AgencyPort Products Boost General Casualty’s Agent Satisfaction

Business Wire, March 09, 2009

New Enhancements Recognized in Celent Model Carrier Report

BOSTON -- After selecting AgencyPort Insurance Services, Inc. to provide front-end capabilities for a key corporate IT initiative, General Casualty has realized significant increases in both efficiency of online submission processing and agent satisfaction. These improvements for the carrier have been noted both internally and by international research and consulting firm Celent who recently recognized General Casualty in its annual Model Carrier report for the project done with AgencyPort’s technology and services.

Negatively impacted by a fundamental design flaw that rendered its FlexAuto® website overly data driven, General Casualty sought a solution that would streamline its personal auto new business submission process. “Ultimately, General Casualty needed to improve company operational efficiency and ease of doing business for their agency force,” said Susan Yardley, Vice President of Operations of AgencyPort.

“The previous version of our site had cluttered screens and required excessive, repetitive entry to quote,” said Todd Chesbro, Marketing Technology Manager of General Casualty. “We chose AgencyPort and their AgencyPortal solution because of the company’s expertise in website design and quick implementation timeframe. AgencyPort was a perfect fit.”

With the new site, General Casualty’s agents can now quote and bind over the web, and submissions are processed with the AgencyPort ARCrules engine for straight through processing. Agents now rank the carrier’s portal as the first or second best system with which to work. “The new site is much more efficient,” said Jennifer Favetti, PL agent at V.P. Sheridan Insurance. “We don’t have to skip pages, enter information twice or quote the policy in different programs. It saves a lot of time.”

“It’s so easy and user-friendly that we told the marketing reps we didn’t need training,” remarked Tammy Cullen, President of Cullen and Associates.

After the initial success with AgencyPortal, General Casualty extended its implementation to include AgencyPort’s agency interface product, AgencyConnect. AgencyConnect provided General Casualty with a simple way to implement and maintain an agency interface strategy that included real-time upload and real-time rating with various comparative rating systems.

With a dynamic and configurable straight-thru-process in place combined with a flexible agency interface framework, General Casualty is now also able to change product definitions and underwriting rules at the speed of their business and can expand into new states quickly and efficiently. Roll-out of the system began in Iowa and was the followed by Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and Connecticut.

In its most recent Model Carrier Report, the Celent profile of General Casualty citied AgencyPort’s role in helping lead the way in the use of technology. Each year, Celent presents case studies of key best practices in technology use across various areas of insurance, addressing the question “What would it look like for an insurance carrier to do everything right with today’s technology?”

“General Casualty was selected as a Model Carrier because they were able to successfully use new technology to enhance the relationship with their agents, speed up back-office processing, and plan for future improvements,” states Craig Weber, Senior Vice President at Celent.

About AgencyPort

AgencyPort (www.agencyport.com) is the leading provider of web-based solutions designed specifically for property and casualty insurers. Our agency portal and interface products make it easy for agents to transact business, enhance the underwriting process and extend the life of carrier's existing policy administration systems. The result is a significant increase in process efficiency for both carriers and agents. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

About General Casualty

General Casualty, headquartered in Sun Prairie, Wis., has insured autos, homes and businesses since 1925. General Casualty markets its products through more than 1,300 independent insurance agencies in 25 states. The company is known for exceptional claims service and financial strength and is rated “A” (Excellent) by insurance analyst A.M. Best. General Casualty employs 1,700 people in 14 offices and reported gross written premiums of $1.07 billion in 2007. For more information, visit generalcasualty.com.

General Casualty is part of QBE Insurance Group Ltd., one of the top 25 insurers and reinsurers worldwide. QBE's Americas division, headquartered in New York, is a leading North and South American insurer and reinsurer. The division conducts business through various property and casualty insurance subsidiaries in eight countries. QBE is one of the top 20 property and casualty insurers in the United States, with an estimated premium of $4.0 billion and a combined policyholders’ surplus of more than $2.0 billion in 2008. For more information, visit www.qbe.com.