How to Learn More About CPM Systems

Not to be confused with CRM, corporate performance management (CPM) software defines and manages the strategies that companies need to monitor their business activities. Your CPM software helps to create methodologies and processes that will eventually be implemented. This can facilitate the ability to track key performance indicators (KPIs) for corporations.

Who Uses CPM?

Although oftentimes CPM software is only deployed by accounting departments to analyze financial performance, it can be implemented across all corporations. It can be used by managers and executives, or anyone responsible for improving the business performance of a company.

Accounting Professionals

Using CPM is helpful to monitor financial performance. You can use CPM to improve performance by comparing budgets, expenses, and revenue in real-time. It can also be used to forecast.

Department Managers

Tracking the business performance of each department is made possible with a CPM. Because each department has specific goals, the metrics must be aligned with this. CPM also allows managers to understand how their department affects other departments.

Executives

When it comes to strategic planning and overseeing performance, executives must find the details on metrics and transactions that directly affect overall performance. CPM facilitates that.

What Does a CPM Do?

CPM systems help to consolidate different types of business information, whether that is financial, operational, IT, sales, and more. All information regarding departments of a corporation can be found in a CPM.

This is why a CPM needs to integrate with software products. Whether these are ERP systems, CRM software, supply chain, and logistics software, or, of course, accounting software. If you are looking to mitigate risks, then integration with governance, risk, and compliance software is essential as well.

What Qualifies a Corporate Performance Management System?

There are a few factors that lead to the qualification of a corporate performance management system:

  1. Deliver standard KPIs for different departments: This should include finance, manufacturing, accounting, sales, and IT at the very least.
  2. Align corporate objectives with plans: All operational and business processes should be aligned to achieve company goals.
  3. Strategic planning and management tools: This might include something such as balance scorecards to evaluate your achievements.
  4. Forecast changes: Operational metrics are essential to a successful corporation, which means that your CPM software must suggest corrective actions.
  5. Data automation: Whether that is in terms of the collection or management of data, you will need to monitor performance overall. This might include workflows, automated tasks, and processes for performance tracking.
  6. Distribute reports: Including the generation and distribution of key corporate KPIs.

Why Use CPM?

There are many reasons why you might want to use a CPM for your corporation. The first is that it offers a single source of truth regarding performance. You can also work to align your business with objectives and goals. Finally, it helps to plan for the future. With strategic planning and contingency plans, you will be prepared for anything.

Learn More from Agency Automation Team

Learn all about Insurance Agency Management from Agency Automation Team. With easy steps to follow and information to walk you through, it has never been easier.

How Will Management Software Help Me Manage My Clients?

As an insurance agent and business owner you probably have a lot going on. Not only do you need to manage customer communications, but also sales projections, along with scheduling, invoicing, and marketing. Trying to accomplish all of these aspects of the business alone can be challenging. This is why using management software is so essential. It allows you to focus on one platform, and spend the right kind of mental energy in the right places.

Simplicity

Your insurance management software will help you manage your clients because it is easy to use. Rather than learn a variety of different software options, you will be able to access multiple features in the same location.

Having a variety of capabilities does not matter if you are not able to use the tools efficiently because they are too complicated. Management software brings together sales, service, and billing, this is why using simple software will allow you to focus on your clients and their needs.

Customization

Every business is different, which means that your CRM software must be flexible. This allows you to accommodate the needs of your clients regardless of your niche. Especially for small businesses, you want to use a small set of available options rather than waste resources on something too large. If you are a large enterprise, then you may need something that can grow with you to better serve your clients. Good management software programs will allow you to scale up whenever necessary.

Integrations and Automation

You might be using various systems and programs already on your own. Implementing management software doesn’t mean you need to let go of that to serve your clients. Instead, your client management software should be able to combine and integrate your tasks into one software package.

These integrations might include applications such as email, or other software. Automating tasks is essential as well. You must be prepared to automate follow-up communications and social media marketing to save more time to spend on your clients.

Proactive Service

The data in your client management software will help you to provide a more personalized service to each client. Make a marketing funnel to improve sales but also to improve your ability to help your customer.

As long as you can understand how to support them in the most proactive way possible, you will be able to serve them more efficiently. By using relevant data, there is no need to waste time looking for further information because it is all right in front of you.

Choose a Client Management Software to Help With Your Clients

The quality of your customer account management is essential if you are looking to have a successful insurance business. To generate the best results, you will need to work hard in everything from customer acquisition to invoicing repeat sales. Using a client management system allows you to do that.

Check out the best Insurance Client Management Software to help manage your business.

What Qualifications Does AAT Have to Provide the Best Agency Management Systems?

If you are searching for the best Insurance Agency Management System (AMS) for your agency then you need to evaluate multiple aspects of your business. When you are choosing insurance software, you are choosing how you plan to grow your business. Let’s learn more about an AMS, and how to understand what makes an AMS the “best”.

What is an Insurance Agency Management System?

Primarily known as an Insurance Agency Management System (AMS), these systems are a SaaS (software as a service) technology. Typically it is used by insurance agencies to streamline operations and improve relationships. An AMS can help you to bring together your employees, customers, prospects, and other stakeholders. It will help you to streamline processes and integrate everything into your business with technology.

How to Define The “Best” Agency Management System

Documentation and Data Integration

Because using an agency management system helps to organize information, when you are choosing the best AMS you will want to use one that centralizes all your data. This means you should be able to access everything in a few simple clicks. AAT offers just that.

Helpful Dashboard

Your dashboard is where you can visualize everything that is happening in your business. Here you can monitor the performance of individual employees, as well as your agency as a whole. Your interface will include flowcharts, graphs, diagrams, and other data, easily accessible.

You can also track work hours, how productive they are, monthly sales, and commission payouts. You might also be able to identify your efficiency as an entire whole.

Improved Customer Service

Agency Management Systems help to make your customer service process more reliable and almost effortless. By being able to collect data that identifies exactly what your customers want and need, you will be able to change your marketing tactics. You will also be able to easily change anything that your customers request, allowing for extremely responsive customer service, and high customer retention.

Cross-Selling

Keeping track of new and old clients provides you with a unique opportunity to cross-sell. If you do not have the proper software, then you might need to put in a whole lot of effort to do this. Using an AMS allows you to automate this process and create a system to expand on the leads you already have. Anticipate what your customers need before they ask for it, providing you the opportunity to gain the increased business before your customers even know that they need it.

Accounting

Every agency needs a method of accounting. Using the right AMS will track your payments, records important aspects of your account histories, and provide you a platform to directly send invoices. You will also be able to analyze your data and make quick decisions for a better all-around business.

Agency Automation Team, known as AAT, is one of the Best Agency Management Systems that exists today. Contact us today to learn more or get started!

What are the Best Insurance Agency Management Systems?

If you are considering switching insurance agency management software, or even simply purchasing your first one, it can be hard to know where to start. How do you decide what system to go with, and what do you even need? Choosing the right agency management system is very important because who you choose will help to propel your business to success. You will also spend a lot of time using this software, so being able to have a simple and reliable system is important.

Steps to Choosing an AMS

  1. Identify your goal
  2. Identify your need
  3. Research vendors
  4. Make a decision

Step 1: Identify Your Goal

If you are looking to start with an agency management system, then you most likely are choosing to do so for one of the following reasons:

  • Your current system is not supporting your growth.
  • You need key features that are not included in your current system.
  • Your current system does not offer both contact and policy tracking
  • Your current system is not built specifically for your industry.
  • Commissions processing is not efficient.
  • You are just starting in business.

The best way to identify your goal is to decide what you need from your agency management system. Decide what you want to accomplish in the next year, five years, or ten years. You should also see if you are on track to complete those goals, and then what changes you need to implement to do so.

Step 2: Identify Your Need

Once you have defined your goals, then you can decide what your actual needs are, as compared to your wants.

Your needs are defined as what features are necessary for your day to day operations.

Alternatively, your wants are capabilities that you would like to have but are not make or break. They might make your day simpler, but it is not a necessity.

Step 3: Research Vendors

Although this can be confusing, you want to look for a vendor that offers the ability to attain your goals. It should also be specific to your industry, have everything you need to run your business, and improve productivity. On top of that, you should also look to have CRM included.

Step 4: Make The Decision

This might be the hardest step. At this point, you need to make the decision on which agency management system can help you. You can look to sample different options, or you can go with the Agency Automation Team. This software offers two main benefits:

  • Organization: This provides you with the chance to put all of your business goals, and information, and then actually implement it to reach those goals.
  • Quick implementation: By being able to implement your agency management system quickly, you will be able to begin working on your goal as quickly as possible.

If you are looking for the Best Insurance Agency Management Systems, look no further than the Agency Automation Team. Contact us today to learn more!

How Do Insurance Automation Systems Work?

Although you may have heard of an insurance automation system, you might not understand the difference between Insurance Automation Systems and CRM. One of the main things to note is that an insurance automation system is essentially a CRM plus added features. CRMs are generic systems. They have many capabilities, but they also can be quite expensive and need to be updated often. Insurance automation systems are better in three main ways: they are specific, total, and productive.

Two Forms of Insurance Automation Systems

There are many benefits to using technology, such as workflow automation, efficient commissions processing, and high-quality customer service. Despite this, if your agency is not organized, these systems will not fall into place.

If you are looking to select an agency management system then there are two types of systems to look out for:

  • Contact-Based
  • Policy-Based

As it would be pretty obvious, policy-based systems have a core organization that is centered around policies. Contact-based means it is centered around contacts.

Contact-Based

These types of systems track information based on individual contact. This means that all of the systems track information that is provided from a contact. All of these aspects can include policies, agents, commissions, groups, carriers, and relationships to the contact.

These systems begin with an individual client. This person may have one or more policies with you. You will be able to see each of these policies and how they are connected to that client. It does not matter if the policies are from different providers, they will still be connected to that client.

Policy-Based

As the name hints, a policy-based system centers everything around the policy. Each policy will be tied to the client, the carrier, and the agent who connected the three. The commission will also be connected. Rather than seeing one person connected to all of their policies, you will see individual policies and individuals as multiple records. If you use a spreadsheet system, this is most likely a policy-based solution.

Aspects of Insurance Automation Systems

Specificity

The major benefit of insurance automation systems is that they are built for your industry. It can also cut down implementation time. This means you can cut down your time focusing on remedial tasks, and focus more on your clientele.

Totality

There are many more aspects to an insurance automation system than simply helping with tracking communications. These systems can help with tracking agents, tracking policies, managing commissions, and managing email marketing campaigns. They can also help with task management, business performance analysis, and insurance specific reporting. This is why insurance automation systems are a total system.

Productivity

Instead of working harder, you can be more productive by using an insurance automation system. By using these systems, you will boost your productivity, your efficiency, and automate all of your workflows.

Many tasks can be automated such as:

  • Happy birthday/holiday emails
  • Policy renewal reminders
  • New lead notifications
  • Licensure management
  • Policy status updates
  • Follow-up alerts

Overall, insurance automation systems work by helping you do your job better. Rather than spending countless hours on slow tasks, you can use your system to automate workflows, and stay organized better than you ever could with a CRM.

Pros and Cons of Management Systems

Technology is incredible in how it can enhance our lives and streamline your business’s operations. Having said this, management systems exist in many different industries, but in the insurance sector, management systems can make or break your business. As with anything, there are both pros and cons to different forms of technology.

Con: Makes You Reliant on Technology

The only negative aspect of a management system is that it might make you a bit lazy. This is because they allow you to become reliant on your technology. This can negatively affect your work ethic, so it is important to stay up to date on different aspects of your industry, and never to become complacent.

Pro: Simplicity

The largest benefit of using an insurance management system is that it makes your life easier. Not only do you have all of your clients organized, but you also make it easy to access this information. It also makes data easy to track, and allows you to make a good game plan for the future of your business.

Pro: Improves Marketing & Client Communication

Marketing can be difficult in the insurance world. Not only do you need to advertise yourself in a positive light, but you need to highlight why you are the best choice. If you are not organized, then you may have trouble marketing yourself properly, and even communicating well with your clients.

With Insurance Agency Management Systems, you can streamline email marketing campaigns, as well as workflow automation. Rather than spending time to send a “Happy holidays” card to all of your clients, you can have your system automatically do so . . . to everyone at once! You can even personalize your messages a bit so that it feels as though you are individually thinking of your clients.

Pro: Apply Cross-Selling Methods

Cross-selling is one of the ways that an insurance agency can easily grow. Cross-selling occurs when you find one of your policyholders, and attempt to sell them a new policy.

For example, you may have a good amount of health policyholders. If you choose to cross-sell them dental, you can add a policy on to 30-50% of their plans. This would hugely increase revenue.

Cross-selling is not incredibly difficult, but if you are not organized then you may struggle with this. Having a great insurance management system can aid you in this process, and almost do it for you.

How to Choose a Management System

When choosing a management system, the main choice you need to make is between a policy-based system or a contract-based system. There are many problems you will find with a policy-based system, such as unorganized data, difficult marketing efforts, and difficulties cross-selling.

By using a contact-based system you will have everything in one place. You will be working smarter, and using a system to further your company’s goals. Consider what your goals are for the future and make the switch to a system that works for you.

How Do I Find the Best Quote for Management Software Systems?

When it comes to organizing your business, there are many different options available, especially when it comes to Insurance Agency Management Software. You may be able to find apps for organizing your workload, but if you have a team, you will need good software for both communication and collaboration.

Why Choose Management Software

Management software helps with every aspect of running a project. Whether you need to plan, schedule, control costs, or report, this type of software can help you in every aspect.

It also allows you to organize customers, stakeholders, and even the rest of your team. From start to finish, you will have a place to manage everything required for your business. Using the right tools makes it easier to accomplish projects.

How to Select Project Management Software

Step 1: Outline Your Business Needs

First, you will need to understand what is wrong with what you are currently doing. Does your software need to be updated? Does it complicate your process? Maybe you need a software that will allow you to streamline all aspects of your business. Regardless of what your problems are, you need to know what you need to fix.

Step 2: Look for Alternatives

When you know what you need in software management, you can then compare the different options. Take a look at the Agency Automation Team and ask for a free quote.

Step 3: Evaluate Your Needs

Now, you will need to test drive a few options and evaluate your needs afterward. You can also ask your team members or employees what they think of the software. Compare it to your old software and see how it aids in your approach. Make sure you choose a system that works with your work environment. Once you decide it is a good fit, you can implement it.

Step 4: Evaluate Costs

When making your final decision, always look into costs. Management software costs vary. You may find cheaper solutions, but you most likely will want to go with a provider that gives you everything you need. Investing in management software is important, and it will pay off in the long run.

When looking at the cost, you should check on if you will need to spend time and money to implement the solution as well. Will it take too long to do so? Weigh the cost of implementation versus not having a specific tool and see if it is worth it for you.

Step 5: Implementing Your Software

After you have selected your software, you will then need to implement it. This will be the time to schedule training sessions with your team, make sure all the integrations are complete, and ensure your team fully understands how to use the software.

Finding a quote for management software is simple, but choosing the right one for your business can be tricky. Put effort and time into choosing the right one for your business, and you will be rewarded with management and organization.

How Can I Choose the Best Automation System for My Insurance Agency?

If you have ever wanted to generate more leads with Insurance Agency Automation Systems, you may not know where to begin. Insurance agency automation is incredible as it lets you sit back and relax while you gain information on prospects. But how do you choose the best system for your insurance agency?

Why Automation?

Automation can help save you money, time, and frustration. Most business owners struggle with managing time in the first place, and automation allows business owners to do it better.

Automation will also allow you to run a more successful business with less overhead, that would typically require hours of labor. You may not only be able to require fewer hours of work for yourself, but you can also reduce the amount of time you are forced to pay for employees.

What is Automated in an Automation System?

Client communications, workflows, internal, and external touchpoints are all automated when using an insurance automation system. It can be difficult to understand what you want to automate, and what you want to do yourself. Since calling customers is often part of the business, you cannot necessarily automate these functions. What you can automate includes:

  • Online lead intake
  • Online lead processing
  • Client onboarding processes
  • Retargeting

How to Choose Automation Software

There are plenty of automation tools available on the market, but not all are created equal. Make sure you choose an automation software that is simple to use, and available for everyone in your enterprise.

There is No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

You may have looked through many different popular software options. Unfortunately, all of these solutions may leave you wanting more because there is no personalization.

Analyze Your Budget

Your budget is important, but you should also consider your automation software to be an investment. Because you will use your automation software for years to come, you need a software that will update itself with the times, and give you room to grow.

Analyze Your Needs

Every insurance agency has different needs and capabilities. You might need different ranges of complexity, pricing, and functions.  Even if you want to save on initial costs, you do need to make sure that it won’t require you to pay your workers overtime to study and learn the software itself.

The Best Automation Software For Insurance Agencies

If you are looking for a software that is easy to learn, offers a low investment, and will be used more than any other tool, you should look into Agency Automation Team. Not only does it stand up strong to most software on the market, but it provides you will the opportunity to build your business, and it grows with you.

Stop putting hard work into lead sourcing, on-boarding, and other tedious tasks. It is time to stop paying employees to perform tasks that can be done with automation software. Pick the best software for you and learn how to monetize your business with less work, and more time to spend on your clients face to face.

Why is CP Manager the Best Insurance Management System?

Want to know why CP Manager is the best insurance management system for you? We’ve outlined some of our favorite benefits of a CP Manager that features below to show you how we stand out from the pack and why you’ll want to put your trust in our system. We aim to make your work and life easier through efficiency and constant progress to keep up with industry demands and new technologies.

The Benefits of CP Manager

  • PL and CL Downloading: We uniquely support both of the AL3 industry standards and Team-Up and IVANS certified
  • Multi-agency management: We offer a very powerful tool for multi-agency management across locations and clusters
  • Powerful policy management: We boast a great policy management tool for both commercial and personal lines. Packaging policies is also simple.
  • One-click policy task: When your policy isn’t downloaded, we planned for that. You can access it with one click, and this works with MGA’s and aggregators as well.
  • Full “insurance-specific” sub-ledger accounting: This is a powerful and flexible tool that’s incredibly easy to utilize for sub-ledger work.
  • Client ledger: This was designed with the CSR in mind. You can quickly take payment and easily mail payment receipts or invoice with no issues
  • 100% paperless: CP Manager makes it possible for you to go 100% paperless through advanced document attachment systems, electronic signatures, compatibility with eSignature for your clients, and more.
  • Correspondence: This is built into the CP Manager. Emailing, faxing, and letter writing just got incredibly easier with fewer steps plus you can run the full CPM on your PC, tablet, or smartphone.
  • Notes, follow-ups, and more: We’ve overhauled this standard feature to make it more integrated and powerful for your work.
  • Life, health, disability, LTC, etc. policies: Easily capture these policies for both individuals and businesses without any extra hassle.
  • Client activities: You can find out instantly what claim, open endorsements, or debts the client currently has active on their account without needing to hunt the information down.
  • Security: Our security is incredibly thorough with over 400 security options and you can even set up producers and CSRs to only access their client records.
  • Industry-standard reports: We took reporting to a whole new level to give you the ability to dig into your book of business and look at it from several angles. There are over 100 report combinations that adhere to industry standards.
  • Quick access to policies, vehicles, drivers, and locations: You can access these easily from your client record.
  • CL client and policy management: Our unique and user-friendly design here will make your client and policy managers extremely happy.
  • Certificates: We have advanced certifications in insurance that are simple and fast to create and have sent out to your insureds even in large quantities.

Carrier hub: This is a way to be more effective with your carriers and make life easier for your staff.

Is a Management System Right for My Company?

We won’t dice words, CP Manager is the absolute best insurance agency management system for all small agencies. We thoroughly believe that and want to make sure you do too. Virtually all of our decisions within the creation of this service was done with small insurance agencies in mind, and that includes our competitive and economically savvy price point.

But if you need more convincing, we’ve got the top reasons why the CP Manager should be your go-to choice for management software at your small agency.

The Need for Efficient Systems

As your book of business grows, you need to be able to keep up with an efficient system that won’t overload your CSRs. That’s where we come in. We offer an efficient and invaluable system that will become critical as your business grows.

Personal and Commercial Lines

Our system does it all. We can efficiently handle both personal and commercial lines through a lot less time, effort, and money spent. Most companies have to force their predominantly PL system to work in their move towards commercial work. Not the case with CP Manager.

Paperless Options

Our CP Manager system allows for paperless work through digital documents, signatures, and a whole lot more. Plus we integrate with other digital document systems.

The Wide Benefits of CP Manager

  • PL and CL Downloading: We uniquely support both of the AL3 industry standards and Team-Up and IVANS certified
  • Multi-agency management: We offer a very powerful tool for multi-agency management across locations and clusters
  • Powerful policy management: We boast a great policy management tool for both commercial and personal lines. Packaging policies is also simple.
  • One-click policy task: When your policy isn’t downloaded, we planned for that. You can access it with one clock and this works with MGA’s and aggregators.
  • Full “insurance-specific” sub-ledger accounting: This is a powerful and flexible tool that’s incredibly easy to utilize for sub-ledger work.
  • Client ledger: This was designed with the CSR in mind. You can quickly take payment and easily mail payment receipts or invoice with no issues
  • 100% paperless: CP Manager makes it possible for you to go 100% paperless through advanced document attachment systems, electronic signatures, compatibility with eSignature for your clients, and more.
  • Correspondence: This is built into the CP Manager. Emailing, faxing, and letter writing just got incredibly easier with fewer steps plus you can run the full CPM on your PC, tablet, or smartphone.
  • Notes, follow-ups, and more: We’ve overhauled this standard feature to make it more integrated and powerful for your work.
  • Life, health, disability, LTC, etc. policies: Easily capture these policies for both individuals and businesses without any extra hassle.
  • And more!

Talk to us today about getting CP Manager set up for your small insurance agency and get started on improving your logistics in your office today. We want CP Manager to be an asset to your company and it starts with a phone call.