Advantage eNews - March 1, 2004 - Edited by Steve Anderson

The February issue of the ACORD Advantage eNews follows. This newsletter comes to you as part of your agency membership in the ACORD Advantage Program. At ACORD we are committed to helping you find money-saving and time-saving products and services for your agency. We continue to work on enhancing the benefits provided to you through the Advantage program.

We welcome your comments, suggestions and questions. Don't hesitate to e-mail us at customerservice@acord.org

HEADLINES

 

From the Editor's Desk...


An important element of agency service is helping customers with questions and problems. In the early years, much of this interaction occurred across a table when clients came into agencies to discuss their insurance programs. Although we continue to meet face to face with some clients, most of the interaction with clients today is done using a telephone.

Unfortunately, most agents don't consider their phone system a core piece of their technology infrastructure even though it is a key part of how they communicate effectively with clients. The telecommunications industry is undergoing significant changes and it is likely the phone system you use in the future will be quite different from what you have now. Here are just a couple of ways your phones will become an even better communication tool than they already are:

Voice over IP (VoIP): This is a service that uses a high-speed Internet connection to transmit your telephone calls. I have been experimenting with a service for several months and will detail my experience in an upcoming article. Currently, about 11% of all phone calls use VoIP at some point in the connection, with some analysts forecasting a $10 billion-per-year business for broadband providers selling a majority of the world's phone calls. Whether and how to regulate phone calls over the Internet will be a major issue. In an early victory for VoIP providers, a U.S. district judge in Minnesota ruled that VoIP provider Vonage is an "information service" rather than a "telecommunications service" and is therefore exempt from state regulation. The judge ordered an injunction permanently barring Minnesota's Public Utilities Commission from forcing Vonage to get a telephone operator's license to do business in the state.

The more telephone systems and computer networks merge, the better the experience for the client and internal staff. One of the interesting benefits of most VoIP systems is the ability to forward voice mail messages to the user's Outlook inbox as an audio e-mail attachment. This allows voice mail messages to be stored for retrieval at a later date. VoIP can also automatically dial phone numbers contained in the client record while the computer tracks the amount of time spent on the call, thereby helping you determine which clients are taking the most amount of time to service.

Voice response: Voice recognition systems have improved dramatically over the last couple of years. Always a processing-intensive operation, voice recognition accuracy has benefited from faster processors and larger amounts of computer memory. When you call American Airlines for flight information, for example, you answer questions about the specific flight in your own voice. The system recognizes your voice and provides the information. I have often used the system and have seldom had problems. It is certainly safer to speak when driving, rather than having to "press number 2 to continue." Providing your clients access to certain account information using such a system would be fast, universally available (almost everyone has a cell phone), and very intuitive.

Wireless data access: Cell phones are everywhere. An increasing number of people are replacing their home phones with cell phones. The long promised next-generation cellular service (GSM) is finally being built across the United States and should cover most of the country by the end of 2004. One of the advantages of the new GSM service is faster data access. This will allow producers and other staff who are out of the office easier access to the agency database using a cell phone or data card.

What does this mean for your agency? You need to make sure to include telephone systems in your overall technology plan. The coming changes will translate to lower overall costs to the agency and increased satisfaction for clients and staff.


Steve Anderson

AUGIE Gets Carriers to Move on Mixed Case Download

The ability to download from a carrier to an agency management system has been available for some time. Yet there continue to be small problems with the process. An example is policy information being downloaded in all uppercase letters. At an AUGIE meeting late last year this issue was raised with the carriers in attendance. Most carriers store policy information in all uppercase. While it initially seemed a difficult task, several people went back to their IT departments and asked how difficult it would be to provide the data in proper (upper and lower case) format. For several carriers, it turned out to not be as difficult as originally anticipated.

At the AUGIE meeting held last month Chubb Insurance Company reported they were able to program and implement the process in less than two months. In their case the data is stored in uppercase, but prior to being sent to the agency the data goes to a PC where a custom program converts the uppercase data to proper case. The download is then sent to the agency. Several other carriers are in the process of investigating how difficult it would be for them to provide this service. This is a small example of how AUGIE represents the needs of the agents and facilitates the interaction and communication between carriers, vendors and agents.

New Federal Spam Legislation

On January 1, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act took effect. The act requires unsolicited commercial e-mail messages to be labeled (though not by a standard method) and to include opt-out instructions and the sender's physical address. It prohibits the use of deceptive subject lines and false headers in such messages. The FTC is authorized (but not required) to establish a "do-not-e-mail" registry. This federal law preempts any existing state legislation. For example a state law that requires labels on unsolicited commercial e-mail or prohibits such messages entirely are preempted, although provisions merely addressing falsity and deception would remain in place. This act is the first federal law passed in an attempt to control the spam problem. And a big problem it is. AOL says it blocks 1.5 billion spam messages per day. That's 1,500,000,000 pieces of electronic junk every 24 hours. As huge as that number is - 60 million per hour - it is probably dwarfed by the number of spam messages that elude detection and end up in your inbox.

More Spam Information

The Federal Trade Commission's guide to unsolicited commercial e-mail site (www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/index.html) provides information for consumers and businesses on recent law enforcement actions against spammers and includes tips on reducing the junk in your inbox. In addition, the site includes links to other Internet resources.

Keep your Domain Name Listing Current

Sometimes it doesn't take a hacker to bring down a computer network. The Washington Post reported last month that it had inadvertently allowed the domain name registration for one of its Internet domain names -- washpost.com -- to expire. When you don't pay your registration fee access to the site is shut off. For the Washington Post the immediate effect was shutting down the e-mail system that reporters and other Post employees use to exchange messages with the world. No one was able to receive e-mail and the sender received delivery failure notices. The e-mail system was shut down for most of one day. Apparently Network Solutions, which manages Internet addresses, notified The Post of the pending expiration via a drop-box that was not being monitored. A word to the wise, go to www.networksolutions.com and make sure your contact information is current.

Privacy Upheld

Since last year, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been filing subpoenas, based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to force ISPs to provide names of users who were downloading music. When Verizon refused, the RIAA sued and in January 2003 a court ruled in its favor. The court of appeals for the District of Columbia last week reversed that lower-court ruling. The DMCA-based subpoenas the RIAA has been using don't require a judge's approval, and the court of appeals said the DMCA rules don't apply to ISPs like Verizon. Copyright holders seeking personal information about Internet subscribers will now have to file a traditional lawsuit which will help preserve the privacy, safety, and legal rights of every Internet subscriber.

Ebix Changes Name

Ebix was the first management system vendor to embrace the Internet and its name - Ebix.com, Inc. - reflected that early dot com feeling. In recognition of its brick and mortar infrastructure, the company has now changed its name to Ebix, Inc. The company also has a new logo that can be seen at www.ebix.com. Over the last year, the company has expanded the services it offers with a strong focus on custom software development, call center services, and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

Find Demographic Data

A comprehensive census of the United States is completed once every 10 years. The last was completed in 2000. The entire results for the full US are available on this government sponsored site. You can search for information on the entire US or for the town you live in. If you are trying to decide whether a target market would be good to go after this site will provide you with the background research to help you make that decision. http://www.census.gov/

Keep up with Scams

Keeping up with the latest scam is time consuming. Is that e-mail legitimate or is someone trying to take me. This government sponsored site helps you keep track of the current scams. Categories include Cars, computers and technology, education, employment, housing and a number of others. Use this site to communicate with your clients or just for your own information. Come back often because scams seem to keep coming. The site is located at http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/scamsdesc.htm.

JCRS Newsletter Provides Free, Timely Information

JCRS, a developer and provider of jewelry claims mitigation solutions, is also offering a free newsletter dealing with a wide range of significant issues facing those involved in the jewelry purchase, insurance, and claims settlement process. The newsletter informs readers about many current issues including:

  • Synthetic Diamonds - and Insuring Tips
    Synthetic diamonds have a fraction of the value of natural ones. Replacing a synthetic with a natural could result in an overpayment. How can you guard against this error?
  • Bogus Diamond Certificates and Appraisals
    How can you tell a reliable diamond certificate from just another advertising tool?
  • Counterfeit Diamond Certificates
    A new international scam imitates Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Diamond Reports to increase the value of low-quality diamonds.

The newsletter is free and available at the JCRS web site.

Your February Audio Interview- The Business of Business Planning

Jack Fries discusses the importance of business planning for agencies and how your own agency can implement a planning process. To hear the interview go to www.acord.org/advantage/advantagemain.aspx and sign in with your advantage password.

Forms Update:

The pdf and Toolkit versions (ps, crd, hp3, wmf, emf) of the following new/revised forms have been added to the ACORD website Download Forms section. For information about these forms and the reasons for their creation or revision, go to http://www.acord.org/forms/updates/ACORDJanFebChanges.pdf for http://www.acord.org/forms/updates/ACORDLifeFebChanges.pdf

Subscriber Information

If you have a question or comment, send an e-mail to steve@steveanderson.com.

If you would like more information about other Advantage products and services you can visit our Web site at: http://www.acord.org/advantage/AdvantageMain.aspx.

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The ACORD Advantage eNews is a service of ACORD Copyright ©2004. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, by any means, of this material is strictly forbidden without expressed written permission.