SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 5, 2012) - IASA and Ward Group are pleased to announce Oregon Mutual Insurance (OMI) has been named the winner of the 2012 Technology Innovation Award for the development of the MiAgents iPad application, which converts routine agency visits into a call to action that is relevant at the moment.
The Technology Innovation Award presentation took place on Tuesday, June 5 during the 2012 IASA Annual Conference & Business Show in San Diego, California. Beth Mercier, CIO for IASA and vice president for Travelers, and Jeffrey Rieder, partner for Ward Group, presented the award to Bryan Fowler, OMI's vice president of information technology.
"The judging committee was impressed by OMI's innovative way of changing the conversations with their independent agents," said Rieder. "The comprehensive MiAgents application drives new business growth and retention in this competitive marketplace. They have found a way to quantify subjective agency visits into actionable field intelligence utilized to manage strategic decisions."
MiAgents devotes attention to one of the most critical business functions: the carrier/agency partnership. MiAgents gives agents and marketing representatives early warning information on key business components that affect their book of business, such as key renewals, production alerts and large loss information. The application allows OMI to manage their agents and to measurably help agents be successful in their business, and gives marketing the power to turn routine agency visits into actionable business building meetings, with information that is relevant at the moment. The application also further strengthens OMI's relationship with their agency force.
The automation of operational alerts allows OMI's agents to spend more time in the field gathering intelligence about their business, products, prices, and services. This intelligence is quantified through the MiAgents application and brought back to marketing and executive management to analyze for trends and actionable intelligence.
The results of this project were judged by an industry panel as "innovative" and "delivering measurable business impact in the insurance industry." The distinguished panel of industry experts who participated in the judging of the award submissions included individuals from Arrowhead Insurance Group, Insurance Networking News, Strategy Meets Action (SMA), Tech Decisions, Travelers, and Ward Group.
"This initiative shows our continued investment in the agency partnership model by providing relevant, real-time data and information, facilitating the 'business conversation' between Oregon Mutual Insurance and our agents," said Bryan Fowler, vice president of information technology for OMI. "By arming our marketing reps with real-time intelligence and making trip reports and field intelligence quantifiable, we are moving from under-informed agency visits to action oriented business sessions."
Additionally, the judging panel selected another submission for Honorable Mention in this year's award process. Access Insurance was awarded an Honorable Mention for the company's iPad application, Access Sales Assistant, which streamlined the process of territory sales managers and redefined their workflow.
About IASA
The Insurance Accounting & Systems Association, Inc. (IASA) is a non-profit, education association that strives to enhance the knowledge of insurance industry professionals, and participants from similar organizations closely allied with the insurance industry by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information. IASA is one of the insurance industry's largest, and most well represented trade associations. IASA membership includes insurance companies of all types (Property & Casualty, Life, Health, Fraternal, HMO and others) as members, as well as companies serving the insurance industry, regulators and also organizations more broadly representative of the financial services industry, including banks and investment brokerage firms. Learn more about IASA by visiting our website at www.iasa.org or by calling (919) 489-0991.
About Ward Group
Ward Group is the leading provider of benchmarking and best practices research studies for insurance companies. The firm analyzes staff levels, business practices and expenses for all areas of insurance company operations to help companies measure results and optimize performance. For more information about Ward Group, visit www.wardinc.com.
Contact Information:
IASA Media Contact:
Jennifer Overhulse-King
St. Nick Media Services
(859) 803-6597