Microsoft DynamicsCustomer Solution Case Study

Insurance Distributor Empowers Sales Agents, Drives Growth with Delivery Infrastructure

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Insurance—Insurance brokers and agents

Customer ProfileInsphere Insurance Solutions serves the middle-income individual and small-business markets in the United States by offering insurance from multiple carriers.

Business SituationInsphere wanted to create a sales delivery infrastructure to help manage key business processes across multiple carriers and lines of business while supporting the company’s ambitious growth goals.

SolutionThe company implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM together with insurance software products developed by Microsoft Gold Certified Partner VUE Software®.

Benefits Empower career sales agents to

succeed Enable executives and agents to take

control of their business Expand the sales force and grow the

business

“Our entire distribution channel relies on a solution anchored by Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which provides the scalability, flexibility, and ease-of-use we sought. We are very happy with what we created.”

Jeff Walker, Vice President, Insphere Insurance Solutions

Insphere Insurance Solutions, one of the nation’s largest independent career-agent distribution groups, serves small businesses and the middle-income individual market. Insphere aims to be the leading distribution channel for each of its strategic carrier partners and wants to double its field sales force over the next few years. The company sought to make the agent experience as productive and streamlined as possible. Working with Microsoft Gold Certified Partner VUE Software, Insphere implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM in integration with VUE IncentivePoint and VUE Compensation Management. Now, Insphere provides an extremely efficient field-selling environment, drives more productive agent activities, and gives managers visibility into agent activities. The unified software environment is a key component of the company’s value proposition for retaining and recruiting agents.

SituationInsphere Insurance Solutions is an independent, career-agent distribution group. This new and independent structure allowed the company to reposition the sales force from being a single product, niche-market player, into a sales force with a product portfolio broad enough to serve most customers.

Insphere identified market-leading carriers of life, health, long-term care, and retirement income products that meet the needs of the middle income market but that lacked a distribution channel focused on this underserved market. The Insphere business model makes it possible to meet the needs of carriers and consumers.

Insphere Insurance Solutions was launched in January 2010 with approximately 2,200 agents who are independent contractors and consider sales their profession. Since its launch, the company has added approximately 400 new agents to its field force. The company is headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas.

Launching an Innovative Business ModelJeff Walker, Vice President of Insphere Insurance Solutions, explains, “In the insurance industry, there are two basic career models for agents to choose from: a captive agency affiliated with a single carrier or a general agency focused on specific types of insurance and affiliated with the carriers they select. The business model for Insphere incorporates the best aspects from both models. Agents are vital to our success; that’s why we want to create an environment that delivers the most productive and rewarding experience possible.”

Insphere wanted to eliminate the complexity of a multicarrier environment and provide an agent experience that feels like they are doing business with just one carrier. “We are not aware of any other insurance distribution organization that offers this value proposition to agents,” Walker states.

Looking for Technology to Empower the Sales ForceInsphere sought a technology solution that provided the tools essential to managing key business processes across multiple carriers and lines of business. Requirements included:

Single sign-on.

One portal for all carriers’ product offerings, updates, and sales collateral.

A single quoting interface for all carriers that allows the agent to provide product comparisons within the product portfolio to the customer at the point of sale.

Fully integrated customer relationship management (CRM) tool that connects quoting and applications, and eliminates or significantly reduces the need for duplicate data entry.

Consolidated application tracking, client statements, and compensation statements.

Real-time agent visibility into the prospect pipeline, including what stage of the sales process each prospect is in and all activity that has been conducted with each prospect.

Client life-cycle management tools for facilitating renewal alerts and cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

27

“Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a key element of our value proposition for the agents who choose our company.… [W]e can provide the agent with a significant competitive advantage.”

Jeff Walker, Vice President, Insphere Insurance Solutions

Tools for lead management, appointment setting, and tracking; and support for local marketing campaigns, including email marketing, lead generation, and personalized selling materials.

Because Insphere agents are independent contractors, they purchase and maintain their own hardware, software, and connectivity. As a result, there is a variety of laptop and PC configurations and services in use across the sales force. For that reason, an added consideration for the solution design was that it would need to be flexible as regards operating systems and provide a consistently productive, efficient working experience for all sales agents.

Insphere’s field management also had requirements for the solution. Managers sought to have:

Visibility into key agent activities and licensing and training requirements.

Tools to evaluate performance by agent, geographical area, carrier, and type of product.

Streamlined process for agent onboarding.

Team productivity tools such as goal-setting and team calendars.

SolutionA review of the available capabilities and technologies soon prompted Insphere to decide on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which Microsoft Gold Certified Partner VUE Software implemented along with two of the partner’s solutions: VUE Compensation Management and VUE IncentivePoint. These solutions are designed to be

deployed together with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to serve the specific business needs of insurance companies.

Says Walker, “Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives us the usability, flexibility, and scalability we required. VUE Software contributed rich domain expertise and optimized capabilities to make the technology deliver practical advantages for our agents and management.”

Streamlined Activities and a Wealth of ResourcesThe technology platform developed for Insphere organizes the tools and content into two functional areas:

Activity Center: Integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the VUE Software solutions, the Activity Center provides the tools to manage daily prospecting activities, leads from various sources, the sales process with clients, and the agent’s account records for improved retention, cross-selling, and upselling activities that meet evolving client needs. Data exchanges between the solution and insurance carriers’ systems make it possible to review the status of applications, policies, and payments.

Resource Center: Makes use of Microsoft SharePoint Server to provide a single source for a wide variety of tools and resources across all carriers and product lines, including all carrier product information and sales collateral; marketing and training materials; compensation reports; and extensive performance-reporting capabilities for Insphere managers.

For agents, the Activity Center, powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM, drives their day.

37

Purchased sales leads can be delivered directly into Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The solution automatically removes duplicate records so that only one agent will pursue a new prospect. From the moment a lead enters the solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM maintains all customer information and automatically populates other screens with appropriate data, eliminating the tiresome task of rekeying data.

Single Set of Tools for Managing All Account ActivitiesWithin the solution, agents have a single source to monitor the status of all customer applications and policies across all carriers, including open underwriting requirements as well as notifications when policies are about to become active. As agents work their leads, Microsoft Dynamics CRM tracks all prospecting activities, such as making calls and setting appointments. The tool presents agents with an overview of their current lead inventory, by status, in a graphical funnel view. Agents click on the funnel status sections to access and work with the leads. Agents’ activities automatically update the lead status and funnel overview. In the same screen, a graphic shows the weekly tracking of results to goals that agency managers have set, along with awards points based on agent activities.

Agents can also draw on the solution to format a customer-ready needs analysis report showing a variety of coverage scenarios to address the customer’s insurance requirements. For quoting, agents access multicarrier tools directly from the Activity Center. The quoting tools also display dashboards that provide the status of previous quotes.

Efficient Communications and CampaignsWorking in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Insphere agents can efficiently manage client communications and marketing efforts ranging from individual, personalized notes to marketing campaigns targeted at certain groups of clients or prospects. Insphere provides email templates and approved marketing materials that agents can download from the Resource Center. By using the wealth of customer data at its disposal, the company can conduct marketing campaigns that agents can tap into.

Insphere’s deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the VUE Software products was rolled out nationally over eight weeks to approximately 2,200 agents and 200 employees. Given that Microsoft Dynamics CRM looks similar to Microsoft Outlook, users were immediately comfortable and confident navigating the new system and tools. Agents and employees received classroom training, including simulations, at the time of deployment. New agents and employees can use a simulation tool, an interactive video, and the solution’s help content for training and to address questions.

BenefitsWith Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the VUE Software solutions, Insphere meets its primary goals with the ability to grow and achieve long-term business objectives. “This technology has provided Insphere with a sales enablement infrastructure that makes best use of our agents’ strengths and allows company leadership to take firm control of the business,” says Walker. “Our

47

“By integrating these solutions, we have removed all roadblocks, so agents can focus on what they do best—provide clients with information and options that let them select the best insurance products ….”

Jeff Walker, Vice President,

entire distribution channel relies on a solution anchored by Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which provides the scalability, flexibility, and ease-of-use we sought. We are very happy with what we created.”

Empower Career Sales Agents to SucceedAcross a wide variety of online interfaces and hardware configurations, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and VUE Software deliver a consistent, comfortable, and efficient production environment for Insphere’s sales force. “By integrating these solutions, we have removed all roadblocks, so agents can focus on what they do best—provide clients with information and options that let them select the best insurance products for their individual needs today and as they evolve over their lifetime,” comments Walker.

Insphere agents operate in a seamless multicarrier environment and have complete control of the key business processes that allow them to efficiently build and manage their client base. Says Walker, “We believe the Insphere technology platform delivers a tremendous competitive advantage for our agents in the marketplace. They can sell more products from more carriers, close business faster and generate more substantial commissions.”

Enable Executives and Agents to Take Control of Their BusinessInsphere’s field management and senior leaders at the home office rely on the reporting and business intelligence features built into SharePoint Server to analyze data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the VUE Software solutions. The solution’s business

intelligence features are essential to providing visibility into real-time sales data and trends to all levels of Insphere management as they direct their teams and consider strategic adjustments.

The range and value of data gathered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the VUE Software solutions delivers exciting new business intelligence capabilities. “We will be able to understand how carriers and their products perform for us, which products customers like to bundle, what determines lead-to-sales conversion rates and much more. As a result we will be able to make sound strategic adjustments as we take the company forward,” says Walker.

Other employees in critical roles, such as case managers, use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to support the field force by managing the complexities of the life insurance business, which demands careful tracking of underwriting requirements and the status of applications. The data provided by the solution enables effective and efficient communications between the home office, carriers, agents, and clients.

In addition, the solution provided a much-need communications tool for Insphere. “The solution’s flexibility makes it easy to introduce additional customizations or extend capabilities for certain groups of employees and their information needs,” says Walker. “For example, without any assistance and in a very short time, a new report can be created and published to our 60 field offices across the United States.”

Expand the Sales Force and Grow the Business

57

“By integrating these solutions, we have removed all roadblocks, so agents can focus on what they do best—provide clients with information and options that let them select the best insurance products ….”

Jeff Walker, Vice President,

Across the insurance sales community and the insurance industry, Insphere gains increasing visibility for its innovative business model, sales production, and steady expansion of its field force. As Insphere expands the number of carriers in its product portfolio, the capabilities provided by Microsoft Dynamics CRM accelerate speed-to-market by streamlining carrier onboarding and integration into the sales infrastructure process.

Growing the field sales force is a high priority and technology is part of the value proposition Insphere presents when recruiting agents. As Walker explains, “Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a key element of our value proposition for the agents who choose our company. Because we have uniquely integrated the solution and the individual tools provided by our carriers into a single system, we can provide the agent with a significant competitive advantage.”

Microsoft DynamicsMicrosoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most

important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.  For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:www.microsoft.com/dynamics

67

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Insphere Insurance Solutions products and services, call 1 (888) 870-8051 or visit the website at: www.insphereis.com

For more information about VUE Software products and services, call 1 (877) 488-3763 or visit the website at: www.vuesoftware.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published September 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Dynamics− Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft SharePoint Server

Microsoft Office− Microsoft Outlook

Partners VUE Software

Additional Resources Microsoft Dynamics CRM in different

industries Success stories from Microsoft

Dynamics CRM customers VUE Compensation Management VUE IncentivePoint VUE Software blog

77