Kingston, Ont.-based Empire Life Insurance Co. is launching electronic application data feeds that the firm is promising will save managing general agents (MGAs) time and effort; get applications processed faster; and, ultimately, allow financial advisors to receive their compensation sooner.
When an e-app is sent to Empire Life through its Fast & Full e-app process, the firm will now ensure the e-app is electronically sent to the MGA’s back-office provider and that the information is automatically inputted into that back-office system. This will occur if the MGA is using a data management system enabled to receive this feed.
“It eliminates the need for the MGA office to get a scanned copy or a PDF copy from Empire Life and then re-key [that information] into their system,” says Mike Stocks, vice president of insurance marketing with Empire Life.
In addition to saving the MGA’s back-office staff time, this development will benefit advisors directly, Stocks says: “It also gets the advisors excited because they have the ability to have their apps processed faster and, ultimately, get paid faster.”
The firm is also touting another feature, which would see MGAs receive a PDF of each application in the automatic transmission of data. In the past, MGAs would have to wait for Empire Life to send them a PDF copy of each document, Stocks says.
Pilot testing is underway with several MGAs; and additional data-management systems will be enabled in the weeks to come, according to the firm’s announcement. The data feed system has also received approval from Canadian Life Insurance EDI Standards, the recognized authority for standardized electronic data exchange (eData) within the Canadian life and health insurance industry.