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Best Practices for Independent Insurance Agency

E&OManagement

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Managing your agency’s E&O compliance is a crucial part of maintaining your reputation and legality. However, it can be difficult to keep track of

all the details related to E&O management. In this eGuide, we’ll

look at ways to keep your agency E&O compliant. Armed with

a vigilant eye and well thought-out processes, you can rest

assured your agency is avoiding errors and omissions, and

providing your clients the best service and care.

E&O

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CONTENTSCommon Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 & 5

Practices and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Checklists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Recording Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Mobile Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Your Agency Management System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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It is said “the best offense is a

good defense”—it is better to

be prepared to stop errors and

omissions than to try and make up

for them afterwards.

Common Mistakes

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n LACK OF COMMUNICATION in policy changes (renewal,

cancellation, etc.)

n NON-COMPLIANCE of client’s cancellation rights (not

providing replacement coverage, hindering right to

cancellation, omitting offer of “tail” coverage)

n DELAY IN PROCESSING new business and/or policy changes

n INCORRECTLY ADVISING current or potential clients

(i.e. giving inaccurate rate quotes)

n FAILURE TO FULLY EXPLAIN policy conditions, renewal and

cancellation procedures

5The Most Common E&O Mistakes:

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Frequent reviews of your agency’s E&O practices will help

you stay up to date on the latest rules and regulations,

helping you ensure your agency is in compliance.

Reviews can happen monthly or annually, and should

involve multiple perspectives within your staff. If

you’d like a professional outsider opinion, consider

an E&O audit for your agency.

Should an error or omission occur, be sure to get to its root cause. Employ procedures for E&O follow up.

Report on all errors and omissions: Immediately, thoroughly, and accurately

Gather information: From employees, clients, and any other parties involved in process

Re-trace steps: Carefully, intentionally, and critically

Discuss and analyze results: With employees, management system provider

Take action: Implement changes, assess results

Practices and

Tools

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Checklists are a great, often overlooked, tool to ensure you’ve hit all the

right points. You can create your own checklist, get templates from your

peers, or purchase checklist templates. It’s best to break checklists out by

specific processes (i.e. risk analysis, commercial/personal line coverage).

Sample checklists are a great starting point.

Checklists

Before implementing checklists,

ensure your staff has input

on its creation and training on

where to access and how to

process checklists.

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Recording Email

Emails are absolutely critical information for you to house and be able to access for E&O information. This is not

new news, but it is a habit that is not frequently kept. Using solutions for registered/encrypted email and ensuring

your agency management system records your email.

Tips for Effective Email Logging include:

n Ensure your emails are complete—take the time to document

your conversations

n Make sure you are logging your emails in your agency

management system

n If a client sends you an email, ADD IT TO THE SYSTEM

n Look into a registered email solution that can actually verify

email receipts.

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Mobile

AppsSome Agency Management Apps allow users to:

n Access client data from your mobile platform

n Log notes and conversations directly from your mobile device

n Create and manage new contacts, policies, and more

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Your agency’s management system is your best E&O defensive

measure as it contains all client and policy information in one place.

Some systems allow you to:

n Integrate texting

n Connect with mobile apps

n Upload checklists

By connecting such electronic means to your agency management

system, you reduce the likelihood of misplacing documents. Also,

your agency management system lets you see all documents

related to one client or policy in one place, making it easier to

review for accuracy.

Your Agency Management

System

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Your agency management system provider is an excellent resource for

talking about how to improve your E&O prevention processes. At SIS,

we work with our clients to make Partner XE efficient and effective,

incorporating security and record keeping practices to prevent E&O

issues. To find out about our other Partner XE capabilities, like mobile

access and Outlook synching, contact us today!

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About SISHeadquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Strategic Insurance Software (SIS) is

the team behind Partner XE—an innovative web-based insurance agency

management system that helps independent agencies streamline workflow and

grow their business. Built on a foundation of strong technology and exceptional

service, we’re moving forward with a constant eye on innovation that will make

independent agents’ lives easier.

About Partner XESupporting downloads from nearly 300 carriers, real time interaction, integrated

agency accounting, and much more, Partner XE is a full-featured agency

management system at an affordable cost for the independent insurance agency.

For more information, please visit www.sisware.com

4181 Arlingate Plaza, Columbus, Ohio 43228 | 800.747.9273 | www.sisware.com