Applied, based in University Park, Ill., made its announcement during the ASCnet's 17^th Annual Education Conference held here Oct. 20-23.

The company said it has automatically set up all of its agency customers with IVANS Transformation Station accounts, "pre-configured for real-time interface with the companies they represent." ASCnet is the user group for Applied Systems agency management products.

Transformation Station is a managed Internet data exchange for real-time insurance transactions. Real time interface using IVANS Transformation station utilizes ACORD XML and the Internet "to reduce the time and expense for both the agency and the company in processing sales and service transactions," said Applied.

The initiative, dubbed the "Light ?Em Up Campaign," allows agents to process insurance company transactions and retrieve carrier account status information directly from their agency systems "at exactly the time they need it," Applied stated. "A customer has a request, and "click," the agent has an answer?without delays, phone calls or faxes."

Eight insurance companies are participating in the initial campaign by pre-authorizing real-time communication access, using ACORD XML transactions, for their Applied Systems agencies, the vendor said. The carriers include Travelers Property Casualty, The St. Paul, Progressive, Encompass Insurance, Acuity, Ohio Casualty Group, The Hartford, and Kemper Auto and Home.

According to Peter Anderson, president of ASCnet, these carriers can now leverage real-time e-commerce connections with "7,500 agencies that are switched on and ready to go."

A monthly update patch provided to Applied agency management users registers them for Transformation Station via a "wizard" tutorial that takes them through the necessary upgrade steps, said Doug Johnston, executive vice president of WARP Interface Services for Applied. The update applies to users of Applied's The Agency Manager (version 6.3 or higher) and The Agency Manager Vision Series, Applied noted.

"The combination of agency accounts and authorized companies represents more than 15,000 communicating pair relationships," Mr. Johnston added. According to Jim Kellner, president and chief executive officer of Applied, that figure represents "90,000 desktops and $75 billion in written premium." Upgrades are provided to the Applied users as part of their monthly maintenance fees, he added.

"We are the only vendor that has every truly achieved SEMCI," Mr. Kellner declared. "This is a tremendous cost savings for our industry."

The new agency-company real-time interface transactions include: policy rating and issuance; first notice of loss reporting; inquiry for policy status, billing status, claim status and loss run, and data bridging between agency systems and company Web sites, said Applied.

Mr. Kellner noted, however, that not all of the companies participating offer all of the transactions.

The real-time interface allows agents to "send a request to an insurance company and get a response right away," said Mr. Johnston. "It makes download look archaic."

"I am impressed with the breadth of transactions these carriers are providing access for," stated Anna England, vice president, Insurance E-Commerce Solutions, for Old Greenwich, Conn.-based IVANS. "Agencies and these eight companies will realize benefits immediately." She added that 23 insurers have now licensed Transformation Station for real-time communications with their agents and brokers.