The customer experience sets your insurance company apart from your competitors. It also determines whether or not a potential client will return to work with your agency. But to provide an exceptional customer experience, you need a way to manage your agency’s operations and ensure that everything runs smoothly. That’s where an agency management system (AMS) comes in.
Understanding Agency Management Systems
An agency management system (AMS) software solution helps companies manage their operations. Typically, AMSs are used by large businesses to streamline hiring and managing third-party vendors such as digital agencies, creative agencies, and PR firms.
According to VRC Insurance Systems, an insurance company can also use an AMS. Insurers use it to streamline their operations, such as document management, claims reporting, and customer service.
If you run an insurance company, you can learn more about how insurers can use an AMS system to leverage it. There are several online resources on AMS to help you with it. All you need to do is find a reliable source of information. Read it to better understand how an AMS can help you specifically as an insurer.
Benefits of using an AMS include:
- Improved visibility into agency performance: An AMS provides insights into how well your agencies are performing so that you can improve their performance or terminate them if necessary.
- Reduced costs: An agency management system makes it easy for businesses to reduce costs. They can achieve this by selecting only those vendors who provide high-quality work at affordable prices. This is because they no longer need dedicated staff members working in-house 24 hours daily to manage these third-party vendors.
Streamlining Operations for Efficiency
Agency management systems can streamline your operations for efficiency in many ways. One of the most common examples is automating repetitive tasks, such as processing employee timecards or paying invoices. These are two examples of manual tasks that can be automated with the help of technology.
Repetitive tasks can impact your productivity. According to a recent study, more than 67% of the global workforce feels they are always doing the same tasks repeatedly. Automating such tasks can free up these resources to focus on core business activities like increasing sales and improving customer experience.
Another way to streamline agency operations is by reducing the steps required to complete a task or eliminating redundant tasks.
Enhancing Customer Engagement
A key part of customer service is listening to your customers. You can’t improve your service if you don’t know what your customers need. Additionally, you won’t be able to gauge their thoughts about your product or service.
Use social media as a regular listening strategy to ensure you get the most out of this valuable feedback. This gives companies insights into how well potential customers are receiving their products. These potential customers may not have had any previous contact with them now.
There are many ways people can interact with your social media posts. Per Statista, a 2021 survey revealed that the most commonly used interaction between businesses and customers is liking posts, which stood at 45%.
An AMS can bring all such data to a single place and analyze it to generate insights. For instance, you can find out how your customers prefer to connect with your brand. This way, you can take the necessary steps to increase engagement and improve the overall experience.
Ensuring Compliance and Security
Complying with government regulations is the first step to providing the best customer service. This means your agency management system must be able to track all client information.
In addition to complying with state regulations regarding data security and storage requirements, it’s also vital that you protect your customers’ information. This involves safeguarding it from hackers or other third parties who may attempt to gain access through cyberattacks or malware attacks.
The second part of providing better customer service involves protecting your business data from hackers or other threats. It could result in losing essential documents stored within the location or digitally on offsite servers.
This can have several consequences, such as paying ransomware to cyber attackers. You can also face legal problems for not protecting your customer data appropriately. AMS solutions usually have multi-factor authorization to ensure that only authorized individuals can access customer data. This can add a layer of protection so that cyberattackers don’t steal your data.
Integration with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems
Integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems is another key feature of agency management software. When integrated with AMS, CRM systems can also automate workflows like customer reward programs, loyalty cards, and discounts.
CRMs are used to manage customer information and interactions, but they don’t offer a complete view of the customer. Integration allows you to see all data related to your clients in one place. This helps you understand their needs better and improves your services accordingly.
For example, AMS can be integrated with Salesforce. When a lead comes into your CRM system via email or phone call from an AMS user, it can automatically be downloaded into Salesforce. This allows for further processing by salespeople.
This makes it easy for them to keep track of leads coming from different sources. They don’t have to manually enter everything into multiple systems whenever something new happens with a client or potential client. This approach also ensures that no important information gets lost along the way.
The Future of AMS in Customer Service
The use of AMS in customer service and managing vendors has increased significantly. As per reports, the vendor management systems market is growing at a CAGR of 12.27% from 2021-26. Cloud-based technology is the hallmark of such services.
However, the future of agency management systems (AMS) in customer service is expected to be driven by several key trends and developments. Here are some key aspects that can influence the future of agency management systems in customer service:
- Omnichannel support: Customers expect seamless service across various channels, including phone, email, social media, and chat.
- Data analytics and insights: AMS will continue to evolve as a powerful analytics tool, helping businesses gain deeper insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends.
- Self-service portals: AMS systems will support self-service options, allowing customers to find information and solutions independently.
Conclusion
We believe that agency management systems combined with CRMS are the future of customer service. The ability to streamline operations and enhance engagement with customers will significantly impact the way you interact with your clients. Ensuring compliance will also play a crucial role in this transformation. You can get a demo of how you can use AMS for your business and see the magic yourself.
