Password and Form Fill-in
Generally, agents, producers, and CSRs that use carrier Web sites must maintain separate user login ID and password information for each carrier. Since authentication schemes vary from carrier to carrier, it's not possible to create just one login/password and use it carrier to carrier. Since time is of the essence, some agency employees want all their password information immediately available in plain site and tape them to their monitors. That's understandable, but not desirable.
Windows itself can provide some help with login Id and password memory/recall, but doesn't always work as needed in the agency environment. Gator is a small, memory-resident utility that can simplify agency signon tasks. You store your login and password information in Gator, and then, when it's needed, Gator pops up to let you pre-fill your carrier login form.
Login forms are really a subset of forms in general and Gator is actually a form pre-fill utility that can be used on any Windows forms. You create an inventory in Gator of commonly requested information and then tell Gator to fill in forms from the inventory. It automatically maps its field inventory against the form on the screen, filling in what it can.
Gator can be downloaded and used for free and is supported by online advertising. If you're frustrated with having retype password and forms information over and over, take a look at Gator. - J.A.
[Is Gator a "spy" program? See Of Hoaxes, Urban Legends, and Other Online Annoyances.]
Remote Control Your PC
Agents that have a PC in the office, a notebook PC for traveling, and another PC at home sometimes find themselves frustrated by needing to synchronize systems or even retype information from one to another. It would be desirable sometimes to use the PC you have in front of you to operate another remote PC.
Remote control software has been available for some time, via pcAnywhere (Symantec, $150) or LapLink Gold (LapLink, $140), but you need to install the software on both the local and remote systems before being able to do remote control.
GoToMyPC takes a different approach. You must install their software on the host system (the one you intend to control remotely), but once you do that, the system can be controlled from any PC you choose to use, provided both computers are connected to the Internet.
Let's say you are traveling and don't have a computer with you, but could get the use of one through a friend, Internet café, or hotel business center. You'd connect to the GoToMyPC Web site and identify the PC you want to connect to. GoToMyPC makes the connection and then displays the contents of the remote PC monitor through the browser on the PC you're using.
The service costs $120/year for one host PC and $180 for two. The service works best with high-speed connections, but will work with dial-up connections, provided they persist. It's possible to view your remote PC from any operating system - Mac, Linux, or Unix - as well as Windows. The service also supports file transfers and remote printing. - J.A.
Everything That's Been Written about Online Quoting
http://bwlynch.com/articles.html
Almost everyone in the industry has an interest in online quoting and sales. Does it make sense from a business perspective? Will consumers buy that way? How does one set up the technology to accomplish it? Agents are interested, if only to take a pass. At least some carriers see some sort of future in online sales. Vendors want to know whether there's a business opportunity.
Bruce Lynch has created a Web page that contains an encyclopedia of information about online quoting. Included on this very long page (and others linked from it) are article abstracts, commentary, and links, consumer perspective about quote sites, current insurance news, quoting lists, searches for articles, software vendor directories, and auto insurance quote sites by large carriers.
The overview articles section contains more than 40 article summaries and is followed by an alphabetic listing by primary organization that adds scores more. The consumer perspective section is just that, explaining why it makes sense to shop, where to get comparative quotes, which carriers provide quotes, how to determine coverage needed, and so on.
If you want to do a little research into online quoting, from a variety of perspectives, Lynch's site is a good place to start. - J.A.
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