One step closer.. going COMPLETELY paperless in 2010..

[meytai]

This morning i received my Topaz systems, inc. signature pad.. these pads are used at banks or gyms and places like that.. this morning i sold a policy.. i didn't have to print out the application or any paperwork the client needed to sign.. These are the benefits of these pads:

1. Saved money on paper (didn't have to print out 7-8 pages for the app)
2. Saved money on ink (really expensive.. $90 per cartridge)
3. Employee spends far less time scanning and more time selling.

The signature pad itself was $280.

For you guys that want to go to that next step.. http://www.computimeonline.com/. They are vendors for Topaz.

The only thing you need to make sure (and this is a DUH for many people out there) is to make sure you are backing up locally and offsite.. otherwise going "paperless" will be a disaster if you have no paper copies in case your computers crash.

I'm really excited.. about my signature pad.. : D

Note: if this sounds like an ad for Topaz.. it's not. This is for people who are wondering how to get to that next step. There are more affordable/cheaper signature pads out there.. Wacom makes the Bamboo.. but you will find that it isn't right for your needs.. it took me a while to find this solution.. but i finally found it

Uni

[Russmann]

Uni, what did you find unsuitable about the Bamboo?

What specifically are you signing with the pad? Do you use your agency management system to sign binders / certs, etc?

Are you storing only the signed version in document management? Any pushback from any carriers that the signature is not a wet one?

I think the paperless goal for 2010 is a great one ... as the insurance vertical manager of Docstar, it's my job to help agents make that happen! I'm inspired by your posting to do a workshop for our existing customers to make sure they are using our stuff to make their agency as productive as possible in the coming year.

Thanks.
Rusty Keighron

[Island Girl Agent]

We've been "paperless" for going on 6 years now, but my pet peeve is the incoming paper. I wish some of our carriers would hurry this process along. We receive pages and pages and pages of policies and endorsements daily from some of our carriers, and now with the federal laws on privacy, we not only have to deal with the paper they send (handle, scan, dispose of), but we have to pay someone to come pick it up and shred it, so it costs money as well as time. Any insurance carriers reading this, get with it...make your policies available to your agents in pdf format, you'll save money, help the environment, and satisfy your more progressive agencies.

[LadyBroker]

One complaint we, as a wholesale broker, hear from our Agency base is that while, in theory, they like receiving endorsements and policies via email, evidently they are not allowed to supply the actual insured with copies in email-format, they are telling us they are required to print a copy of the policy and send to the insured. SO we are getting some push back to do the printing of the policy here, in the wholesale broker office.

Something else to consider -- while paperless is nice, you had better be 1000% sure you are documenting phone calls, policy changes, changes to the applications...all the sort of info you would perhaps write in the margins, or put on a sticky note, that is no longer an option when you are paperless, so be very careful on your policy/agency management Best practices.

[TheInsKid]

Wow, going paperless truly is a great goal for most agencies. One of the areas we have been fighting has been the states. In many states, an electronic signature is not allowed for insurance applications so for those of us who write in multiple states, the electronic signature is not a 100% option as of yet. The good news is that is changing, the not so good news is, it is very slow progress. We have experimented with signature pads for clients but have not found the exact fit as of yet for us but we are getting close. We have also added fingerprint pads for our employees to sign into their computers and that has help in the area of improvement, while not a client improvement and not really a paperless issue (other than the employees do not have to have all those sticky notes all over with passwords on them) this is a step in that direction. Good luck with your progress, it is nice to hear about progress in the electronic world for insurance agencies!!

As for your disaster comment concerning records backup, our Agency Management System vendor has our backups (real time)since our system is internet based, so that is very neat and not very costly when compared to other systems and we do not have the backup hassle we use to have to deal with. So this is another extension of less paperwork!! Can sleep better at night.

[Russmann]

... so are you paperless with your agency managament system's built-in functionality?

[TheInsKid]

We are not totally paperless but on the road to it. My opinion is that until all parties allow being paperless (Agency, Brokers, Clients, Government, our carriers and vendors), we will always have some paper !! I think the trick is trying to eliminate as much paper as we the agency can (as this is the only party we can control). Most of the agency management systems out there will allow an agency to eliminate just about as much as an agency is willing to eliminate. I do not think that the agency management systems are a big culprit as the rest of the delivery system is. Our system is set up to be just about as paperless as possible but it is us that keep us from forging ahead to that promise land. I have found over the years that the bigger problem is with staff at the agency not willing to be really paperless, especially producers. Some of my biggest paper related areas is (as I have noted previously) signed applications and the handling of them due to many state laws not yet willing to recognize an electronic signature. Also, licensing is paper intensive still regardless of what the various state insurance commissioners say publically. Not all E&S brokers and wholesalers are very far along the paper-less trail. Not all carriers have embraced going paperless and as one other in the posts stated, and let’s not forget, we have clients that still want paper! "Green Is In" is a great slogan but not really in practice all over. Its getting better.

[Russmann]

Questions -
Are you able to manage your document retention? If you have a document that Best Practices says you should keep for 5 or 7 years is there a way that it can be purged? I have heard that some agency systems cannot do this.

Are you maintaining both paper and electronic copies of what you have or are you just relying on the electronic version?

Do you have secuity against a document or its contents being altered? Do you have security that a date cannot be changed? If not, how much can you truly rely on the veracity of what's stored in the computer or is that a concern?

Do you feel that your process simple enough that everyone can use it? Does management feel they are getting good data on how useful this is (workload, time to process, backlog, etc.)?

Are you able to markup / annotate a document or do you have to export, edit, and reimport?

Has you vendor's training department been helpful or do you end up getting your training elsewhere?

Appreciate your answers - I try to poll folks who use their management system to do this and make sure that we're presenting our product approprirately. Thanks (anyone else is welcome to chime in also of course).

[meytai]

I'm pleased to see positive responses to this post.

To elaborate further on what is needed to use this signature pad and a few tips:

1 Adobe Professional - this costs around $400 - $500 bucks. It's needed because there is an Adobe plug-in that captures the signature and makes the .PDF "secure". Afterwards, the signature cannot be edited.. but you can add notes/annotate. Which i don't think you would need to do.. since it is an application. Use your agency management software to track changes/notes.

2 You need to press your staff to stay consistent with this otherwise it defeats the purpose.

3 Since most of the applications i sign have multiple signatures/initials.. you need to let your customer know "hey, you will be signing around 5 or 6 times". Because most people that sign on a signature pad are used to only signing once. It just seems like forever whhile you wait and they sign.

4 Having a second monitor (i have myself and my CSR with 2 monitor setup) is advisable so you can show them what they are signing.

As far as the implementation and ease of use.. this is very easy to implement and very easy to use. It does take a few more minutes to assemble the actual .PDF/application.. and it also takes a few more minutes for the agent/CSR to drop the application into the client file, but it is not too much and well worth it in the long run.

Uni

[choicenotchance]

You should try EZBuy... no extra equipment to get...accepted by everyone that accepts electronic signatures... and it's tailored for an insurance transaction right out the gate.