going with anything other than AMS or Applied.

Any advice would be very helpful.

[Russmann]

Hi,

I am attending the National Instar Users Group today and put the question to an agent. They are running Windows 7 with their Instar system and say it works very well. The Instar product manager is at the meeting as well and have forwarded the posting to her to give an official answer. It could be (and probably is) that the website info is out of date.

Let us know how it goes.

Rusty

[mica.cooper]

If it runs on 2000, it should run on XP. You can use XP as a server although only for internal small agencies. If it runs on XP, it will run on Windows 7 in virtual mode or XP mode. A good software guy can copy the system over and get it all set up for you but it may take a couple of days.