UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. (May 24, 2004) � Applied Systems, Inc., the leading provider of technology solutions for the property and casualty insurance industry, today announced the deployment of Applied ConneXion™, a toolkit providing real-time data interchange with third-party software for its agent and broker customers.
Tina Noke, product manager for ConneXion, said, �Over the years, Applied customers have wanted to access and leverage information stored in The Agency Manager (TAM) or Vision databases with their other business applications.� Meanwhile, she added, �third-party software providers have expressed interest in building integration to Applied for their agency customers and partners.�
To meet this growing demand for real-time data interchange, ConneXion leverages XML�the industry standard data format�for importing data from third-party applications into an agency�s TAM or Vision system, or to export data to other programs, Noke said. For outgoing data, ConneXion translates the XML data stream to find the TAM or Vision data, which then is inserted into the third-party applications. For incoming data, the toolkit translates the XML data stream into business objects used by TAM or Vision to ensure its validity and integrity in the same manner as if it had been entered directly from the TAM or Vision user interface.
Among the deployments of ConneXion include: Loeb Consulting Services, Inc. (LCS), a document management system; reinsurance broker Thomas E. Sears, Inc., and the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA).
For Atlanta-based Loeb Consulting, which provides stand-alone imaging software called LCS Image Edition, ConneXion is providing a seamless link between an Applied user�s database and the locally installed Image Edition software, says President Ken Loeb.
The software sends a copy of all image transaction detail scanned into LCS to the Activity files in Applied, Loeb explained. Retrieval of everything that came into the agency from the outside is now available instantaneously, he says. That includes paper and electronic documents that come in to the agency.
Thus, the CSR has access to all information on the account. Examples include a copy of the policy, correspondence, letters, pictures, and articles�important information that applies to customers or to the agency but were not created in Applied Systems. For example, Loeb says, an outgoing letter from an Applied System database to a customer regarding deductibles would be in Applied data, but the reply with instructions might not be. LCS Image Edition provides that seamless link.
ConneXion is behind the scenes for Thomas E. Sears, Inc., a large excess and reinsurance broker based in Boston. The firm needs to reconcile split limits of liability, billing and commissions with 50 carriers, and Applied build a participation calculator to store all the information necessary, populating databases and saving time-consuming manual reentry, according to Tim Silva with Sears.
�We�ve experienced a tremendous improvement in the time it takes to perform simple input tasks as well as more complex custom reporting,� Silva said. �Because links to all of the tables in TAM carry over to our participation calculator, inputting customers, companies and brokers was merely the process of selecting from drop-down menus.�
AANA, the association of 30,000+ certified registered nurse anesthetists that provides professional liability insurance coverage to its members, needed to integrate its management systems due to an overload of handling both underwriting and policy issuance for its clients. To manage these new responsibilities, the association�s in-house agency needed to integrate TAM with a second browser-based policy processing system.
Joyce Hastings, operations manager at AANA Insurance Services, said, �The ConneXion tool has helped us to build a seamless link between our two agencies, and it has made our work easier.�
Director of AANA Insurance Services John Fetcho noted, �The time saved by only entering the data once is great, but more important than speed and ease of use is the data integrity. Linking TAM and PPS (policy processing system) through ConneXion to eliminate duplicate data entry significantly reduces our E&O risk.�
About Applied Systems: Applied Systems is the leading provider of automation solutions for the property and casualty insurance industry. Since 1983, the company has developed software for independent insurance agents, brokers, managing general agents, and insurance companies, as well as banks and other financial institutions with insurance operations. Applied has helped more than 10,000 insurance organizations achieve new levels of success using its leading management systems, The Agency Manager®, The Agency Manager® Vision Series™, and The Diamond System™. Developments in electronic data interchange have also contributed to Applied�s position as the industry�s technology frontrunner. Combined with consulting services and third-party integration, Applied Systems automates insurance transactions at every level of distribution, from customer to carrier. For more information: www.appliedsystems.com.
