3r Evolution can accept, process, and present information from the Internet, call centers, or other channels, according to Schwalk. It is compatible with third-party systems and its format accommodates additional channels of business.

But Schwalk recommends care in implementing an Internet service. "You have to have good integration with the back office," he said. "You've empowered customers to reach out to you in different channels, but you've also exposed any problems you might have in the back office."

Everyone wants things done immediately, but Trapp said it is not always about speed to market. "You have to look at time to value," she said. "Value for the customer and to the company. You need to be easy to do business with, and that comes from good products, value to customer, and offering the right service at the righttime in the right way."

E.piphany
www.epiphany.com

The insurance industry has different needs than others because it works not only with insurance buyers, but also a layer of independent agents. The E5 suite from E.piphany has an architecture that allows for both, according to Brad Wilson, vice president of product marketing. Its multi-channel aspects are "not revolutionary," according to Wilson, but offers the "sweet-spot where contact centers are today-a single view of the customer."

E.piphany helps customers recognize its top customers. "Who do you want to spend time on?" asked Wilson. "Fifteen percent of your customers represent nearly all your profits. The rest are either neutral or negative." When customers log on, the system looks at the profitability metrics. "It allows you to put certain customers in shorter queues and others on longer queues or," he cackled, "lead them to self service."

In CRM, "one size doesn't fit all," Wilson said. "Companies need to follow the mantra, 'Think big, start small, grow quickly." He has seen customers shopping for a marketing application and then end up deploying a service function. Customers need a "best practice approach," Wilson said. "You need intelligent cross selling. Don't waste the agent's or the customer's time."

Firepond
www.firepond.com

With its SalesPerformer and eServicePerformer, Firepond claims to have the sales and service tools to enable insurers to avoid one of their costliest problems: abandoned quotes. That's according to Kim Rugala, director of product management.

SalesPerformer is a suite of tools that enables insurers to generate quotes and sell policies "in minutes, not days," she said. By eliminating the need to re-key information, insurers avoid the extra work that ties up sales and service personnel. Firepond offers its software in a variety of ways-wireless, on the laptop, or Web-based. "Service is a key throughout our system, but our big focus is on upfront questions," Rugala said. "If they have questions up front, you want to answer them right away. That's what turns a browser into a shopper."
The sales tool is Java-based, offering back-end connectivity to the enterprise system and applications. "Getting data from the legacy system to the customers is a major issue for insurers," Rugala said. Being able to take the customer's data, analyze it, and return a quote to the customer is the direction many insurers need to follow today, she explained.

InSystems
www.insystems.com

The CRM field is "extremely vague," especially when it comes to insurance, according to Brian Rowatt, director of insurance industry marketing for InSystems. "Players focus on merging relationships from the point of view of the carriers, but it's different in our marketplace," he said. "The customer is more than one individual. There are multiple tiers and co-dependant relationships."

InSystems has developed XRM (Extended Relationship Management) Insurance Solutions to connect all aspects of the relationships between carriers, brokers and agents, and customers. XRM has a "member level" and a "plan-sponsor level." The member level allows customers to manage all their enrollments, see certificates of coverage, and look at their detailed claims history. The plan-sponsor level allows companies to manage the eligibility of its employees with the carrier and allows them to look at billing, claims, and member notification information.

The carriers host the information on an extranet. Currently it is available for both group and individual health insurance. "The underlying technology can be extended into multiple segments," said Rowatt. "We are cautiously looking at areas in commercial lines. In two years I'd say we'll be aggressive in commercial lines."

London Bridge Group
www.london-bridge.com

Anyone in the CRM world has to be flexible, according to Richard Dougherty, director of technical services in the CRM division of the London Bridge Group. "Software is just one part of the CRM solution," he said.
London Bridge makes Vectus, which the company says boasts speed, flexibility, and architecture. "You don't have to make compromises" with Vectus, according to Dougherty; it has the ability to connect different legacy systems, yet still give the user a single view of the customer.

Implementing CRM solutions should focus on four areas, according to Dougherty. "What is the business problem?" is the first, he said. Companies need to start off in a pilot environment before rolling out a solution enterprise-wide.

Second, "Return on investment can measure the effectiveness of the implementation," Dougherty said. "You have to get it up quickly so it takes weeks, not years."

Third, the implementation needs to allow the customer to retain ownership of the system. "They don't want you hanging around as a consultant," he said.

The fourth area involves training the IT staff, so it has the ability to maintain the system on its own.
Among its qualities, Dougherty said, Vectus can offer individually priced policies based on customer risk and coverage value. It also allows a view of the customer and other relationships the customer may have. (So you know the 18-year-old with three speeding tickets is the son of a someone you like doing business with.)
Vectus also allows customers to amend policy records on their own and then generate correct premiums and documentation.

NaviSys
www.navisys.com

Front Office is a CRM suite from NaviSys that connects point of sale and on-going customer service needs for carriers, according to Michael Roe, chairman, president, and CEO. Front Office can be broken down into components-Distribution Channel Management, Electronic Illustration, Electronic Application Entry, Electronic Underwriting, and Electronic Customer Service-or it can be used in its entirety.

"We tie together the back office platforms with the customer service and sales," Roe said. He said there is nothing complicated about running customer service through your Internet site. "We are not reinventing the wheel," he said. "We just want to provide customers with the ability to make changes to their policies and make additional purchases online."

Roe cautions insurers to investigate the software before purchasing it. One step is to take a greater interest in the ACORD standards. "If an insurer is not careful, things won't work well," he said. He also believes that an insurer can't just shop for a CRM solution without a close look at how the company does business. "There is no definitive model for CRM," said Roe. "It's a way of doing business and it can be inconsistent in the insurance field."

PeopleSoft
www.peoplesoft.com

PeopleSoft unveiled version 8 of its CRM product in June (called 8CRM), offering features such as interactive management, sales force automation, support for call centers, and a help desk. All are available as either a full suite or individual modules, according to Louise Stonehouse, the company's director of insurance strategy. "It will capture every interaction, whether it is over the Internet or a phone call," she said. "It gives a 360 degree viewpoint."

The sales tool alone makes it "easy and valuable to the sales force," she said. "You pull leads with a complete history of their transactions." An analytics tool also helps the sales force determine whether the person on the phone is a profitable customer for the company.

The call center is PeopleSoft's flagship application, according to Stonehouse. It gives the CSR a view of past transactions and entitlements. And it not only generates leads, but measures success. "Once you have a lead, this will push it to the sales force," she said. "The customer goes from a prospect to a lead."
Having 8CRM in modules means that companies can focus on particular areas of the CRM chain without buying the entire system at one time. "You pick off key objectives and make a tight strategy," said Stonehouse. "It forces companies to have a vision. You have to get companies to focus on the key issues. We can build it, but they have to do the heavy lifting."

Selectica
www.selectica.com

The Selectica approach to CRM is "to service the entire life-cycle experience," said Raj Jaswa, president, chairman, and CEO. Its ACE eCRM is focused on insurance and e-banking. Puneet Gupta, group manager for eCRM strategies, said Selectica is compliant with other applications that customers have in place, and that most of those systems are using only 10 to 15 percent of their functionality. "We want to close that loop," Gupta said.

Jaswa blames that on the companies that jump too quickly after the first answer they hear. "Typically, companies buy into a sweeping strategy before examining their structural needs," he said. Sometimes that means scaling back. "How much CRM do you need?" asked Jaswa. "It takes a lot of effort and a lot of money to get a system off the ground."

For insurers, ACE has the ability to deliver rate information quickly and to up-sell and cross-sell products at the same time, according to Jaswa. "We automate e-business processes. Once you do that, there's an opportunity to do other things. This integrates levels of efficiency into the whole life cycle."

Witness Systems
www.witsys.com

The eQuality product from Witness Systems doesn't perform CRM for companies, but it makes the companies do better CRM, according to Oscar Alban, principle market consultant. The company started as a quality monitoring system, but has grown to performance optimization. "[EQuality] allows you to close a loop as you monitor calls or e-mail," Albon said. "You can then send training directly to the desktop."

One important ability that eQuality has is verification of sales. Call center personnel can record the customer's agreement to make a purchase, eliminating any confusion, said Alban. The practice of "slamming" has landed many phone-oriented sales firms in trouble and has made some customers leery of purchasing anything over the phone. "This can make things comfortable for the customer," Alban agreed.

Witness Systems continues to track performance of sales people by recording random calls on a percentage basis. Someone just out of training might have seven of 10 calls monitored while a veteran CSR might have just four of 10 monitored.

Alban said that management practices and a lack of training are the major reasons for CRM installations failing. "Old methods won't do anymore," he said. "The risk factor is too big."