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Instant gratification

Selective's xSELerate technology provides agents with straight-through processing capabilities

By Nancy Doucette

Matt Clark isn’t a clock watcher. But during some of his visits to agencies in his territory, you may find him studying a stop watch. Clark is a business services unit (BSU) field technical specialist with Selective Insurance Company of America, headquartered in Branchville, New Jersey. He is charged with training and technical support for Selective’s technology solutions in the agencies in southern New Jersey.

Most recently, he’s been educating agents in his territory on the productivity and time-saving benefits of xSELerate, the carrier’s integration technology product. Introduced in late 2005, xSELerate speeds up the quote delivery and policy issuance processes, as well as inquiries, enabling agencies to service their customers better. The key to the quicker turnaround time is that agents can initiate personal and commercial activities from their AMS or Applied agency management systems, meaning that the duplicate entry bugaboo is eliminated.

Currently Clark is working on a book roll with one of the agencies in his territory that involves more than 400 classes of businesses. Before xSELerate, the process would have been tedious and time-consuming for both the agency staff and Selective personnel. Now he uses his stop watch to emphasize the time savings. “A lot of agencies get accustomed to a daily routine,” Clark notes. “Changing that habit, even if it makes peoples’ jobs easier, is sometimes difficult. But if I’m able to demonstrate to them that they can continue doing what they normally do—working in their management system—they see the benefit. xSELerate provides the single entry that most agents have been waiting for for such a long time.”

Denice English, vice president of marketing and administration at The Norwood Agency, Inc., headquartered in Long Branch, New Jersey, is a 28-year veteran of the insurance industry. She knows all too well that single entry has been a long time coming. And in some respects, it hasn’t completely arrived because at this point, Selective is the only market The Norwood Agency represents that offers this capability for commercial lines.

“We use xSELerate for BOPs, small business, and small contractors—GL, equipment, work comp, and umbrella,” English explains. “Since xSELerate became available, Selective has become my market of choice. It is so much easier to do business this way. My time is valuable. My client’s time is valuable. The quicker, the better.”

English is not alone in her appreciation of xSELerate. “Between January 2006 and July 2007, Selective has processed over $560 million of commercial lines business through xSELerate,” reports Jeff Kamrowski, CPCU, senior vice president of business services for Selective. “Add in personal lines, and that number is even higher.” Apparently Selective’s nearly 850 agents, based in 21 states in the Midwest and East, also appreciate an easier way of processing transactions.

“We can process any size account, which sets us apart from many of our competitors,” he continues. “A $100 policy all the way up to a multi-million dollar package—a small one-person operation up to a 700 vehicle fleet can be done via xSELerate. Once agents experience this ease of doing business, it’s habit forming.”

Kamrowski adds that “short fuse” opportunities are where xSELerate’s quick turnaround capability really shines. For a variety of reasons, an agency may need a quote in a hurry—the incumbent carrier may back out at the last minute, or a new account may suddenly become available. “The typical carrier will say: ‘We need days or weeks to process a quote.’ Selective can process that quote in hours,” he says.

The process begins in the agency management system. For an existing client, the account information is already in the agency’s database. For a new client, the agency needs to input the information. AMS users launch the quote process via TransactNOW. Applied users click the Transformation Station butterfly.

“Before xSELerate,” he explains, “agency staff had to enter all the information into the agency system and then do it again in the carrier system. xSELerate changes that. Agency staff can do what they normally would do in the agency management system. You hit the button and watch it go, knowing that it’s right, knowing that everything synchs up on both sides, and you didn’t need to do any more work than you had before.”

Endorsements can also be handled via xSELerate, Kamrowski continues. The agency staff person selects the client and the policy in the agency management system and, via TransactNOW or Transformation Station, xSELerate seamlessly transfers them to the Selective system. “You’re actually processing that endorsement in Selective’s system,” he says. “Duplicate entry is eliminated because you don’t have to do an ACORD change request.”

As part of the launch from the management system, an activity record is created. The return electronic download updates the agency system with the actual policy modification.

Additionally, agencies can check bills, view bill images or policies, or perform claims inquiries using xSELerate.

Perhaps the best news for agencies is: There’s no set up in order to begin using xSELerate. Kamrowski explains that it’s activated through the agency management system. “If you’re a TransactNOW or Transformation Station user, you have to identify Selective as a carrier that you’re going to upload to. There is an administrative set up, but there isn’t an installation on your local network,” he says.

Kim Mallon, CISR, is a BSU field tech supervisor at Selective with responsibilities for automation and training in agencies located in Illinois, northwest Indiana, and Missouri. “People are often surprised by how simple the process is,” she reports. When she completes her in-agency training and asks for questions, the most frequent one is: “Is that it?”

Reaping the benefits

One of the agencies in Mallon’s territory—the Cleaveland Insurance Group in Rock Island, Illinois—wasn’t reaping all the time-saving benefits that xSELerate offers, according to agency co-president Phyllis Schwindt. She recalls that the agency’s customer service agents (CSAs) were frustrated because applications weren’t “xSELerating” due to missing information.

At Cleaveland, the producers complete their applications and give them to a CSA who inputs the information. When the CSA submits the application, Selective’s system identifies gaps in information and prompts the CSA for the missing data.

“Applications need to be complete. Period,” Schwindt emphasizes. “Kim had trained our staff but when we began to see the prompts—indicating that we hadn’t completed the app properly—I did a quick 10-minute lesson on how to complete the app.” What Schwindt discovered was the classic “disconnect” between producer and CSA. Producers didn’t fully understand the need to complete detail, heightening the stress level for the CSAs. “Everyone has to be in synch,” she observes. “You can’t have just your service staff buying into the process. Everyone has to.”

With everyone in synch at Cleaveland Group, the agency is now enjoying xSELerate’s quick turnaround capabilities. “Suppose an account comes your way late in the cycle,” Schwindt says. “With xSELerate, we get a quote in 24 hours or less. In our agency, no other commercial insurance company is doing what Selective is doing. So when you’re in a hurry, or you want to expedite for whatever reason, you’re always going to go to Selective first. Of course there may be other carriers doing this, but I don’t represent them. I can count on Selective to turn around a quote or policy in short order.”

Mallon visits the Cleaveland Group on a monthly basis to help with a book roll. She, like other BSU field techs, performs as an extension of the agency staff. Working from an expiration list Mallon says, “We pull up each account in the agency’s Applied TAM system, we take the information that’s in the app, we xSELerate it through to our system, answer a few additional company-specific questions and then the field underwriter finalizes the pricing. The turnaround on something like this is the next day or a couple days later at the most.

“The ACORD apps are in the agency’s database, they have all the lines of business and underwriting information—drivers, driver’s license numbers, equipment schedules, location schedules,” Mallon continues. “The xSELerate process works within their system. It allows us to take the information from those apps and upload it into our system as opposed to manually keying in all that information. It eliminates duplicate entry. Using xSELerate, it’s a two to three minute process per account.”

Hit the ground running

For Leigh West, CLCS, who left the banking business about two years ago and joined George Johnson Insurance in Spartanburg, South Carolina, learning Selective’s workflow was no different from learning the agency’s AMS AfW system. She says she appreciates not having to enter vehicle schedules and drivers lists into the management system, then again into the carrier system. “Re-entry often causes errors,” she notes.

Angela Douda, AIC, is the BSU field tech responsible for agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. As new people join agencies in her territory, she’s on hand to train them on xSELerate. By her doing so, agency staff don’t have to take time away from their daily activities. “The learning curve for the xSELerate product isn’t huge,” she points out. “New CSRs don’t have to learn a company-specific Web site and rating system. It’s easy for them to upload an account without having a strong underwriting background.”

xSELerate’s ease of use can be traced back to input from Selective’s various feedback outlets, Selective’s Kamrowski says. Its Producer Council provides guidance from agency owners and large producers. The annual User Group Forum brings together CSRs so their concerns and expectations regarding usability and design could be factored in. Additionally, there’s an annual agency survey.

“We reach out often for feedback so we can be better at giving agencies what they need in order to do more business with us,” he says. “Our objective is to deliver technology that’s equal or better than our national competitors, with the nimble, personal touch of a regional carrier.” *

Industry Accolades Industry groups have recognized Selective’s efforts to provide agencies with technology that advances agency-company interface, real time connectivity, and increases productivity. In 2006, Selective received Applied System’s Leadership and Innovation Award. That same year, Selective won the E-Fusion Award from A.M. Best. In 2007, AMS Users’ Group honored Selective with its Quantum Award. During the development stages of xSELerate back in 2005, Selective was looking for a partner that had integration experience. They chose SeaPass Solutions, Inc. Today, “a growing number of carriers are providing similar types of capabilities,” notes Jeff Kamrowski, CPCU, senior vice president of business services for Selective. “We blazed the trail and other carriers are now following our lead.”

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