Independent Property and Casualty Insurance Agents Take Computing to the Cloud

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) December 15, 2010 -- ATLANTA — December 13, 2010 — Burdened with the high cost of maintaining an IT infrastructure in-house and the need to protect sensitive customer information to comply with data security mandates and privacy laws, more and more independent property and casualty insurance agents are taking their computing to the cloud with Hyper Desktop from The Kotter Group. The Hyper Desktop removes the IT burden while providing agents with high application availability, data security and the flexibility to work from anywhere using an Internet-enabled device.

The Hyper Desktop is a highly secure pay-as-you-go computing delivery service that allows agents to off-load the hassles and expense of maintaining software and hardware in-house to a third-party service. By utilizing cloud computing, The Kotter Group hosts agency applications and customer information at a secure data center, instead of having the applications and data residing on a server inside the agency office. Agencies pay a low per-user monthly fee to give agents and staff access to the latest versions of the agency’s insurance management system, customer records, rater and carrier applications and other business software tools through a secure password-protected Web interface. These applications are available 24/7/365 from anywhere there’s an Internet connection.

Cloud Computing Eliminates the IT Burden
The Hyper Desktop completely frees independent insurance agents from the headache and costs of periodically replacing desktop and laptop computers due to performance issues; maintaining servers, the network and archives; performing data backups; data security; and from contracting for third-party IT support to keep it running.

Alan Hedrick, owner of County Wide Insurance, a regional Trusted Choice Insurance Agency based in Dexter, Missouri, said that having an IT technician on call cost the agency about $90 per user per month. After switching to The Kotter Group’s Hyper Desktop, their monthly computing expense has been cut nearly in half, plus they no longer have to budget for new equipment, software upgrades, and other related computing expenses that come with in-house computer networks.

“The Kotter Group’s Hyper Desktop has given us a level of technology expertise that is nearly impossible to find in our rural communities,” said Hedrick. “It delivers economy-of-scale benefits to us by locating our servers and technology services in a place where the experts reside and it has provided us a shared-cost model with other non-competing agencies, which has been great for our own profitability.”

The Cloud is Secure

The Kotter Group data centers are protected by layers of security, including perimeter firewalls, security monitoring, real-time system monitoring, system lockdown to prevent the use of unknown or unwanted applications within a network, virus protection, and physical security to restrict access to facilities. All of The Kotter Group’s data centers are SAS 70 Type II certified facilities, which require periodic safety audits by an independent auditor.

Since independent insurance agents are responsible for protecting customer records from theft and accidental loss to comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and a host of state security breach notification laws to safeguard personal information and financial information, data security has become a critical issue, but one that can be difficult to ensure.

Cloud Computing Via The Hyper Desktop Frees Agents to Work from Anywhere

Agents with Florida-based Beacon-National, a licensed Managing General Agency serving the general aviation industry nationally, needed the flexibility to work from home and while traveling to be accessible to their 150 partners spread across four time zones. The agency ditched their PC-based local area network for The Kotter Group’s Hyper Desktop in mid-2010. The service provides each agent with full access to Agency Systems, office applications and Microsoft Outlook though a laptop and secure password-protected Internet connection.

“The world has become so used to 24/7 instant response that anything less than that is considered inadequate,” said Bob McManus, Beacon-National’s vice president. “Hyper Desktop allows us to take care of business anytime, anywhere using our laptops or iPhones, as long as we have an Internet connection. Although it’s not that we want to be working 24 hours a day, it actually provides us with the flexibility to go home at a reasonable hour, without the risk of losing out on a business opportunity.”

“Cloud computing makes sense for independent insurance agents, who want to relieve themselves of the high costs and high demand of maintaining an in-house technology infrastructure and who want to able to take care of business outside the agency office,” said Adam Kotter, president of The Kotter Group. “It also removes the burden of data security by providing secure remote access from any Internet-connected computer to top-rated appl