PRESS RELEASE

ASCnet Honors Strickler as Inaugural 'Interface Agency of Year'

ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 19, 2007)- Pennsylvania’s Strickler Agency, Inc. today received the inaugural “Interface Agency of the Year Award” presented by the Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet), the user group for Applied Systems agency technology. The award was presented here at the 22nd Annual Technology, Education & Networking Conference (TENCon).

The award recognizes outstanding use of download and real-time communications by an ASCnet member agency. To be considered for the honor, agencies and brokerages were required to demonstrate in an essay how it has met these criteria:

1. Effective implementation of real time and download transactions,
2. Proactive training of staff on these agency-company workflows,
3. Measurable results achieved through implementation, and
4. Improved agency profits as a result of adoption of the technology.

“The Strickler Agency is a deserving honoree for the inaugural award,” said Lisa Parry-Becker, chair of ASCnet’s Interface Committee. “The agency’s success provides an excellent roadmap that other ASCnet member agencies can follow to become more advanced in their use of the agency-company interface technology that is available today and is coming in the near future. We congratulate the Strickler Agency for a job extremely well done.”

Strickler Agency (www.stricklerins.com), with offices in Chambersburg and Carlisle, Pa., currently receives policy downloads from 10 of its top 12 personal lines carriers—or more than 89 percent of its policies. Although commercial lines download currently is not as prevalent, the agency receives download from six carriers and is working with these companies to improve the quality of the data.

In her award submission, Patricia M. Brookens, the agency’s information technology manager, said: “We are a small-town agency, but that doesn’t mean our customers have to settle for second best. Strickler Agency is committed to providing our staff the best technology so we may quickly and efficiently serve our policyholders.”

To enhance its customer service capabilities, Brookens said the agency leverages IVANS Transformation Station for real-time functionality, providing relief from double entry. “Our top five personal lines carriers have invested in real-time rating and our agency is taking full advantage of it,” she noted. “We can now obtain a quote from multiple carriers in the same time frame it previously would have taken to get one quote.

“This time savings gives our staff the opportunity to chat with the customer and find more about him or her. We learn about new exposures and provide insurance coverage to protect our customers and their assets,” Brookens noted. Moreover, she added, real-time policy and billing inquiries also are great time-savers. And the firm’s commercial lines staff is using Transformation Station for rating, inquiries and loss runs.

On education, Brookens holds training sessions when carriers offer new Transformation Station functionality. These department-wide training sessions facilitate open discussion, question-and-answer exchanges and overall better dialogue, she said. She also created a Real-Time Reference Guide that lists the agency’s carriers. The guide is kept current and a shortcut to it is provided on all staffers’ desktop computers for quick reference.

“Technology such as Transformation Station and policy download enhances the workflow for our staff. We must be proactive to work with our carriers and management system vendors to provide useable technology tools for our staff. That means being active in our local and national users group, participating in carrier technology councils and beta testing new functions of our management system,” said Brookens.

Founded in 1985 and based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., the Applied Systems Client Network, Inc. (ASCnet) is an international association representing more than 110,000 insurance professionals in 11 countries and territories. The only authorized user group for Applied Systems solutions, ASCnet promotes successful technology and business practices through education and advocacy. For more information go to www.ascnet.org .