o An Internet connection that is always on.

o An e-mail address for each employee that uses your domain name. You do not want to have a Jsmith123@aol or BobLikesBikes82@hotmail e-mail address. Such names might not give your customers the confidence they need to continue to do business with you.

o A Web site for your agency that can be updated as needed.

You also need to answer a few other questions and be aware of a few points before making a final determination as to who will be your provider.

Who owns my domain name?

If the ISP or hosting provider is handling the Web and e-mail hosting, be sure that the domain name (www.SmithInsurance.com) is registered in your name and not that of the ISP. Some unscrupulous providers will register things in their name as a way to stop you from ever moving away from their services.

How many e-mail addresses can I have?

Sometimes you will find that if youre agency needs more than 10 e-mail addresses, you will pay an extra monthly fee. A different provider could be a more cost-effective match for you.

Will the ISP or hosting provider scan my e-mail for viruses?

With the onslaught of e-mail worms and viruses floating around, the peace of mind that your ISP will at least do some sort of scanning is an important consideration. You should always have additional protection on the desktop, but an ISP scanning can catch many viruses before they get to you.

Is there a size limit on individual e-mails?

Sometimes you may need to receive a large e-mail attachment from a customer or carrier. Maybe someone is sending you pictures for a claim. Its important that you try to maximize your inbound e-mail size.

Do I need access from the outside?

Computers use Internet Protocol addresses (which is the unique identifier for individuals over the Internet) to locate and talk to each other on the Internet, much the same way people use phone numbers to locate and talk to one another on the telephone. Do you need to be able to access your network from the Internet? Are you using Citrix or Terminal Services (technology to link-up to your home office system) or remote desktop? If you do, then you will need to ensure you have a static IP and a firewall that is able to manage the connections.

Who will manage the firewall?

Generally, you will always need some sort of firewall between you and the Internet. This will help ensure that you can access items on the Internet, but your workstations and servers remain safe and secure. A properly managed firewall will help shield you from the outside world while still allowing seamless access to the Internet by your employees.

Who will own the equipment?

If the equipment is provided by the ISP, will you receive ownership of the equipment? Often there are installation fees associated with a new Internet connection which partially go to cover new equipment. One will sometimes assume that means you now own the equipment, only to find that the ISP owns it. This normally is not a big issue until it comes time to leave the provider and then youre hit again with an equipment charge to link up with the new provider.

What are the contract considerations?

Commonly, a principal does not want to sign a contract for more than one year because of the rapid changes and advances that can occur from year to year. You want to ensure that there is a service level agreement (SLA) built into the contract. This will enable you to break the contract in the event that they do not meet up to their service promise.

Other items to note:

If you are using a wireless system in your office, make sure that you are using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) security. Check with your equipment provider to ensure that your system does not include a wireless router that you are not aware of. If it does, make sure that WEP security is being used so no one from the outside can access your bandwidth or network.

Make sure that you always have a backup of your Web site. Sometimes you may contract the design work to an outside firm to help give your site a professional look and feel. Be sure that you have a backup of the site along with any template originals so you can work with a different company at a later time if you so desire.

Once you have considered all the points above, the decision should then boil down to one of dollars and sense.

This answer was supplied by Doug Johnston, executive vice president for Applied Systems (www.appliedsystems.com) in University Park, Ill.

Got an agency tech question? E-mail Ara Trembly ([email protected]) or Mark E. Ruquet ([email protected]).

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 9, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.