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Technology: A Way to Increase Sales and Efficiency

Presented by:Nick Newton, Rudnik Surety, Inc.Debbie Burton, Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, Inc.

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PRESENTER BIOGRAPHY

Nick Newton is Vice President at Rudnik Surety, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN.

• Joined Rudnik Surety, Inc. in July, 2011

• President of the Minnesota Surety Association in 1995-1996

• Served for 10 years on the Board of Directors of the MN Association for Guardianship & Conservatorship, the

last 4 as President

• Chair of the NASBP Automation and Technology Committee, and serves on the Commercial Surety, Ethics, Small and Emerging Business, and Region 5 Steering Committees

• Serves on the Steering Committee for Insurance Automation Group’s Erlon surety product.

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PRESENTER BIOGRAPHY

Deborah L. Burton is Assistant Vice President, Surety at Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, Inc. in Louisville, KY.

• Joined Wells Fargo Insurance Services of Kentucky in November, 2004

• Managed surety programs for several national companies

• Co-Chair of the NASBP Automation and Technology Committee

• Serves on the Wells Fargo Technology Committee, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Automation Producer Council, and Travelers B2B Pilot Program

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Technology:According to Dilbert

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Agency Technology Chronology(The Past)

Technology Past• Cell phone carried in a bag in your car• Typewriters• Carbon copy forms• MILES of file cabinets• Computer took up half a desk (or more!)• Birth of the fax

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Agency Technology Chronology(The Present)

Technology Today– Office is carried in your pocket– Phone, voicemail, email, fax routed to your

phone– Hands-free capability while driving– GPS– Portable devices including smartphones,

tablets, and laptops provide remote access to your office network

– Scanning files, development of PDF format

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Agency Use of Technology

Common Goal To increase efficiency and productivity as a means of increasing sales and the rate of return on revenue.

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Surety Based System• Allow internet access to registered

agents for bond submission/approval and issuance

• Play a role in most agencies, large or small, and have made a significant impact on the efficiency and productivity of those agencies

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Vendor Based System• Used by a majority of brokers, no matter

what size of operation• Client access is a great selling point for

both existing and prospective clients• Off-site access to all features – “one stop”

for many important documents• Client access to their surety database can

be customized to capture data the client wants to track in their bond program

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Vendor Based System(Continued)

• Agencies can decrease their carbon footprint and “go green”

• Process a bond, upload requests/approvals, contracts, applications, etc. to the record can virtually do away with the age-old paper file.

• Reducing resources means reducing cost (filing space, paper, printers/toners) and provides a more organized and searchable archive

• Try it, you’ll like it!

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Agency Developed Systems• Several large, national brokers have

developed broker-specific systems that may allow for the same type of informational flow between the broker-surety-client as available in the vendor-based systems.

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Marketing Advantages: Contract Surety

• Trend: Electronic bidding is a key example of being able to provide the right technology to the client that can give an agent/broker a key advantage

• Less touches in the electronic bid process results in more accurate and efficient data

• With estimators, project managers, etc. in the field, technology provides them the means to handle their surety issues via mobile device.

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Marketing Advantages:Commercial Surety

• Data access is a key factor for clients, especially those with large and complex surety programs

• Some allow client to monitor their program, obtain customized/detailed reports

• Offering client access to data can be a great advantage to the agent/broker

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Benefits of Technology• Increase productivity• Increase efficiency/accuracy• Decrease the use of resources

(paperless trend)• Faster, efficient processing while

tracking results and revenue• Surety markets inquiring more about

agency systems (especially in managing large programs)

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Current Trends• Business to Business (B2B) capabilities – real

time reporting with the surety

• ACORD Initiative

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Use Cases• Smart phones• Paperless transactions• Working from ANYWHERE• Reduced cost of maintaining office

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Conclusion• Technology is in constant motion

• Change is always difficult

• Ever-changing industry tools are available today

• Creating a better, timely informational flow of data increases our value and strengthens relationships

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Technology: A Way to Increase Sales and Efficiency

Thank you!Questions?

If you do not have the opportunity to have your question addressed during the Seminar, you may contact the presenter directly:

Nick NewtonRudnik Surety, Inc.Nick@rudniksurety.com

Debbie BurtonWells Fargo Insurance Services USA, Inc.Deborah.Burton@wellsfargo.com

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NASBP Producer’s Tool Kit

• Bank / Credit Reference Form• Bid Bond Request Form• Contract Bond Request Form• Contractor Questionnaire• Credit Report Authorization and Privacy Disclosure Form• Financial Statement Analysis• Performance and Payment Bond Request Form• Personal Financial Statement• Service/Supply Contractor Questionnaire• Status Inquiry Form• Work in Progress (Detailed)• Work in Progress (Simple)• All Forms (Compressed ZIP file)

The NASBP Producers Tool Kit contains templates for frequently used forms. Each form allows the agency to brand it using their agency logo and contact information. The form fields can be edited, printed, or saved electronically. nasbp.org/toolkit

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NASBP SuretyConnect

Through SuretyConnect you can:

• Interact with NASBP members, affiliates, and associates using the NASBP “General” eGroup Discussions

• Create enhanced profiles for your agency and yourself

• “Connect” with industry peers

• Find content quickly and easily using the NASBP Knowledge Base

• Conduct committee business with committee members using a discussion area, file library, and other SuretyConnect resources

• Learn about the latest professional development opportunities

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Social MediaPeople on Facebook• More than 500 million active users• 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day• Average user has 130 friends• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

Activity on Facebook• There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events• Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month• More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.)

shared each month.

LinkedIn Member Data• 101 million members worldwide as of January, 2011• Over 1 million company pages• Industries: 16% High Tech, 13.3% Finance, 9.5% Manufacturing, 8.5% Medical, 8.3% Corporate, 7.4%

Educational, 6.7% Consumer Goods, 5.4% Recreational, 4.4% Construction, 3.7% Government• LinkedIn is used by 69 of the Fortune 100 companies

Sources:  http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statisticshttp://www.slideshare.net/amover/linked-in-demographics-and-statistics-2011

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2011 IT SurveyIn this third edition, the 2011 survey compares results with previous IT surveys and discovers trends among NASBP member respondents.

The following survey results provide valuable insight into the technology and business practices of NASBP members.

The survey results address:

• IT spending• agency management system usage• bond production system usage • mobile devices• social media• email encryption• and more…

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Resources for NASBP Members, Affiliates, and Associates

• NASBP Producer’s Tool Kithttp://www.nasbp.org/toolkit

• NASBP SuretyConnecthttp://www.nasbp.org/help

• NASBP Automation and Technology Committee (see next slide)

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NASBP Automation and Technology Committee

• Committee meets every three weeks• WebEx• Google Groups• SuretyConnect

• For more details or if you are an NASBP member and are interested in joining the committee, contact Dave Golden at dgolden@nasbp.org.

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IT Productivity-Related Articles

• The Value of Agency Integration: Best Practices for the Insurance Industryhttp://www.cgn.net/pdf/Blackwell%20Global%20Agency%20Integration%20Executive%20Briefing_The%20Value%20of%20Agency%20Integration.pdf

• Information Technology Increases Competitive Advantage – Top 3 Reasonshttp://hubpages.com/hub/Information-Technology-Increases-Competitive-Advantage

• How Can Information Technology Improve Productivity?http://www.ehow.com/way_5335891_can-information-technology-improve-productivity.html

• Improving Productivity with Online Web Collaborationhttp://www.freearticlesinc.com/view_article-id-50994-at-Improving-Productivity-with-Online-Web-Collaboration.html

• Small Businesses Using Social Media, Wireless More Than Everhttp://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/technology-web/2011/03/15/small-business-social-media-wireless-technology/

• Is Technology Replacing Business Travel?http://www.andrewjensen.net/is-technology-replacing-business-travel/

• How Businesses Can Save Money With Cloud Serviceshttp://ezinearticles.com/?How-Businesses-Can-Save-Money-With-Cloud-Services&id=6437546

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Other IT Resources• NASBP IT Survey

http://www.nasbp.org/itsurvey• NASBP IT Show and Tell

http://www.nasbp.org/ITShowAndTell• LinkedIn

http://www.linkedin.com• Facebook

http://www.facebook.com