Last month was truly a stellar one for SinglePoint and the processing of Real-Time Rates. On Tuesday June 29th, agents ran over 11,000 quotes through SinglePoint –  a record for the number of Real-Time Rates in one day!

And the year-to-date numbers are really beginning to add up. Last week, we passed the one million mark for Real-Time Rates. That’s right, SinglePoint has run more than one million Real-Time Rates so far this year and that’s just for MA Auto.

With the addition of Arbella, Commerce (soon to be available, we hope!), and a few other carriers on the SinglePoint platform, we believe we will pass the 2.5 million mark by the end of this year. Pretty impressive.

Tower Group has fully acquired OneBeacon’s Personal Lines. To handle this change, Boston Software has made a few simple but important modifications to your WinRater program.

• All OneBeacon names and logos within WinRater and SinglePoint have changed. OneBeacon Auto is now labeled as Tower Group and OneBeacon OneChoice Home now appears as Tower OneChoice.
• WinRater Auto -  Underwriting Tab: WinRater uses prior carrier information in order to determine if a quote is new business or renewal. If the prior carrier was OneBeacon you will need to select “Tower” from the dropdown.
• WinRater Home - Credit Reports: you will be able to retrieve credit information within WinRater while performing home quoting as you always have. However, you must change your old OneBeacon password to your new Tower Group password.*

*You should have received a new Credit Retrieval password from Tower Group and instructions on how to update it in the Tower Agent Portal. Once this is done, see the instructions below on how to update the new password in WinRater so your credit retrieval workflow will not be interrupted.

Once a quote is opened, this is how to update your password in WinRater:
1) Click “Credit Reports Tab”
2) Click “Settings”
3) Enter your updated password
4) Click “Apply”

Please Note: only the password is changing for the Credit Retrieval. The producer code and User ID will remain the same.

I can’t remember much but it may have begun with hacking the Circus Circus sign…

…then Tom decided to try his luck as Elvis…

…while Danny and I tried to recruit new Boston Software employees…

…and then there was the wedding chapel incident.

Please, don’t ask.

The RMV will now accept electronic stamps and signatures for RMV-1 Forms.  We have developed an e-Stamp feature to take advantage of this.  It’s integrated within WinRater and meets the approval of the RMV and certain carriers.  Here’s how it will work:

• Carriers will be able to create a WinRater “eStamp” for each of their agents containing the agency name and carrier ID number.
• Carriers will deliver the eStamp to agencies.  (Delivery methods will vary, depending on the carrier, including download, email, etc.)
• Agents, in turn, will import the eStamps into their WinRater.
• While in a RMV-1 Form, agents will be able to select from their list of carrier eStamps (accessible from a dialog box) and “paste” it in the appropriate place on the Form. CSRs will be able to type their names on the “signature” line.
• The RMV-1 Form can be printed or emailed as a PDF file.

This is should help make the quote-to-issue workflow even easier for you.  There is no cost for this feature upgrade.  Our aim is to release this to agents in the next 4 weeks for any carrier choosing to use our solution.   We intend to utilize this same functionality for RMV-3 forms in the near future.  Look for more details about release dates and instructions in our monthly Rollout Report.

Today we sent out our very first Rollout Report which details the latest features Boston Software is working on for you. We are excited to start this year off with so many new and exciting features which will simplify the quote to issue process. Each month we will be sending out a new Rollout Report with the intent of keeping you in the loop.

Didn’t get the Rollout Report? Check your spam folder and if you don’t see it there, contact us to be added to our email list.

Read February’s Rollout Report

For agents quoting with Travelers, One Beacon and any CGI carrier:
To be sure you are quoting accurately for drivers that were previously licensed in other states, you will need to fill out both the “Priv Pass First Lic” field AND the “Curr Lic Dt” field in WinRater’s Driver’s Information tab.

It is imperative that you fill out both these fields:

• Priv Pass First Lic: The date the insured was FIRST licensed (could be any state).
• Curr Lic Dt: The date that the driver was issued a license in MA.

Click Here to review the WinRater Driver’s Information tab.

We’ve run a BIG number of real-time transactions:

· 365,000+ The number of quotes calculated through SinglePoint in real time.

· 150,000+ The number of new business Apps submitted through SinglePoint in real time.

· 45,000+ The number of credit reports (for HO renewal scoring) retrieved in real time.

· 5,000+ The number of CSRs registered to SinglePoint software.

And that’s just from January through October of this year!

· Upgraded WinRater to version 6.0 to support enhanced requirements for real-time rating.

· Upgraded Web products from .Net 1.1 to .Net 3.5 platform.

· Added “manufactured” rates to WinRater: Preferred Mutual, Harleysville, Private Client Group

· WinRater feature improvements, including better integration with RMV’s Virtual Private Network, printing of RMV1 forms approved for all printers, automated database maintenance/backup utility.

· SinglePoint feature improvements including batch deleting, eliminating undeliverable emails, etc.

· Upgraded and added more servers in our server farm to support increase in real-time transactions (we now have 9).

· Encryption of personal data to protect privacy.

· Various efficiency improvements including streamlining of database structure, SoftSync deployment of updates, tracking and resolving bugs, etc.

Thanks to suggestions from agents, we added a new feature within real-time submitting called “Submit Now” that gives you more flexibility and speed when submitting new business to your carriers.

The Submit Now feature allows you to gather 100% of the policy submission data (including all carrier-specific required information) from right within WinRater and transfer it to your carrier web site. Agents can now “skip” the SinglePoint App and proceed immediately to validation and issuance on the carrier web site.

But don’t worry, if you want to access the App for viewing, editing, emailing, or printing, you still can just as you always have.

We’re putting on the final touches, pilot testing with some agents, and getting ready to ship out our latest Real Time functionality to you. We’ve made a few significant improvements:

· More carriers added – WinRater/SinglePoint will now rate Commerce, OneBeacon, and Travelers directly from Collaborative Edge in real time. You will still enter the rating data as you normally do, but instead of having WinRater calculate the quote, SinglePoint will reach out to Collaborative Edge and retrieve the quote for you.

  Given all the changes in the MA Auto market and the complexity of carrier rate filings, implementing Real Time Rating (and using the carrier’s own rating system to produce the quote) is the best way to assure greater accuracy and agency efficiency.

· More submission data – Got your real time rate and ready to submit it to either Commerce, OneBeacon, or Travelers? Now SinglePoint will transfer more of the data required to submit new business in Collaborative Edge in real time.

   In many cases, 100% of the data will be captured by SinglePoint and pre-filled on the Collaborative Edge screens. You won’t have to hunt & peck through the Collaborative Edge screens to enter some important data, such as Garaging Location or Lendor Info, SinglePoint will pre-fill it for you and get you to the “RMV Lookup” screen in Collaborative Edge faster.

· Streamlined workflow – We made a number of small but significant changes to SinglePoint so that rating and submitting to Commerce, OneBeacon, and Travelers is optimized for your agency.

   For example, we’ve updated the WinRater premium panel, streamlined some of the login procedures (where possible), and simplified some workflow procedures.

Rollout begins…

Our plan is to begin sending SoftSync updates with this new functionality in the near future. It will be a staggered rollout in which we will send updates to approx 50-75 agents per day. This allows us to properly handle training and technical support issues.

Look for more information from us in the coming days. In the meantime, be sure to check out our Learning Center for more information about SinglePoint and Real Time functionality.

And don’t hesitate to contact Jim, Heather, Will, or Tonya if you have any questions or would like to set up your SinglePoint.