WYNCOTE, Pa.--In a move that empowers its agents to immediately access billing and claims information, view images of printed policies and to generate reports, such as loss run—all via the Internet, Commercial Mutual Insurance Company has licensed IDP’s AgentXpress™ web-based processing capabilities.The agreement was signed November 2006 by IDP President & CEO Gary Gilbert and CMIC President John Reiersen. The Kingston, N.Y.-based insurer, which writes $21 million in annual premiums and provides p-c lines largely to customers in the New York City and Long Island, N.Y. region, is rolling out AgentXpress to its more than 200 agents at a rate of 10 per day. The AgentXpress capabilities will initially be used to process CMIC’s homeowners, dwelling/fire and commercial auto lines. CMIC is planning on adding online quoting and policy issuance capabilities in 2007 using IDP’s next version of AgentXpress.AgentXpress operates as a function of VISION 21, the IDP policy administration system designed to meet the processing needs and cost considerations of smaller insurance companies.FunctionalityAccording to CMIC’s Reiersen, agent feedback on AgentXpress has been positive.“The new technology’s convenience and time-savings facilitate better agent-to-policyholder customer service, and it helps our agents generate new business,” Reiersen says. “Before, if our agents had a question on policy payments, endorsements or reinstatements, or an inquiry about the status of a claim, they would make a phone call to Commercial Mutual. Now they can go through the Internet and access the information themselves and answer their customers’ questions immediately. Otherwise we would have to research many of the questions and get back to them.”Reiersen adds that Internet access is reducing CMIC human resource allocations necessary to answer phoned inquiries and saving cash by cutting phone service expenses.“AgentXpress allows us to handle more business with the same amount of people,” says Reiersen, explaining that AgentXpress frees up resources for other tasks. “We can write an extra $2 - $3 million of business without hiring an extra person. Plus, we save a telephone expense. We have an 800 number--and the less activity there, the better.”IDP President & CEO Gary Gilbert notes that AgentXpress was developed and is priced for small/mid-size insurers.“The system was built on input supplied by managers at small property and casualty insurance companies, their agents and MGAs,” he says. “Larger companies have the economies of scale necessary to absorb the cost of web-based processing for their agents, but price has typically kept this valuable capability out of smaller insurers’ reach. Cost was an overriding goal when engineering AgentXpress. By creating it as part of VISION 21, which does not carry the complexity or overhead of systems constructed for large insurance companies.

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