One of the products Carpenter thoroughly investigated before implementation was the OnBase enterprise content management suite from Hyland Software. Mennonite Mutual wanted to improve its underwriting and claims processing functions several years ago and chose OnBase because of its electronic document management and workflow capabilities and its ability to integrate with Microsoft Outlook.

Carpenter says his diligence in searching for the right product has paid off. The software, currently used in claims and personal lines, has helped the company improve customer service, decrease claim turnaround time to less than 24 hours, and increase written premiums by 12 percent to 15 percent in several lines of business.

Last year, Mennonite Mutual provided its agents with online access to OnBase, allowing them easy connectivity to claims and underwriting files. Carpenter personally visited all the carrier's agents to train them on the new software. “The easier we make it for our agents to submit information to us, the easier it will be for us to become the carrier of choice in our niche markets,” he says.

The OnBase software has helped Mennonite Mutual maintain a strong relationship with its agents, Carpenter asserts. Despite the company's small size, agents consistently rank it number two or three behind big insurers such as Progressive in terms of how easy it is to work with and the functionality of its systems, he claims.

Aside from continuing efforts to upgrade OnBase, Carpenter plans to focus on several other initiatives during the next 12 to 18 months. His first priority is to convert Mennonite Mutual's commercial auto lines to Microsoft's Visual FoxPro system, which will allow agents to submit quotes and applications directly to underwriting. The company moved its stewardship protection program for churches to the system last year.

“We bought the Visual FoxPro system from another insurance company lock, stock, and barrel and have modified it to fit our needs,” Carpenter explains. “It's given our stewardship program a lot of capabilities, and we want to expand that to our other commercial lines.”

Carpenter also plans to implement a monthly payment option with Automated Clearing House (ACH) capabilities to better serve customers.

As for OnBase and its ongoing role, the latest release provides Mennonite Mutual with the tools it needs to help agents integrate their agency management systems with the new platform. Carpenter expects that conversion to be completed by March 2010.

“Agents will be able to pull up everything about a client we've got stored in our OnBase system, from declaration pages to rating detail pages to photographs,” Carpenter says. “Everything they do, they'll be able to do from their agency management system in a seamless process. This is a huge win for us as far as making it easy for agents to do business with us.”

Previously in his career, Carpenter formed his own IT consulting business and spent the next 19 years working with a variety of clients, including Mennonite Mutual. In 2004, Mennonite Mutual created an internal IT manager position and offered the job to Carpenter.

“Having known the president [David Lehman] for many years, we had a great relationship and decided this was a perfect fit,” he says. “Because of the mutual trust we've built over the years, he allows me to do what I need to do. He trusts I'm going to do what's best for the company.”

Sharon Baker is a freelance business writer based in Charlotte, N.C.