Insurance and Technology
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The Insurance Industry is forever changing, and advancements in technology play a huge role in that change. In the last two decades alone, the industry has advanced from using paper applications, carbon copy endorsement forms and paper manuals to doing everything online or through specially designed software programs.
In this post we thought we would share with you some of the ways that Costen Insurance has implemented technology into our Brokerage, and the reason why we are a recipient of the 2016 CSIO Technology Leader Award.
Website
Our mobile-friendly website, www.costeninsurance.com, provides our clients with a lot of great features, including:
- Our Team page, highlighting the awesome Costen Family
- Our Partners page, which lists all of the great Insurance Companies we represent
- A list of insurance services that we offer
- Online quote submission forms for auto, motorcycle, property, commercial auto, commercial property, and travel insurance
- Our Customers section which highlights our Customer Appreciation Draw, Customer Referral Program, provides links to our Customer Survey and myCosten online portal, a link for customers to make an insurance payment, after-hours claims information, and more
- The ability to subscribe to our semi-monthly email newsletters
- A Motorcycle Mania page with helpful links for motorcycle riders and enthusiasts
- Our fabulous YouTube videos and web commercials
- Our Blog page, which highlights all of our weekly blog posts
- Our Contact Us page with all of our contact numbers, a virtual tour of our Office, and the ability to direct email any of our Brokers
Paperless / eDocs
In the summer of 2012, Costen Insurance moved to a paperless system. All of our policy documents were manually scanned in to our Brokerage Management System and our paper files were moved and secured off-site. Most Insurance Companies now offer eDocs, where their policy documents are automatically downloaded and attached to the appropriate file on our system. This has improved the efficiency of the paperless system and has saved our Team a significant amount of time. In addition, all of our documents are easily accessible, allowing us to easily email a copy to our clients at their request.
eSignatures
Last year, Costen Insurance set up electronic signatures (eSignatures) through a company called Signority. The online system allows us to upload applications and other documents, highlight areas that need to be answered or signed, and then send the documents electronically to our clients to review. The documents can then be signed via mobile phone, desktop, or tablet, and sent back to us along with a certificate. This program has eliminated the need for our clients to print, sign, scan and email back documents. It has greatly improved efficiencies and saved time for both our clients and Brokers. Most Insurance Companies are now accepting eSignatures for applications, policy changes, and cancellation requests.
myCosten
Costen Insurance offers our clients access to our online portal and mobile app, myCosten. The portal provides the ability to view and print policy documents and pink cards, view upcoming payments, request policy changes, report claims, and more. Registering for the portal takes only a couple of minutes and is well worth the time!
TEXT Message
We recently implemented a program which allows clients to send us inquiries or requests via TEXT Message right to our main phone number! We initially implemented this feature on a trial basis, as we were not sure how many people would use it. The results have been amazing! We have been receiving TEXT messages from clients almost daily. We are happy to continue promoting this form of communication and are excited about the possibility of receiving images by TEXT message in the near future.
Live Chat
A couple years ago, we implemented a Live Chat feature to our website. We have had a great response from this feature as well. In the event someone has a question while scrolling through our website, they can send us a quick chat and get an immediate answer.
We are honored to have been recognized as a 2016 CSIO Technology Leader and we look forward to finding new and improved ways of doing business with our clients in the future! If there are any features or forms of communication that you would like to see our Brokerage using, please send us your ideas!
Thank you,
The Costen Insurance Team