It’s not too late to renew or join your user group! Dues statements were mailed recently, but you can also renew your membership or join online at www.partneragents.com. Please help spread our mission of more Agents helping Agents!

Listen To NASPA President Online

Please take the time to view Web Event #10 — a candid interview with your NASPA president. The SIS Web Event series, showcasing Partner and Partner XE, is an excellent resource to prepare for the switch to Partner XE. Ron Binning’s agency has served as a Beta test site for the new system, and he’s eager to share his staff's honest comments and valuable input with all Partner users. Web Events may be accessed at www.sisevents.com.

Regional Meetings

NASPA and SIS have joined forces once again to offer four regional user group meetings. Plans are being finalized and you will receive an e-mail invitation once a meeting is scheduled in your area. Be sure to attend one of these great networking opportunities!

AUGIE/ACORD Update

Thank you to all who took the time to complete the AUGIE survey. More than 7,500 agency, brokerage, MGA and wholesaler professionals took part in the survey, which was available from January through mid-March. If you have not already viewed the Executive Summary, go to www.acordadvantage.org, AUGIE Survey Results, Executive Summary. The summary highlights the goals of the survey, as well as the results and demographics taken from the survey participants.

The AUGIE/ACORD Carrier-Specific Edits Task Group is reworking the Homeowner/Dwelling/ Mobile Home applications, combining all three of these applications into one and attempting to eliminate the majority of supplemental forms.

The results from the AUGIE/ACT Real-Time Download Implementation Campaign will be highlighted in the next newsletter. The campaign focuses on the need to increase the amount of real-time transactions. As SIS certifies more companies for WebLink, it is important for everyone to use this new capability. Many carriers are waiting to see if agents embrace real-time capabilities. Short training sessions for your staff may help your agency see the benefits of using real-time functions.

Spotlight on Mike Sweere

As Vice President of NASPA, one role Mike Sweere has is to oversee the selection of nominees for the election of NASPA board members. As an officer, Mike works side-by-side with a group of individuals who truly believe in SIS.

Mike joined NASPA when it was first formed. The benefit for him was that it made sense to join a user group where everyone has the same goal — to get the most out of the system and to allow users to have an organization to forward enhancement requests.

When not working on NASPA items, Mike can be found at his agency, the St. Cloud Reliable Insurance Agency Inc., which has expanded three times since its beginning in 1990. Currently, four employees in the agency work with property and casualty insurance. Through their association with an in-house life agency, they have three other individuals who focus on the life, health and employee benefit side of the business.

St. Cloud Reliable began using Partner in 1996 after they were looking for a management system and heard about SIS from associates at State Auto.

“I traveled to the regional office in Milbank, SD, to view a demonstration and determined that it was the right system for me and the agency,” said Mike. “As it turns out, that was a correct determination.”

Mike believes the value of Partner is its most beneficial aspect to his agency. “The people at SIS provide a quality agency management system at a fair and reasonable price. This allows for agencies to have the ‘bells and whistles’ in a still-affordable management system.”

As for why agents should be involved with NASPA, Mike adheres to the following three reasons:

• Provides information to members regarding the need and practical use of security software in their networks.

• Provides a unified voice in support of technological innovation to companies represented by NASPA members and those companies working with SIS for supported upgrades of functionality.

• Provides regional meetings with the support of SIS to provide an arena for the exchange of ideas and usage of Partner, as well as being able to field inquiries and suggestions from members.