Tag: Rating Engine

Data: Your Agency’s Secret Weapon

Posted on by EZLynx

Two women talking while seated at a table with a laptop open.

Don’t let your agency’s data go to waste. The information collected from your management system and rating engine could be the secret weapon that improves your business at every level of operations. You can use data to identify opportunities for gaining and retaining more clients, track your agency’s health, and understand where your company excels and where there’s room for improvement.

With all the data your business has access to, it can be tough to know how to use that information. You don’t want to be stuck sorting through all those stats manually. That’s why having software that helps you easily sift through the data for valuable insights is critical. Let’s run through some of the capabilities you’ll want to look for when evaluating data analytics software.

To get the most out of your data, you’ll need agency software that:


  • Collects data from both your management system and rating engine
    Your software should collect every available piece of data to deliver a clear picture of your agency’s metrics, so it needs to pull data from both your management system and rating engine.

  • Sorts through your data to identify opportunities
    You don’t ever want to miss a chance to sell. Ensure the analytics tool you choose can parse your data to identify new prospects and cross-sell opportunities.

  • Uses data to help you measure agency health
    Data on sales and client retention, such as the number of total policies, canceled policies, and total premiums, can tell you if your agency is staying healthy and competitive in the market.

  • Leverages data into insights on sales
    After identifying a potential sale, you’ll need tools that help close the deal. The right data analytics software will sort through data for info about who to sell to, what products to offer, and when to approach a prospect.

  • Analyzes data to deliver peer benchmarking
    You need to know how your agency’s doing compared to the rest of the industry. To do this, you’ll want software that shows your agency’s growth and profitability metrics next to average industry metrics.

  • Separates data by agency branch and location
    As your agency grows, you may operate across several regions and/or offices. You’ll want to have the ability to separate data by each location to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every branch of your business.

  • Has dashboards that help you set and track goals
    Do you have goals for your agency? Dashboards that graphically display insights from your data to show how you’re progressing towards goals help keep you on track so you can meet your performance targets.

  • Delivers personalized analytics reports
    With personalized analytics reports, you can create graphs that only display and compare the data you need at any moment. This way, you don’t waste time sifting through excess data you’re not interested in.

Your agency generates tons of data over the course of its operations – why not use it? Unlocking the power of your data with the right analytics software could be the secret to your continued success. We hope this blog has given you a good idea of where to start when you’re considering how to leverage your business’s data into profits and growth.

For more information about how the right software can help you capitalize on your agency data, including an 11-point checklist to ensure you’re getting the full benefits of data across your business, take a look at Leveraging Data Into Growth and Profits: An EZGuide.

Posted in Advice | Tagged , , , , , ,

What’s New in EZLynx 22.1

Posted on by EZLynx

The EZLynx April 2022 release is now available! Here are some of the highlights:

Automation Center Adds Support for EZLynx Submission Center

The power of automation has arrived for EZLynx Submission Center! Users of Automation Center will find that a new Submission Center category has been added to the list of over 20 available workflows. There are two new triggers under this category, Commercial Submission Added and Commercial Submission Updates. Each provides the ability to automate regular agency activities at these specific milestones along the commercial submission process. Automated workflows make for faster, more efficient submissions and help your staff remain focused on the next steps to winning.

Policy Audit and Reinstatement Workflows Added to Automation Center

Triggers for Policy Audit and Policy Reinstatement have been added to EZLynx Automation Center. These new workflows, found under the Management System category, empower your agency to automate activities around these milestones in the life of your clients’ policies.

These workflows work for both downloaded and manual policies, and they can be set up to automatically take the following actions when triggered:

  • Create Note/Task
  • Send Email
  • Create Folders
  • Send Text Message
  • Generate Agency Documents
  • Generate Client Documents

Improvements to Application and Policy Data Entry

We’ve made enhancements to several policy and application screens.

  • Small Farm and Ranch screens have been updated for a more intuitive flow as you enter data and navigate between the different tabs.
  • Personal Lines Package Policy and Bundled Application screens have been improved to provide single policy entry of insured information, underwriting, and additional interests. (Essentially, we’ve taken the common framework that already existed for commercial lines of business and extended them to personal lines, as well.) This not only reduces the amount of time it takes to create a Personal Package, but it also reduces the duplicate data your agency needs to enter and manage.
  • For Bonds Miscellaneous, we’ve created an entry screen for a line of business that didn’t previously feature entry screen support. This enhancement makes it easier to work with this line of business in bundled policy applications, and it also facilitates more robust policy information when servicing the client. Whether adding a policy or creating an application, you will now be able to enter relevant insurable interests information, including sections for: Liability, Property, Item/Schedule, and General Remarks/Notes.

Rating Broker Fee

In EZLynx Rating Engine, we’ve added support for the management of broker fees. Broker fees can be set up by carrier, state and line of business, and you may enter a flat dollar amount or a percentage up to two decimal places. Once set up, these broker fees will display as a separate line item during the quoting process.

This new feature is key in several states, including agencies writing business in California.

To set up broker fees for your agency, admins can enable from the new Broker Fee tab under any Rating carrier’s Settings.
NOTE: This feature is currently available for Retail agencies, only.

Rating Engine Updates

We’ve made some state-specific updates to Rating Engine, including:

  • Massachusetts agents now have the ability to access the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) database to look up driver incidents (violations, accidents, and comp losses) and import them into EZLynx at no additional cost!
  • In certain cases, new Virginia state laws will require double the new state minimums for Auto applicants with alcohol-related offenses. We’ve added $60,000/$120,000 options for Bodily Injury and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverages, as well as $40,000 for Property Damage and Uninsured Property Damage on the Coverage screen.

Client Center Expands Commercial Schedule Change Requests

Last year, we introduced the ability for your commercial auto insureds to request changes to their driver schedules through EZLynx Client Center. This gave clients an easy, online way to submit these change requests at their own convenience. It was a real game-changer, because it meant no additional data entry on the agency’s part! With this release, we’re expanding commercial policy change request capabilities with the addition of several more schedules and LOBs:

  • Vehicle – Commercial Auto
  • Lien Holder – Commercial Auto, BOP, General Liability
  • Additional Insured – Commercial Auto, Garage and Dealers, General Liability, BOP, Commercial Umbrella
  • Mortgagee – BOP, Commercial Property

 

For more information on any of these exciting new features, please visit the EZLynx Solution Center.

Posted in Announcements | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s New in EZLynx 20.4

Posted on by EZLynx

The EZLynx December 2020 release is now available! Here are some of the highlights:

Vonage Integration

Experience seamless integration between your agency management software and your phone system.

In September, we announced our partnership with Vonage to integrate unified communications and programmable voice capabilities into EZLynx Management System. This integration is now generally available to all new and existing Vonage customers.

With Vonage, EZLynx customers have the ability to collaborate more efficiently, stay connected and create richer customer experiences through live interactive voice and video sessions—from anywhere, on a single platform.

This integration provides :

  • Customer Profiles — A window automatically opens to an Account Overview when an incoming phone number matches an applicant in EZLynx.
  • Click to Dial — Make calls easily from EZLynx. Areas include the Account Overview page, the Carrier Directory, Sales Center, Communication Center, and many more. Phone numbers appear as hyperlinks.
  • Call Logging — When an incoming or outgoing call is completed, EZLynx will automatically create a note on the Activities page. You can add additional notes to the discussion, documenting the contents of the call.
  • Sent and Received — The Sent and Received page in Communication Center is expanded to include voice calls. Incoming and outgoing voice calls will display, along with current text messages.

Vonage is the latest addition to the EZLynx Connect platform.

Visit our Vonage partner page to get started.

Commercial Edit Downloads

EZLynx already had smarter Commercial Downloads, because our process goes out of its way to not override existing manually entered data. Now, we’ve added the option to edit your agency’s Commercial Downloads, as well.

With Commercial Edit Downloads, your agency can supplement information in policy downloads sent from the carrier. In a Commercial Auto policy, for example, users can fill in missing information for vehicles, drivers, coverages, additional interests, and more. This new feature allows agencies to take complete control of their policy data and make information complete.

Please note: Users cannot change the information downloaded by the carrier, but are instead able to add to it (unpopulated fields) through the entry screens.

For subsequent downloaded transactions, EZLynx will:

  • Automatically sync this user-added information
  • Maintain each version of the edited policy as a history
  • Provide the option to restore a version at any point in time

This feature is available for the following lines of business: Commercial Auto, Commercial Property, General Liability, Business Owners Policy, Commercial Umbrella, Homeowners, Dwelling Fire, Personal Auto, Inland Marine, Workers Comp and Crime. When Edit is selected under Actions for a supported line of business, just like a manual policy, a new option to “Save & Continue Edit” appears.

This feature is now available for all EZLynx Management System (Level 3) customers.

Cross-Selling Personal Lines in Client Center

EZLynx Client Center has been evolving to become not just a robust self-servicing tool for insureds, but also a platform for exciting cross-sell opportunities.

The latest… Client Center now offers complementary personal lines products to insureds—automatically!

Insureds will be presented with the option to “Save By Bundling Your Policies Together” on their Policies page. When selected, users will be taken to a form to answer questions pertaining to the additional line of business. EZLynx will prefill the form with as much of the applicant’s existing data as possible. Once submitted, a task notification will be created for the agent in EZLynx, as will an application under the Applications section for the insured.

Insureds with an active Auto policy will see cross-sell options for Home, Renters, and Condo. Those with an active Home policy will see an Auto cross-sell option.

If the applicant has any difficultly completing the application, there is an option to click “Need Help?”.  Similarly, a task notification will appear for the assigned agent, along with an incomplete application in the insured’s Applications list.

Streamlined User Account Settings

Account Settings are new and improved!

For starters, users can access Account Settings under their username (user initials/circle in the top-right corner of the screen).

Once there, users will find their settings available under five categories: Account, Preferences, ACORD Forms, Email Signature and Security.

The “Security” tab is where users can set up their Two Step Verification for login.

By placing the most common Account Settings all in one place, we’ve made it fast and easy for users to manage their account profiles and preferences.

Consolidated Rating Questions

How would a 25% reduction in the number of questions required to get a quote sound? For most agents, that’s exactly what we’ve done.

We’ve added several new fields to our ratings screen, along with updating a few existing fields with new options. The result is that they no longer appear as additional carrier questions for each individual carrier. When you spend less time filling out information… you receive quotes faster.

Some examples include:

  • Foundation Type
  • Roof Design
  • Wind and Hurricane Deductibles for additional states
  • Vehicle Purchase Date
  • Number of Occupants

We’ve also improved the MSB Residential Pre-Fill and Reconstruction Cost tool. With this release, we’ve added/updated rating fields (and refined the way they map) to improve the accuracy of quotes.

Automation Center adds Expiring Policies Trigger

Agencies can now automate the workflow for expiring policies in Retention Center.

EZLynx Retention Center users have a new trigger available for Policy Added to the Expiration List. As the name suggests, this workflow will be triggered whenever a policy is added to the Expiration List in Retention Center.

Automation Center and Retention Center now work together to help agents manage the client retention process on auto-pilot mode.

Automation Center adds Client Center Link

Automation Center can help your agency increase adoption of EZLynx Client Center. We’ve added triggers for Applicant Created, New Customer and Additional Policy. You can now establish workflows so that when one of these events occurs, clients will be emailed automatically with a link to pertinent information within your agency’s customer portal.

An Applicant Created trigger will lead insureds to the Client Center homepage. New Customer and Additional Policy triggers will lead insureds to the appropriate Policy Summary page.

Improved Application and Policy Entry Workflows

The following LOBs have been updated with a new look, feel and usability:

  • Dwelling Fire
  • Inland Marine
  • Recreational Vehicle (RV)
  • Motorcycle

Entry screens have been updated to provide a more logical flow for how you enter data and navigate between different tabs in the screens. Users will find the improved user experience faster and more intuitive. Here are just a few examples:

For Dwelling Fire, you can now see all Locations in a single view.

The Inland Marine section has been reorganized to make it simpler to find the relevant underwriting section. Simply click on the expander and view the questions/information for that section.

We’ve reordered the Motorcycle & RV tabs to be the same as those in the Rating screens. This brings uniformity to the way data is entered both for the Rating and the Policy Entry Screens.

These updates will help agents enter data more quickly and accurately.

 

For more information on any of these exciting new features, please visit the EZLynx Solution Center.

Posted in Announcements | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment