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To put
this into perspective, several studies have concluded
that
when a certificate is issued through most currently available
certificate systems, the labor and equipment
costs
average from $4.00 - $7.00 for a simple, plain-vanilla
type of certificate. If additional wording or a specific
endorsement(s)
needs to be attached, the cost easily doubles or triples.
Further, other studies show that the average cost for
mailing
an envelope is not thirty-nine cents but two dollars
and fifty cents. When multiplied by the number of certificate
documents mailed every day, you arrive at a staggering figure.
Using eCertsONLINE reduces the issuance cost of even the
most
complex type of certificate by 60% - 70%, and if
self-servicing by retail agencies is provided, the overall
savings increases to
80% or more.
RECENT REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS
A common
industry practice throughout the
years has allowed retail
insurance agencies to issue Certificates of Insurance
on behalf of their customers whose coverage
with non-admitted insurers has been placed through General
Agents (GA's). This has been a standard routine that has
benefitted
the
GA's
since
they
were not required to expend their time and money to issue
the
documents themselves.
It has also proven beneficial to retail agencies since
they were able to issue the Certificates
through their own management system and thereby enhance
the service
that
they provide to their customers. However, recent rulings
by
several
states'
Departments
of Insurance
(DOI's) prohibit this procedure and now require
the GA's to issue all Certificates of
Insurance for non-admitted insurers on
behalf
of the
insureds
in
lieu of the retail agents. One of the reasons cited were
that the GA not the retail agency must be shown as the
Producer
of Record and consequently only their signature
may appear
as the "Authorized Representative" on the Certificate.
CURRENT
SYSTEMS
Most
management systems that are currently being used by General
Agents are built to manage accounting, policy maintenance,
and
in
some cases incidental application functions as
well, and overall they do
an excellent job of this. However,
in many instances, these same systems do not have any type
of Certificate issuance system included and if they do, they
are very limited in scope and functionality. A properly designed
certificate function should not require the user to repetitiously
type lines of
data
onto an insurance form, yet that is how most systems are
programmed. This is not a criticism of those systems,
only a factual analysis
- they were never designed to perform more than only a
small portion of a very complex and sophisticated process.
eCertsONLINE
eliminates these shortcomings entirely since it possesses
the power to deliver unparalleled performance throughout
the
entire
spectrum of extreme usage. Due to it’s symmetry of design
and function, it defines a new standard of programming
excellence
by focusing technological resources specifically on simplifying
the many complexities of the certificate issuance process.
That’s what it was built to do.
SOLUTION
eCertsONLINE
has been designed specifically for how General Agents conduct
their business, and that is through the Retail Agents that
sell their products. With the eCertsONLINE program for
high volume operations, certificate issuance can be
solved quickly and easily without the need for
expensive
IS development since:
- eCertsONLINE
is entirely browser based so there is no software to
install
or maintain
- Web
hosting is provided by a Tier 1 provider with redundant
power generators, 24x7 security guards, and multiple
daily
back-ups
- All
functions within the program are completely integrated
- Once
and done processing eliminates multiple handling of documents
- eCertsONLINE
is database driven so all documents are attached and
automatically print at the
time of issuance through both the new and
renewal processing cycles
- The
program is web based and can be deployed globally in
a matter
of minutes without the costs normally associated with
other enterprise solutions
- Customer
data is available to multiple offices
that may service
the same account
-
Available 24x7 from anywhere in the world, your retail
agents can self-serve their own customers' certificate
needs but only
with
the
specific approval of the GA
- Worldwide
electronic delivery eliminates mailing costs and is the
least expensive method of document delivery ever devised.
Delivery via Fax, U.S. Mail, or Next Day Air is also available
- Renewal
processing is accomplished with a few clicks of the mouse
INCREASED
PRODUCTIVITY
Due
to its integrated design, eCertsONLINE significantly increases
employee workflow and productivity. What may normally take
12-15 minutes with most certificate systems
only
requires 2-3 minutes with eCertsONLINE and by gaining efficiency,
fewer employees are required to accomplish the same amount
of work while substantially improving overall customer service.
In these difficult times when the pool of qualified employees
is shrinking and those that are available command a hefty
premium, doesn’t it make sense to reduce your dependency
on additional personnel and decrease overall expenses,
while
simultaneously increasing your productivity? We think
so too, and that is another reason why eCertsONLINE is
a “can’t
lose”
situation for any company that uses it.
SYSTEM
INTEGRATION
eCertsONLINE
can accept data uploads from most management systems including
legacy systems. This includes AL3, SQL, DBase, Excel or ASCII delimited just to name a few. Customer, policy, and certificate
holder data can be safely imported into eCertsONLINE making
the transition into this web based program easy and painless.
Further,
we have other routines available that refresh policy data
on a daily or even real time basis thereby ensuring that the
information within the system is always current and accurate.
Whatever your upload needs may be, eCertsONLINE can accommodate
your specific requirements.
FORMS
eCertsONLINE
supports ACORD based Certificates of Insurance. Further,
similar to the Certificate of Insurance, the same processing
difficulties exist for
sending certification of coverage to mortgagees or loss
payees on
property risks. For that reason, we have integrated the Evidence
of Commercial Property form into the program
so that property coverage
verification can also be processed much in the same manner
as the Certificate of Insurance.
BRANDING
The
web site that your staff and retail agents
utilize
should be elegantly designed and reflective of your corporate
image. For that reason, each page is branded with your
company
name and tag line. However, eCertsONLINE
is also the only site of its type that includes the capability
to change the coloring of the background, menu, titles, and
links to match the custom colors of your own web site,
and
incorporate your company logo on every page. This level of
customization is available at no cost as part of the eCertsONLINE
site set-up.
TRAINING
Although
eCertsONLINE is highly intuitive and logical in its sequencing
of functions, we provide your staff with the necessary training
to make a smooth transition to this dynamic system. In
addition,
an Admin Manual is also provided that outlines all of the
program functions in detail. This easy to read pictorial
guide
is written in plain English and takes all of the guesswork
out of the site operation. A complete User Manual is also
provided for those retail agencies that will be
self-servicing their own customers' accounts.
SITE
OPERATION
Once
the site is established, your staff would
login to the Admin side using a secure password and User
ID
that
determines one of three levels of security. Once the customer’s
account and Master Certificate(s) are set-up, staff members
may add an unlimited number of Certificate Holders and issue
certificates, attachments, and endorsements on demand.
At the
time of issuance, the completed documents including any
endorsements
or attachments can be sent to the Certificate Holder via
e-mail, fax, U.S. Mail, or Next Day Air and optionally
also
sent to the carriers involved if necessary. You may
then optionally print your copies to a local printer
and/or long-term
archive completed copies on our secured servers.
ENDORSEMENTS
The Endorsement
function is one of the major time-savers available to users
of eCertsONLINE. When additional insured status or a Waiver
of Subrogation is permitted by the insurance contracts
and acknowledgement is being provided to the Certificate
Holder, it only makes sense that you should also have the
capability to attach an endorsement since additional insured
wording in the Description of Operations section of the
Certificate is meaningless without the appropriate policy
endorsement (see side 2 of the ACORD 25). Since endorsement
maintenance is non-existent in most management systems,
users are now forced to manually complete the
required endorsements for each individual Certificate in
their word
processor, a painful and time consuming process.
In eCertsONLINE,
the endorsement function is fully integrated, and this
permits endorsements to be attached to the Certificate
with a simple click
of the mouse.
Once attached, the insured name, policy number, and certificate holder information
pre-fills to the endorsement. This information is also dynamically updated
if, for example, the policy number or Certificate Holder address is changed
at the time of renewal. Upon issuance, the Certificate, endorsement, and
any attachments are automatically printed and may be sent
to any number of recipients
via e-mail, fax, or U.S. Mail. Although
eCertsONLINE provides an extensive library of standard
endorsements, we’ve also built in the capability
to create, upload, and maintain your own customized library
of endorsements whenever you need them. You can then place
more than 25 different fields of data onto your custom
endorsements including the policy number, insured name,
certificate holder’s information, and your digitized
signature. In a matter of minutes, your custom endorsement
is ready to use. This is critically important especially
at the time of renewal when carriers adopt a revised or
updated endorsement and you are only adivised of this change
at the last moment.
REDUCED
LIMITS
This
feature is designed for those insureds that do not wish
to have their full limits of coverage shown on their Certificates
of Insurance due to contractual terms with a specific certificate
holder. In order to accommodate these larger clients, current
management systems require the creation of several Master
Certificates each with differing limits of coverage, and
that tends to be administratively cumbersome and prone
to error. To overcome these inefficiencies, the Reduced
Limits function was developed.
At the
time a certificate holder is added, additional fields will
appear that display the current limits on the Master Certificate
for both General Liability and Excess. In the fields immediately
adjacent are input fields that only allow limits that are
equal to or less than the limits displayed on the Master.
At the time of Certificate issuance including renewal,
the reduced limits will print in the appropriate fields
on the completed Certificate. This completely eliminates
the necessity of maintaining numerous Master Certificates
for an insured.
The use
of the Reduced Limits feature is strictly controlled by
the GA and may be toggled on or off based on the
needs of the particular customer.
MULTIPLE
NAMED INSUREDS
Another
unique feature that is available in eCertsONLINE is the
Multiple Named Insureds function. This was developed principally
for use with larger insureds with multiple entities and
locations that require each individual entity’s name
and address to be shown in the Insured section on a completed
Certificate of Insurance. This feature permits
a single Master Certficate including all named insureds
to be set up rather than a separate Master Certificate
for each one as is necessitated by most management systems.
When
this feature is utilized particularly when it is combined
with the Reduced Limits feature, it can reduce the number
of Master Certificates on larger accounts from hundreds
to a mere handful. Aside from simplifying the day-to-day
maintenance of these types of accounts, just think of the
time savings at renewal when all of the Certificates for
all entities can be issued with just a few clicks of your
mouse!!
RETAIL
AGENCY SELF-SERVICE
If
retail agency self-service is permitted, they
would have access only to the User side via a secure password
and User ID that determines one of three levels of security.
The retail agency may only view their individual
customers and issue those specifically approved certificates
by
adding the
appropriate Certificate Holder information. Once a certificate
has
been set-up, it cannot be modified or altered
by the retail agency except if authorized by the GA, the GL
and Excess Limits may be reduced (See Reduced Limits).
At the
time of issuance, the completed documents can be e-mailed
to the recipient or upon approval of the GA,
they can optionally be sent via fax or U.S. Mail. A complete
copy of all documents may optionally be
sent to the carriers with a copy placed into
long-term archiving. Further,
to eliminate the potential for error, we
have
included a preview capability that displays the entire
document set on-screen. The retail agency may
first double check for any errors
and make any necessary corrections
prior to actual issuance. This is just one of several
fail-safe mechanism built into eCertsONLINE.
APPROVAL
MODE
We've
also taken the self-service concept one step further by
developing an Approval mode that can be used on an agency-by-agency
basis prior
to actual certificate issuance. Once the retail agent has
added the proper Certificate Holder information, a complete
copy
of
the actual
certificate including any attachments and endorsements is
immediately submitted to the GA where it is
reviewed
on-screen for accuracy. If acceptable, one click of the mouse
approves and automatically notifies the agent that
it is
OK to resume the issuance process. If the certificate is
not acceptable, the issuance process is terminated,
and the agent
is immediately notified of the reason. Once a certificate
is rejected, it cannot be processed until the appropriate
changes have been made, and the revised certificate re-submitted
to the GA staff for approval. This entire
approval process
as described can be accomplished in less than a minute -
we've made it that easy.
RENEWAL
PROCESSING
Issuing
renewal certificates are essential to an insured’s
ongoing operations yet the customer’s decision to renew
their contracts generally seems to occur only at the last
moment
with the resulting chaos creating a major disruption in the
normal workflow. Further, with larger accounts, the renewal
function can take several days and require the energies of
several additional staff members in order to complete.
When
using eCertsONLINE, the process is simply a matter of
updating
the policy data and renewal listing to identify those Certificate
Holders that are no longer required. This includes those
Certificate Holders that have been flagged as "one-time
only" during the course of the year. Then, with a
single click of the mouse, eCertsONLINE issues all certificates,
endorsements, and
attachments
automatically
since it remembers what was sent, to whom, and how it
was
sent. If necessary, it can also automatically send a file
containing all of the renewal documents directly to the
carriers involved.
What
was previously measured in days has now been reduced to one
person and a few clicks of the mouse - eCertsONLINE does
everything
else.
ARCHIVING
Archiving
is a function that automatically stores any completed
Certificate,
Attachment, Endorsement, and Addenda. At the time the documents
are issued, copies of the documents are stored on our
secured
servers and in the identical format in which they were issued.
These documents may then be retrieved, viewed on-screen,
and
re-printed locally. Two separate Archives are automatically
provided:
"Forms Issued Today" and "Forms Issued This
Month". All certificates issued during these timeframes
are listed on-screen and may be retrieved on demand with
a
click of the mouse. An optional long-term archive is also
available that stores the completed documents for a period
of ten years so that at any time in the future, these documents
may be retrieved using a simple search routine. Use of
this
long-term archive function eliminates the filing and storage
problems normally associated with the certificate process
and permits immediate access to these critical documents
long after most state statutory storage requirements have
expired.
Further,
when a requests for a Certificate of Insurance is received
via fax, e-mail, or in writing, eCertsONLINE can also store
a copy of the actual request. At the time of issuance,
the request is attached as the final page of the Certificate
and stored in the Archive for a period of 10 years. This
feature permits long-term retention of the original
correspondence including the terms and conditions requested.
It is also consistent with the requirements of the new
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governing electronically
stored information (ESI) that went into effect on December
1, 2006.
eCERTS
ON CD
Another
feature available is eCerts on CD. Since our long-term
archiving
function stores copies of issued Certificates for a
maximum period of ten years, after that time the only
available records
of a specific Certificate would probably be those contained
within your own paper files. And, aside from the condition
of the document ten years hence, being able to locate it
would be another matter entirely. For this and several
other reasons,
we have developed eCerts on CD that stores an exact copy
of every Certificate issued during the calendar year including
any Attachments, Endorsements, and Addenda onto a searchable
CD in a pdf format. The CD is completely self-contained,
has
the same look, feel, and work flow as the eCertsONLINE web
site so no additional software is required. To locate
a Certificate,
you would simply place the CD into your CD drive, look-up
the name of the Holder that is listed alphabetically,
and
click View/Print. The document(s) will appear on screen where
it can be printed through your browser and in the identical
format as at the original time of issuance.
This
feature also solves another problem - storage. Let us
assume that
your company issues 100,000 Certificates a year, and those
Certificates are a mixture of both simple and complex
and
average a maximum of only two pages each. That's 200,000
individual sheets of paper, and if they were neatly stacked
and filed
away, the storage requirements alone would be ten, four-drawer
file cabinets.
If you then add the cost of printing, equipment wear and
tear, alphabetizing, and the cost of the file cabinets,
the storage cost begins to escalate considerably, and this
is for one year only. In comparison, the entire 200,000
sheets
of paper can be stored into perpetuity on four (4) easy-to-use
customized CD's.
SECURITY
The security
within eCertsONLINE is not just another function but is interwoven
into the very fabric of the program:.
- Access
to the program is controlled through a series of User ID's
and Passwords.
- Three
levels of security are included on both the Admin and
Retail Agency
side.
- Advanced
128 Bit encryption technology keeps confidential data safe
and secure.
- Once
a Master Certificate has been set-up by the GA
it cannot be changed or altered by the Retail Agency.
- The
GA can select which Retail Agents will be permitted
to self-service their customers' certificates.
- If
self-service is permitted, the GA can
specifically
select those certificates the Retail Agent can issue.
- The
GA controls if the Retail Agent may input data
of
any type in the Description of Operations section of
the certificate or may choose to have pre-determined
wording
automatically appear.
- The
Approval mode permits the GA to review
the
Retail Agency's self-serviced and completed Certificates
and may either approve or reject them prior to
actual issuance.
Overall
security is taken very seriously not only to safeguard the
confidentiality of critical data, but to also ensure that
errors can be prevented from occurring in the first place.
IS
eCertsONLINE RIGHT FOR YOUR COMPANY?
Probably,
but don’t take our word for it – prove it to yourself.
We suggest you follow this five-step process to determine
if
eCertsONLINE will work for you:
- Review
your current certificate process from top to bottom. Walk
a certificate through your process from start to finish
and examine precisely how every function is performed and
by whom. How long does it take? What improvements if any,
will make it more efficient?
- Compute
your true cost to issue a simple certificate, and also those
that are more complex with endorsements or other attachments.
Include such items as labor and handling, postage, equipment,
IS programming and maintenance. This will provide you with
an accurate baseline for any comparison
- Make
a “wish list”. If we all lived in a perfect world and an
absolutely perfect system was available, what would you
want it to do and how would you want it to operate? Don’t
be shy with your suggestions.
- Compare
the features described above with your current Certificate
system. How does it measure up? Are you really getting
the productivity gains you were promised?
- Call
us for an online tour – no obligations of course. It will
be the most informative 30 minutes you have spent in a while.
While
we cannot guarantee, nor for that matter can anyone else,
that eCertsONLINE or any other “out of the box” program will
meet all of your unique requirements, perhaps with some tweaking
or additional code, we can make it the absolutely right system
for your company - you’ll never know unless you ask. However,
what we can guarantee is that eCertsONLINE will exceed your
expectations. Count on it!!!
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