IVANS LAUNCHES "GET REAL" PROGRAM

IVANS announced "Get Real," an implementation program that will help carriers and agencies address their most common agency and company customer service issues in real time within their existing workflows.

E-business integrator IVANS (Old Greenwich, CT) announced at the 2002 ACORD Annual Conference "Get Real," an implementation program the firm says will help carriers and agencies address their most common agency and company customer service issues in real time within their existing workflows. Using the IVANS Transformation Station data exchange, the Get Real program delivers billing inquiry, claims status inquiry, policy inquiry and loss run inquiry transactions in real time.

Carriers have traditionally made such transactions difficult for agents, but Get Real "puts the information in the agents' hands in order to serve their customers more quickly," according to Clare DeNicola, vice president of sales, IVANS. "With IVANS Transformation Station agents now have the ability to do inquiries within their existing workflow and have the information they need within five seconds or less," DeNicola says. "IVANS' Get Real promotion provides the implementation program needed to get carriers quickly and efficiently connected to their agents in real time."

The first 30 carriers to sign up with the program before a September 1 deadline will be participating in a "leading group of companies that are focused on making it easier for agents to serve the insurance customer," according to IVANS.

One such company is The Hartford (Hartford), which says its agreement to use IVANS Transformation Station will enable it to bring the benefits of real-time single-entry, multiple interface (SEMCI) to more of its agents. The agreement "validates The Hartford's commitment to real-time processing in a traditional agency management environment," says Lisa Cox, The Hartford.

Features of the Get Real program available to carrier participants include one-on-one consultations with IVANS to develop real-time specifications and project plans, technical training workshops, transaction certification, test accounts, and a waiver of license fee if 100 agents are live within six months of the September 1 deadline.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio