NASPA held its annual board meeting at SIS headquarters in Gahanna, Ohio, on October 5, 2006. The results of the election for the board of directors was announced, and we welcome three new board members: Lynn McCaffrey of McCaffrey Insurance Agency in Dublin, Ohio; John Ison of Ison Insurance Agency Inc. in Liberty, Kentucky; and Brian Ogden from Ogden Insurance Agency Inc. in Petersburg, Illinois. Our fourth member re-elected to the board is John Offenberg, of Offenberg and Associates Insurance Agency Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. We welcome him back because every organization needs a great treasurer, and we certainly have one in John.

In past articles we have mentioned that NASPA has been participating in both the AUGIE (ACORD User-Group Information Exchange) and ACT (Agents Council for Technology) meetings. On November 8, 2006, NASPA was privileged to be invited by ACORD to a Property/Casualty/Surety Roundtable held at ACORD headquarters in Pearl River, New York. President Ron Binning attended with about 25 other industry leaders. The discussion centered on planning for 2007, specifically, how to get more Regional Carriers involved with Real-Time functionality and how to get all agents, producers and CSRs to use this capability that we already have. Watch for a major push in the industry by ACORD, AUGIE and ACT in 2007.

On November 14, 2006, Binning also attended an AUGIE planning session for 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale. Participants talked about many subjects, but the main topic was developing a Real-Time campaign for the entire industry. We want to drive more carriers to develop Real-Time capability and, just as important, develop a plan where agents increase the use of Real-Time functions. This subject will be the leading focus for both AUGIE and ACT in 2007. AUGIE is made up of the seven presidents of the various User Groups (Applied, AMS, ebix, DORIS, ANeU, MI, & NASPA). AUGIE is a working committee of ACORD while ACT is a working committee of the Independent Insurance Association. All AUGIE members are automatically members of this committee.

If your agency has not joined ACORD Advantage yet, you should explore the benefits of joining. Go to www.acordadvantage.org. The cost is $139 and the benefits are many. Go online and find out what you are missing.

Until next time, promote Real-Time use with your carriers who do not have the capability yet. Ask them when they will have the capability. Real-Time will guarantee improved productivity in your office work-flow, and in the long run, put money in your pocket.

A teleconference with SIS and the NASPA board was held to discuss a joint initiative to collectively communicate, educate and recommend the most efficient and best practices for existing SIS users to convert from Partner 6.2 to Partner XE. SIS will create a pre-conversion checklist for each agency, supplemented by a NASPA-authored Road Map. The Road Map will include ideas and practical solutions from agents once they convert to Partner XE. Keep in mind that agencies will experience some minimal downtime while SIS physically converts the agency’s database to Partner XE. It is critical that agents consider ways to operate without the use of Partner and still maintain effective E&O practices during the transition.

The current NASPA Web site, www.partneragents.com, got a touch-up recently, thanks to Board Member Gary Milliken of Harrington Insurance, Fall River, MA. Gary also facilitated the most recent NASPA-sponsored regional user group meeting in Boston. The user meeting was held in conjunction with The Big Event Convention and Trade Show (see related article in Conference Corner). The long-range plans for the Web site include an extensive facelift with a total redesign, including links to industry resources and the introduction of a NASPA newsletter.

The 2007 membership renewal forms have been mailed to every user. If you overlooked it in 2006, it’s not too late to join for the remainder of 2007. The member application can be accessed online from the NASPA Web site, www.partneragents.com. Apply today. It’s only a click away!

NASPA provides a great forum for agents to help agents, with education and networking forums, such as regional user meetings and the Web site to foster the sharing of ideas and discuss real-life agency scenarios and solutions. Also, members share one collective voice to SIS to continually strive to develop agency–focused products and services, like Partner XE.

Several regional user group meetings are being planned for 2007 in conjunction with the production rollout of Partner XE. Once the meeting sites and dates have been determined, users will receive an announcement to attend the meeting in their area.