The nine-month search was conducted by a variety of Minnesota Life employees from IT and marketing along with representatives of six of the firms associated with Securian. We wanted all the interested parties to have a say in our direction, Smith notes. It was not an easy decision, as we tried to match the capabilities [of the products] with the [insurance] industry.

In March 2003, two other finalists were eliminated, and the contract was signed with E-Z Data. With the other solutions we looked at, it was clear those companies did not have the specific insurance and investment industry knowledge for the kinds of things we were trying to accomplish, says Smith.

SmartOffice was tailored to the insurance industry, so there was a lot of out-of-the-box functionality that allowed Minnesota Life to hit the ground running, according to Smith. A significant change such as this did not come easy, though. It took us 10 or 11 months to get the infrastructure and software up and running, she explains. One of the challenges [with the implementation] was we were one of the first really to push the portion of the system that manages the data import. The carrier worked closely with the solution provider to hone the performance of that tool. Im happy to say we got there, she says.

SmartOffice also was Minnesota Lifes first implementation on the J2EE environment. We made a corporate decision about 18 months ago this was the direction we were going to go, says Smith of J2EE. From an infrastructure standpoint, this implementation fit into our corporate strategy. From a division standpoint and distribution, we clearly have been on a path to provide as much as we can in a Web-based environment.

The agencies are accessing the new system through an extranet specific to the individual Securian sales force. This enhances the portal we have, she asserts. We rolled [the extranet] out in 1998, and we continue to enrich that platform. [SmartOffice] now is a central component of the extranet.

The insurer decided to roll out the product slowly to its agencies. The idea was to start small, work with some of our key advisers in those firms, get them using it, and get the success stories out, says Smith. Minnesota Life showcased the system to several hundred advisers at the carriers national sales convention in April.

Its gone as well as can be expected, she affirms. You always are going to deal with some data conversion issues, but as far as the platforms performance and stability, its been great. Thats a reflection of our internal IT team and E-Z Data.
The new platform adds to the value proposition Minnesota Life has to offer firms and financial advisers. A lot of [carriers] are looking to give their advisers a tool that will assist them in managing their client base and a tool that will help [the advisers] cross-market, says Smith. This allows us to do that. ROBERT REGIS HYLE

Case File
THE PROBLEM
A consistent sales and marketing
platform was needed for a life carriers distribution arm.

THE CARRIER
Minnesota Life Insurance Co.
Web Site: www.minnesotalife.com
Total Sales: $3 billion

THE SOLUTION
SmartOffice by E-Z Data
Web Site: www.ez-data.com