Doing Business is a link for producers to everything they need in order to sellfrom looking for leads to completing an application to checking the status of a policy. A subsection entitled My Clients gives producers access to policy inquiries, online service centers, and the forms required to deliver a high level of customer service. A second subsection, My Practice, provides information on commissions, licensing requirements, and other business-management issues. Rolling the mouse over a navigation bar produces drop-down menus that list items within the section and facilitate data access.

Life App Express
Automates Applications

The new FieldNet home page consists of three sections. The center section highlights the top five tools producers use, including a new tool, Life App Express, which automates and simplifies the process of creating complete and accurate life insurance applications. Along with saving time, Life App Express reduces errors and accelerates policy issuance, according to Maury. It transfers data from MassMutuals life illustration system to a new-business checklist that validates producer licensing, provides producer compensation codes, delivers required forms, and displays the necessary underwriting requirements. Links also are provided for producers to schedule client exams, review guidelines, and order attending physician statements online. The end result is a PDF package containing prefilled data that is completed easily for each client.

Life App Express reduces by at least one third the time it takes to complete a life insurance application, Maury says. And the less tedious the application process, the greater a producers productivity.

In total, the new FieldNet Version 3.0 consolidated thousands of pages of information into 650 precise pages that respond directly to a producers need for information, Maury explains, eliminating duplicate and superfluous information and better organizing content. For example, before a package of printed information about one of our term-life products was an inch thick. Now its two pages, he says.

To ensure FieldNet Version 3.0 continues to meet agents most critical needs, MassMutual will survey producers after each new platform is released and make any refinements deemed necessary.

ONLINE EDUCATION
Manulife Expands Variable Annuities Web Site

Expanding the set of investment tools it offers to financial advisers, Manulife USA introduced a new Web resource on its variable annuities Web site, www.manulifeusa. com. Through a single investment portal, registered users can access the latest thoughts and forecasts on the markets from some of the top firms in the industry, including T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), Fidelity Management & Research Company, and others.

Users also will find education on asset allocation concepts, including lifestyle portfolios, which can help them to manage client assets. One of the values Manulife USAs Investment Management Services group provides is access to some of the top investment managers in the country, says Bruce Speca, executive vice president, investment management services. The creation of this Web resource allows us to share with advisers the very best these investment managers have to offerfrom market insights to investment educationenabling them to better serve their clients investment needs.

WEB PRESENTATIONS
Travelers Life & Annuity Products: Pretty as a Picture

Travelers Life & Annuity has made its Annuity Funded Life and Muni Max products available on a customized Web-based presentation system that links directly from Travelers WinFlex and Travelers Life Illustration Systems. WebStory Advanced Marketing Presentation System provides text, schematics, and graphics to help the producer develop and present sales strategies in a format that facilitates the clients ease of understanding.

Other Travelers Life & Annuity estate-planning products available on Web-Story include supplemental income, family income trust, lifetime exemption trust, credit shelter maximizer, and family dynasty trust. The availability of additional sales concepts is planned, and a library of concept designs is accessible upon request. The WebStory Presentation Management System is developed by pTeraDac Corporation, a provider of advanced Internet systems, and is supported by Travelers Life & Annuity advanced sales attorneys and illustration design specialists.