Nexsure vs AMS 360

[jus_chillin]

Hello all,

Any comments from users who have moved to Nexsure from AMS360 or vice versa will be really appreciated.

Thanks.

[Bob]

Unfortunately we went on Nexsure in March 2006. We believed their claims. We made the decision to leave Nexsure the end of June effective as of Sept. 1. I could write a book about our experience which cost us probably $300,000. The accounting did not work. Checks posted sometimes did not show up for a couple of months. We finally had to print the statements one at a time after verifing their accuracy. I can go on and on.

When we were leaving we could not get our data back from them. They did not return the data on approx. 1/3 of our Policies. Fortunately we still had paper files and we had to go through each file one by one to check the info returned to us and to enter all the missing info.

I can tell you much more if you are interested. Give me a call at 540-667-6787. Bob Kelsoe

[jus_chillin]

Bob,

Thank you for your honest opinion. I have spoken to a few agencies using Nexsure. The issues that appear to be common are accounting and reporting as the problem areas. Customer service was loved by most but there were a few that did not think too highly of it.

Regards,

[CSRQueen]

We converted from Sagitta to Nexsure last May and it's been troublesome to say the least. Conversion was initially delayed as Nexsure was unfamiliar with converting IBM Universe and it went downhill from there. We are still live with Nexsure but it's a struggle every day. I work in Personal Lines and don't have much to do with Accounting but I know they're grumbling as well. None of their data converted at all - I guess I should be lucky that we actually had info that DID convert.
Our biggest issue with Nexsure right now is our speed. Here in PL we bill transactionally and it's taking us, on average, about 4 MINUTES per policy to invoice it. We get locked up in policies, delayed screen refreshes, time out errors - all kinds of stuff. Out IT dept has been working with Nexsure to resolve it but getting nowhere since Nexsure is now saying "that's as fast as it will go".
I will say that the one good thing about Nexsure is their download capabilities and ease of use where download is concerned. Once it's all set & ready to go it works amazingly well. There is little to no customization/personalization like Sagitta had (and I believe AMS 360 has as well but I could be wrong) - there are no company unique codes to enter, no lines of business to set up correctly, nothing. You just make sure the download switch is thrown in Nexsure (it takes all of 30 seconds to do that), notify your carriers and away you go. It has a few flaws but nothing major. Overall, I'd say that's the best thing about Nexsure.
HTH

[jus_chillin]

HTH,

Thanks for your feedback. We are currently on AMS360. The issues I have with AMS360 are minor compared to the transactional issues that you have described. My complaint with AMS360 is the email client is not sophisticated (or not closer to Web 2.0 type apps), their CRM application is weak as AMS360's focus is service and not sales/marketing, lastly their related actions/activities/documents are hard to keep track of as each is entered seperately. The last part is probably being worked on as we speak and I expect it to improve in the next few months. For the CRM to become like a Salesforce type of software is asking for too much, however there has been some talk of integrating it with Salesforce. If that comes to pass, it will improve the email capabilities as well. Also, some of their work flow are a little cumbersome such as locating clients etc. It is a little slow but that may also be a function of our older computers. All in all - nothing as major as what you have described.

Nexsure "seemed" like a next generation product but after speaking to some current users and feedback from users such as yourself, it seems that they still have some ways to go to iron out their basic workflows.

I do appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Thank you.

Best regards.

[pita3333]

I am a 360 user and have been for several years. All systems have their good and bad...

I am also very active with our local User Group...if you are not I would suggest you get involved. Quite often you will find that others have encountered and they can give you tips. Your sales rep should be able to guide you to your local group. Or go to: http://www.amsug.org/source/Members/cCh ... Committees and select your state. Some meet more frequently than others...I am going to our group tomorrow to learn more about workflow auditing.

Also...there are several great consultant groups focusing on AMS products that might be able to help you accomplish what you are after. Two that come to mind are:

Angela Adams Consulting Services: http://www.angelaadamsconsulting.com/26/index.htm
Kip Nowlin Consulting: http://kipnowlinconsulting.com/

[Controllerfrq]

We are a Nexsure user of 3 years and I can say without a doubt, today - it's the best system out there for us, but that doesn't mean there haven't been some challenges along the way. We are a large multi-office operation spanning personal, commercial, and bonds. With financial responsibility, I can say accounting and reporting have improved significantly with each release, with Nexsure meeting the specs they said they would, and to the point now where we do not experience frustrating issues at all with speed, latency or accuracy. Speed and response time were an issue a year ago but we are not experiencing the speed problems referenced in the response listed here or by the other users you have talked to. Reports are up to snuff, but you do need to do need to know what you're doing if you use their Ad-hoc reporting module which gives you access to all the data in the system, some of which is not accessible through canned reports. As for conversions, this a generic issue in my opinion. I have been through 3 conversions in my career, Gemini to Applied, Applied to Sagitta and Sagitta to Nexsure. None of them were very clean and we learned the hard way that starting with clean data is vital, as everything cascades from there. Bottom line for us, Nexsure is a next generation system, and they are delivering on the ability to kick out advances quickly, and we're very pleased with our decision. I would be happy to talk to anyone who is seriously in the purchase cycle.

[CSRQueen]

We are a Nexsure user of 3 years and I can say without a doubt, today - it's the best system out there for us, but that doesn't mean there haven't been some challenges along the way. We are a large multi-office operation spanning personal, commercial, and bonds. With financial responsibility, I can say accounting and reporting have improved significantly with each release, with Nexsure meeting the specs they said they would, and to the point now where we do not experience frustrating issues at all with speed, latency or accuracy. Speed and response time were an issue a year ago but we are not experiencing the speed problems referenced in the response listed here or by the other users you have talked to. Reports are up to snuff, but you do need to do need to know what you're doing if you use their Ad-hoc reporting module which gives you access to all the data in the system, some of which is not accessible through canned reports. As for conversions, this a generic issue in my opinion. I have been through 3 conversions in my career, Gemini to Applied, Applied to Sagitta and Sagitta to Nexsure. None of them were very clean and we learned the hard way that starting with clean data is vital, as everything cascades from there. Bottom line for us, Nexsure is a next generation system, and they are delivering on the ability to kick out advances quickly, and we're very pleased with our decision. I would be happy to talk to anyone who is seriously in the purchase cycle.

We're live with Nexsure now & are experiencing some serious speed issues, among other things. We'd love to be at the point you are now but it's tough to be positive. If you have the time, I'd love to chat/email about how you got through your issues. My email addy is djbowlin at gmail dot com.

[ackinsure]

We currently have nexsure and are very unhappy with it. I am in one of three offices we have and all three offices have major issues with the nexsure system as a whole. My question is, what next??? We switched from AMS prime almost 3 years ago and now need to desperatly make another change. What other systems are out there that agencies are happy with? Im going to look into AMS360 but would appreciaite any thoughts on new programs and how the change from one to another has gone for others. Thanks in advance!!!

[Bob]

We too went from Prime to Nexsure for about 4 mo. Then went to AMS360 which we like very much. As I mentioned in my first post we had serious problems getting out data back from Nexsure. My son, Charles, put in a great deal of effort in getting our data back. He also has helped some other Agencies to get their data from Nexsure. If you would like to talk to him, please let me know at bob@abisgroup.com.

[sanddog1]

Ya' no it's funny reading some of these replies regarding Nexsure. I have had the system three years and love it.
Nothing is perfect......I have several CSR from Utah to San Jose who love this system. I had Applied for 7 years and loathed it. Yes Nexsure is the next generation times are a changing. I can't believe anyone would say it's slow. I have no problem with its speed, its as fast as the down load and up load Carrie you choose. Were 100% internet Based and this system is fast, We use DSL pro i am sure direct cable would speed it up. And with the new DSL up grades coming every two month there should be no problems with speed. As far as accounting we don't use as much as the system is capable of handling, so have had no real problems yet. Seem to track producer commissions just fine. The accounting system is very over built i do think there is way too many bells and whistles.
It seems to be layered to accommodate different type of companies not just insurance agencies. Also did you guys know that The Hartford Ins and ChoicePoint uses the same foot print. They have both invested i think, i read some where like twenty million into Nexsure as it the next generation.

[CSRQueen]

Ya' no it's funny reading some of these replies regarding Nexsure. I have had the system three years and love it.
Nothing is perfect......I have several CSR from Utah to San Jose who love this system. I had Applied for 7 years and loathed it. Yes Nexsure is the next generation times are a changing. I can't believe anyone would say it's slow. I have no problem with its speed, its as fast as the down load and up load Carrie you choose. Were 100% internet Based and this system is fast, We use DSL pro i am sure direct cable would speed it up. And with the new DSL up grades coming every two month there should be no problems with speed. As far as accounting we don't use as much as the system is capable of handling, so have had no real problems yet. Seem to track producer commissions just fine. The accounting system is very over built i do think there is way too many bells and whistles.
It seems to be layered to accommodate different type of companies not just insurance agencies. Also did you guys know that The Hartford Ins and ChoicePoint uses the same foot print. They have both invested i think, i read some where like twenty million into Nexsure as it the next generation.

Sanddog, I would love nothing more than to embrace Nexsure 100% but it's really hard when my CSRs are screaming that they can barely move around in it or that it takes 4-6 minutes to invoice one small dinky personal auto policy. Our internet speed isn't an issue at all - we're owned by a bank and our pipeline to the internet has to comply with their guidelines-it's a very fast connection. We used to have T1 lines but upgraded (to what I'm not sure-all I know is that it's fast!). Everything else BUT Nexsure is super speedy. I've run Nexsure from my home PC with no connections at all to our network (I just have a simple cable connection at home through Comcast) and I run into the same issue there, so that tells me the problem is with Nexsure not us.

I will say that Nexsure's download is wonderful. I love it - we only download Personal Lines and with about 95% of our PL book coming over in D/L, the majority of our policy info is up to date & accurate. I've already done an endorsement early in the morning & by the end of the day, D/L is bringing the info over.

I think it's great that Nexsure has had some heavy duty investors. I wish, though, that Nexsure would some of that investment to fix what is broken first, before rolling out upgrades with bells & whistles that don't address problems that have been around for a while. We went live in May 2007 and, as an example, haven't been able to issue a binder on a simple Homeowner's policy without having to enter the deductible. Why? Because for some reason, that part doesn't work. It's been in development all that time and hasn't been fixed. Simple things like invoicing a policy are now painful experiences with Nexsure. It tracks commissions very well, I'll give you that but if it takes me 5 minutes to bill one policy, my producers may not get all of their monthly commission because it takes so long to bill a month's worth. We're struggling and trying to work with Nexsure to get these things to work but it's a very frustrating process.

Nexsure, like any system, has its good & bad points. We were Sagitta users for many years and that system had its flaws, too. No system is perfect. That being said, I think for "The Next Generation" product that Nexsure touts itself to be, it hasn't finished building its "warp drive" yet. Beam me up, Scotty. This system sucks.

[sanddog1]

Hello CSRQueen, i am sorry but respectfully disagree. You seem to be interest with Sagitta. Your issues with Nexsure seem to indicate it's (the Indian and not the arrow) [*] This partly based on the fact that you have never chime in on any insurance journal opinion in the past. You have just joined only to voice what seems to be a company competitor opinion on this topic. So I would guess you are mostly like a company person for a Nexsure competitor (Sagitta).[*] jus_chillin , never ask ones opinion of Sagitta . We issue Binders and certificate GL & PD all day long. Most are emailed directly to holder unless they must be faxed. I have no idea what your talking about in regard to the deductible Issue.
I can issue and email, a cert or binder less then 5 minutes. We all work from our lap tops or PC from home. And just don't have the problems you're having. Come on tell the turth who are you

[CSRQueen]

Hello CSRQueen, i am sorry but respectfully disagree. You seem to be interest with Sagitta. Your issues with Nexsure seem to indicate it's (the Indian and not the arrow) [*] This partly based on the fact that you have never chime in on any insurance journal opinion in the past. You have just joined only to voice what seems to be a company competitor opinion on this topic. So I would guess you are mostly like a company person for a Nexsure competitor (Sagitta).[*] jus_chillin , never ask ones opinion of Sagitta . We issue Binders and certificate GL & PD all day long. Most are emailed directly to holder unless they must be faxed. I have no idea what your talking about in regard to the deductible Issue.
I can issue and email, a cert or binder less then 5 minutes. We all work from our lap tops or PC from home. And just don't have the problems you're having. Come on tell the turth who are you

Sanddog, I've been a long time reader of the IJ forums but have never posted before, that is indeed true. However, I am most certainly NOT an AMS employee. I am the PL Supervisor for an agency owned by a bank here in little old Reading Pennsylvania. Were I competitor do you really think I'd post the fact that Nexsure's D/L capability is superior to Sagitta's? Don't think so. I think Nexsure has the potential to be a really great system but I just don't think it's there yet. I use Sagitta in my examples because that's the system we converted from & it's my closest frame of reference. The binder issue we're experiencing is a known issue in which, when generating a Dwelling Fire or Homeowner's binder, the deductible does not pull over - it must be manually entered. It's a PITA having to exit the binder, go back out to the policy, fnd the deductible &then come back in to the binder. Nexsure knows all about it & has an open ticket on it. I used it as merely an example of the issues we're dealing with here.

I'm not going to get into a battle with you or anyone else on this board or others about who I am or my motives for posting. I'm an end user trying desperately to find a way to make this system work for us and am reaching out for help from whatever source(s) I can. I am cheered by the fact that you can issue binders & certs all day long from wherever it is you issue them - I think it's great that you've been able to make Nexsure work for you. It's NOT working for us and I need to figure out why - that's why I'm here. Might you have a suggestion about how to help us bill more efficiently, I'd be all ears. However, you seem more interested in outing a company schill and telling people how fantastic Nexsure is than in actually offering advice or suggestions. Thanks for telling me how great it's working for you - I hope that one day I too can post here & say how great Nexsure is for us. Until then, I'll keep searching for answers and ignoring the poeple that don't offer anything more than a negative voice.

Have a great day - TGIF!

[jctwindad]

Once again someone has made the terrible mistake to voice an opinion that differs from Sand Dog. His typical response - How dare you disagree with me - you must be a spy for the other side, since you have never been in this chat room before. Get real Sand Dog. No matter what the topic, you post an opinion. I have to wonder - do you really work, or simply play in chat rooms all day. Most of have real jobs, and are only in a chat room when a topic is of immediate interest to us. Oh, by the way, take a few grammer and spelling lessons while you're at it. Peace Out.