On January 15th, 2016, the leading provider of retail agency connectivity solutions for the property and casualty sector of the insurance industry, Appulate, Inc., announced that it has launched a new retail agency platform, CarrierConnect™.
The new platform is specifically designed to help independent insurance agencies manage their prospecting pipeline. This is the first solution of its kind and provides a best-of-breed workflow to help independent agencies maximize their sales pipeline and quoting process.
As a supplement to the typical agency management system or as a stand-alone tool, Appulate CarrierConnect™ eliminates redundant key strokes by populating required data during the quoting process. This includes everything from ACORD forms, carrier supplemental forms and loss runs. The system also allows for both agent and insured the time saving convenience of electronic signature. Once the data is collected, agents can easily connect to their carriers and use Appulate SEMCI interface to submit ACORD and supplemental forms data. Appulate CarrierConnect™ also includes valuable reporting and tracking functionality to give agents insight into their sales pipeline.
“Agency Management Systems are an invaluable tool to manage bound business, however, what we’ve discovered is they’re really not designed to be sales tools, which is what CarrierConnect was built to do” said Dimitri Nikouline, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Appulate, Inc.
Appulate started providing solutions to retail insurance agents in 2005 when it launched an upload tool called, “Uplink™”. This beloved technology is now used by more than half of all retail agencies in the United States. CarrierConnect™ adds considerable functionality on top of this tool and will be offered using a “freemium” model. Basic functionality (including use of Uplink™ will continue to be provided for free. Premium features (loss run automation, supplemental forms and submission to markets) may be purchased for a nominal monthly fee.
“The changes to the insurance industry are only making it harder for retail agencies to run successful businesses,” said Dimitri Nikouline. “Our new CarrierConnect™ aims to help agents win more business and increase their margins,” said Dimitri Nikouline.
