E-commerce provides new application challenges as agents attempt to market coverage on the Internet and manage remotely based producers, he says. Named after the London location of the Edward Lloyd coffeehouse where Lloyd's of London was created in the 17th Century, the new system was first announced in March at the AMS Users' Group Conference that was held in Las Vegas. The system was promoted as an online insurance exchange that would host a broad range of integrated insurance applications. At the conference, Ashenhurst promised a breakthrough in agency automation and marketing. Access to TowerStreet requires only a computer running a browser and a connection to the Internet.
New users can be online and at work in a matter of minutes.
There is no software to install, no updates to load, no backups to perform and no new hardware to buy. The first test version of TowerStreet, which was released in April, focuses on the personal lines insurance sales process and addresses only some of the functions Ashenhurst described, but it establishes the technology framework on which the functions will be built. According to Ashenhurst, the company plans to add commercial lines sales by mid-year 2000 and customer service and policy issuance functions by the end of the year. Next year, the company may add self-service functions that will allow customers to access selected portions of policy and claims information. There is no software to install, no updates to load, no backups to perform and no new hardware to buy.