In today's ultra-competitive business environment, time is more precious to the agent than ever before. Time lost--no matter what the reason--can translate into lost clients and missed opportunities.
TECHNOLOGY
Online CE training saves agents time and money
By Barbara A. Morris
In today's ultra-competitive business environment, time is more precious to the agent than ever before. Time lost--no matter what the reason--can translate into lost clients and missed opportunities.
No wonder the prospect of spending as many as 30 hours annually in a classroom to obtain continuing education credits is often a source of frustration to the busy agent. State insurance departments mandate continuing education--and with good reason. Such courses help the agent stay on top of changes within the industry and keep up on new product offerings. The courses also help agents keep their skills sharp--definitely a plus in any sales or service scenario.
But should the agent have to spend hours--even days--away from the office to meet these CE requirements? Many don't think so and are looking to a more convenient and time-efficient alternative--online CE education.
This alternative is catching on as more and more agents seek out Internet-based training, and as more sources of such education--including agent organizations and other providers--develop programs to meet a growing need.
In fact, it was a group of agents who expressed their need for a CE educational alternative that sowed the seeds for the creation of CEU.com, a New Haven, Connecticut-based company. CEU.com is driven by the mission "to create and sell online courses that allow insurance professionals to complete CE requirements anywhere, any time and any day."
Company chairman and founder Neal Gersony, Ph.D., recalls a dinner at which several agents sitting at his table lamented the CE credit hours dangling over their heads and the pressure they felt to carve out the necessary time to meet them. Gersony, who had managed the development of online programs for the University of New Haven, saw an opportunity to apply the same educational strategies to an underserved market he believed was uniquely suited to online learning.
"Compared to many other professions, there are not as many distinct subspecialties," observes Gersony, who believed that many online courses could be created that would be useful and applicable to a broad range of members within the insurance profession. He also saw a very large market that could potentially benefit from his online offerings--an estimated 2.9 million licensed insurance agents in the United States. Add to this the online educational needs of designation holders, such as CPCUs, and CLUs, and the result is a potential market in excess of 3 million.
CEU.com was founded in 1999, by the merger of Online Learning International, LLC, and the Graduate School Online, Inc., a Yale University spin-off, "to serve as a learning management system for licensed professionals," Gersony says. Bruce S. MacMillian, the company's president and chief executive officer, predicts that by the first quarter of 2003, 25 online CE courses will be available through CEU.com, with an additional five courses added to the roster by the summer. To date, approximately 15,000 "students" have taken at least one CEU.com online course, with 50% having taken more than one.
"We also continue to develop courses that we believe respond to market interests," says MacMillian, who
came to the company with more than
30 years of experience at a major national insurer. For example, he notes that the company is currently developing a CE course on toxic mold--which over recent years has emerged as a potentially costly and difficult exposure to address.
While not even the leaders of CEU.com dispute the benefits of a classroom learning situation for many learning needs--they do stress the many advantages of online learning--particularly to meet CE insurance licensure requirements.
One of the major advantages cited by MacMillian is flexibility to the students, who can learn at their own pace rather than at the pace of an entire classroom. They can review what they need to review and move quickly over what they already know. And they can accomplish this, adds Gersony, virtually anytime and anywhere, as long as they have access to an Internet connection. Online learning, continues Gersony, is also uniquely suited to the individual who may not have a long attention span. Instead of missing information that perhaps they've tuned out in a classroom, they can review material over and over again. Or, if English is their second language, they need not fear missing key information spoken perhaps too rapidly by an instructor. Again, the flexibility exists to review information repeatedly.
Additionally, notes MacMillian, online courses of study can be viewed just as easily off the computer screen because a portion or all of the course text can be printed out--a feature viewed as very desirable by the student who still feels more comfortable when holding and looking directly at a printed text.
And in a world characterized by the need for immediate gratification, the speed of Internet-based learning and testing is seen as paramount. Test results are virtually immediate, as is reporting to the state that the student has taken the required CE credits. And in a business environment likewise characterized by the emphasis on paring down expenses, the reduced cost of taking a course online, as compared to traveling to a remote location necessitating hotel and other living expenses, is obvious. But CEU.com has done the math, estimating that the cost of 16 CE credits conducted in a "traditional" classroom venue of two-and-one-half days averages $1,540.60 compared to $138 to take the same course online.
It was the time pressures to which many agents and online education providers allude that prompted Thomas J. Thompson, CIC, to explore alternative CE programming options.
In fact, the CE deadline loomed at December 31, and it was already November, recalls Thompson, a sales producer specializing in transportation, working out of the Phoenix location of the large multiline agency, TrueNorth Companies. He knew the clock was ticking and wanted a convenient and quick way to meet Arizona's
CE credit requirements.
"I'm not a real computer-literate person," says Thompson, recalling his initial hesitancy to explore online options. Now in looking back, he characterizes his initial experience with CEU.com as one of relief--having found the company "to be very user friendly. Once I got on there, I was very comfortable with the system."
With more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, Thompson also recalls his desire to meet CE requirements without having to sit through endless hours reviewing material that he often found to be "too basic." What he wanted was a venue through which he could move at his own pace--"expediting some material quickly and spending more time only on the things I was not as familiar with." Ultimately, Thompson's preparation time prior to taking examinations in a CE businessowners and a workers compensation course totaled about six hours--markedly less than the two and one half days he would have spent accumulating the same CE credits in a classroom.
Thompson, however, does not discount the very real benefits of classroom learning. He concedes that online education is "an isolated experience," with no real commentary or feedback--an experience he characterizes as "very black and white." For the agent relatively new to the industry who may need the deliberately paced instruction a classroom affords, and who may welcome the opportunity for interaction and networking with other professionals, the classroom, believes Thompson, is unquestionably appealing. But at this point in his career, Thompson isn't looking for the bells and whistles anymore. While committed to remaining current with industry trends, he's looking to access such information to fulfill CE requirements as quickly and as time efficiently as possible. CEU.com, he says, definitely met that need.
Darren J. Danielson, a financial consultant with the wealth management solutions group of RSM McGladrey, a large accounting firm in Duluth, Minnesota, was also looking to find an easier solution to his CE credit needs.
"I was very dissatisfied with the traveling road shows I'd been to. The quality and quantity of the information was often too basic or wasn't specific enough for me," recalls Danielson. "I wanted to find out if indeed there was a time-saving element (with online learning)--to see what it was like, if they could do it better," he adds.
Ultimately, Danielson was led to CEU.com through the referrals of several colleagues. Looking back on his initial experience, Danielson says his questions were answered--and all positively. "I didn't spend nearly the amount of clock time that I would have put in attending a class," recalls Danielson. And the time he did spend preparing for the examination was accomplished, in part, right at the office. "I could sit here, take phone calls, sign on and off as I needed to," says Danielson. "I stayed effective working in the office,"--a huge plus to any busy agent who doesn't have time to spare, he stresses.
Danielson also reports that the information presented through Web-based technology was very "up to the minute," more current, he believes, than the typical CE courses taught by local professionals who may not be continually tweaking and updating their material.
Assessing his foray into the realm of online learning, Danielson is happy with the decision he made to try something new. For those people who may not be completely comfortable with Web-based technology and therefore resistant to online learning, he advises them to take the chance, stressing that "the benefits I have experienced far outweigh any initial hesitancy in trying it."
Gary Henkel, CEO and co-founder of Dallas-based WebCE, characterizes time as the most important "asset" the agent possesses. It was his desire to maximize this critical asset--better used to recruit and serve existing customers--that prompted Henkel to move his company into the direction of online learning.
Offering correspondence courses since 1992, WebCE introduced its first Internet-based course in 1999. The company currently offers more than 50 state-approved insurance courses and is authorized to deliver CE accredited curriculum to insurance professionals in all 48 states that allow self-study CE. According to Henkel, the company has delivered more than 250,000 CE courses to licensed professionals seeking to fulfill their ongoing license renewal requirements. It has also forged relationships with several major carriers and insurance groups to provide online training--among them The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) and the St. Paul Companies, Inc.
Looking back on the company's strategic decision to move into the direction of online learning, Henkel says it had become very apparent that technology, and more specifically the Internet, would revolutionize the business of self-study educational providers. Agents, he continues, need to use their productive time to achieve productive results. Online learning, he believes, allows agents to fill "dead time" with constructive learning opportunities as close at hand as the nearest laptop and Internet connection. Additionally, he believes many agents welcome the opportunity to conduct their CE preparations at home rather than spending as many as two days away to learn in a classroom.
Henkel also points out that the company delivers information to respond to a number of different learning styles--offering visual displays, text, the ability to print from the Web browser, or to order paper books delivered directly to the agent. WebCE "students" can also access materials for a full year after they've taken a course, which Henkel calls "a wonderful opportunity for continued review."
The bottom line, stresses Henkel, is that "our system saves time--it is very easy to use--agents don't even have to download software or become tied up with a lot of technical mumbo jumbo. All they want is to get the CE done as quickly as possible so they can take care of their customers."
Looking ahead, Henkel anticipates the continued growth of WebCE, which he reports has seen a three-digit growth rate over the last few years. It will work to expand its market share in the insurance arena, while developing additional courses, including those that address curriculum needs in the areas of pre-licensing, product training, and self improvement.
He likewise anticipates that the currently enormous field of Web-based insurance training will see a "dramatic consolidation" of CE providers, paring down to those companies totally committed to investing the talent and capital needed to develop "sophisticated applications." This trend, he believes, signals good news for the agent, who will have high-tech, high-quality online learning opportunities to meet CE requirements that might otherwise deplete the agent's most valuable asset--time.
Marni Sorrick, a producer at Senior Care Corporation, a life/health agency in Belleville, Illinois, grows impatient when classroom learning slows to a snail's pace because a few in the room just "don't get it." She likes the idea of being able to learn at her own pace--free from the constraints of classroom dynamics which often don't respond to individual needs or learning styles.
"At home, I can study whenever it's convenient--even in the middle of the night," says Sorrick, who has already taken two CE courses with WebCE. On occasion, she found herself studying between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.--perhaps late for some people, but viewed by Sorrick as decidedly convenient for a working mom with two young children.
Sorrick's initial experience with WebCE has made her a loyal customer, pointing out that the curriculum's "ease of use, price, and content were either comparable or excelled" when matched up against a classroom-based experience. Adds Sorrick, "I will never use any [CE training method] but WebCE again."
Another highly satisfied CE "student" is Barbara Zahn, a licensed property/casualty agent who has held executive positions with several large agencies in Los Angeles. Having recently completed WebCE courses in "additional insured status" and "employment practices liability" to earn a total of 16 credits, Zahn found the challenge of reviewing material and completing the examinations online to be "a simple process." With a strong background in writing property owners and builders, Zahn also found herself moving quickly over the additional insured material which she characterizes as "a common scenario in the construction industry." Instead, she had the freedom and flexibility to focus more heavily on the less familiar employment practices liability curriculum--which Zahn strongly believes was the most efficient use of her time.
Zahn also recalls her initial fears about the prospect of having to retest should anything interrupt the process. That fear was tested when an unexpected knock at the door compelled Zahn to leave the test for several hours. "So I closed it out and opened it (the program) two hours later, completed the examination and obtained a very quick response. Thirty minutes later I received an
e-mail giving me my score and advising me that I had passed," Zahn recalls.
Agents, just like their customers, desire convenience, flexibility, and speed. While recognizing the importance of continuing education, many question the need to devote huge blocks of time to achieve it. With companies like WebCE and CEU.com offering a viable, Internet-based alternative, the two-and-a-half day hiatus away from the agency to earn that CE certificate may soon be a thing of the past. *
For more information:
CEU.com
Web site: www.ceu.com
WebCE
Web site: www.webce.com