Case Study
Agency Success Story
Don’t be deceived by a management system that’s flashy on the outside with no functionality underneath.
Warning to Independent Agents
"I feel completely lied to by EZLynx. I’m absolutely irate!"
Cornerstone Agency Services
The Problem
After months of due diligence, Cornerstone Agency Services, a reputable and successful agency in the Northeast, thought they were making a sound business decision by switching from HawkSoft to a browser-based management system, EZLynx. Cornerstone was promised improved commercial functionality and robust system capabilities during the sales process. Cornerstone said this couldn’t be further from the reality once they were using the management system.
- The promised “easy” conversion turned out to be long and tedious.
- The majority of workflows were not improved or refined compared to HawkSoft.
- Money was lost on maintaining two systems.
- Staff frustration continued to escalate.
- Personal lines workflows were more complicated than HawkSoft.
- Commercial processes took three to four times longer with only a quarter of the work possible on the new system.
This flashy new management system proved to be a bust once Cornerstone pulled back the sales curtain.
Agency Profile
Cornerstone Agency Services
Lancaster, PA
Established 2011
60% personal, 40% commercial
13 employees, 4 offices
Licensed in 15 states
$8M annual premiums
We were drawn in by the look. Their screens were easy to work with, but it was like a movie set. You had the front of the buildings that were new and modern, but there was nothing behind it. Nothing worked. We lost a whole year of progress and ended up with a system that didn’t deliver on what it promised.
Beware the Shallow Pond for Commercial Workflows, Customer Support, and ACORD Forms
Cornerstone quickly learned that commercial capabilities were simply non-existent in the new system and workflows were cumbersome. “You couldn’t even run a package,” says Angel. "You really can’t claim to have commercial lines if you can’t run a package." Staff had to resort to logging back into HawkSoft to print submissions since the new system’s format was terrible. They were paying for two systems but relying on HawkSoft to keep their business running.
It often took multiple screens to find information that can be found on one screen in HawkSoft. Attachments were cumbersome in the other vendor’s system. There was no provision for simple formatting changes. There was no method to identify a prospect, insert activities or notes, or easily change it to a client once it was sold.
"The ACORD Forms were a complete disaster," says Fred about the new system. "They weren't the right size, they had decimal points on ACORD Forms for certificates. It was so unprofessional looking. Don’t let them fool you: they just aren’t set up to handle commercial. HawkSoft's ACORD Forms are better."
Cornerstone was frustrated by EZLynx’s lack of knowledge on Insurance 101 questions.
Support staff appeared short-handed and overwhelmed. Average call-hold times were 25 minutes. Although the support team was friendly, Cornerstone got tired of hearing this broken record:
"Sorry, our system can’t do that."
"Oh, we've never had anybody even ask for that."
"If we can't do both our commercial and personal lines efficiently, there's really no reason to be on that system. That's why we came back to HawkSoft. I’d give up a cleaner, newer look for functionality and user-friendliness any day. HawkSoft is very user-friendly. We absolutely love HawkSoft’s activity, notes and workflows, and its knowledgeable people. Its ease of flow for personal lines is top notch.
The Solution
Back to Stability with HawkSoft
After months of stifled business, Cornerstone had to re-evaluate if EZLynx's modern look and a few slick features outweighed deep functionality, quick access to information, and sanity throughout their office.
The return to HawkSoft was a no-brainer.
The staff are thrilled to be able to use Agency Intelligence™, HawkSoft’s powerful data analysis engine that provides insight into important agency metrics and KPI’s. Sue Winter, Cornerstone’s commercial lines expert says, “Agency Intelligence is great! I love having summarized information about our Book of Business, retention, cross-selling, and sales pipeline efforts in one place.”
Cornerstone’s Warning to Independent Agents
How can an insurance technology vendor make it this far when their core system only delivers half of what’s promised and the company lacks insurance knowledge?
Maybe no one is looking behind the scenes.
"They're very nice people, but they don't know insurance. It's like their management system is designed by fresh-out-of-college students who have never been in the insurance business. The front-end looks amazing. But, the workflows behind the scenes do not make sense," says Fred.
Buyers beware. Make sure you’re investing in a system that will deliver on its promises and whose leadership and staff understand the insurance business. Don’t get caught footing the bill to educate their customer support staff or programmers about the insurance industry. Even worse, don’t get lured in by a vendor’s flashy “movie trailer” with a discounted sign-up offer in exchange for a long-term contract. You might be severely disappointed with the ending.
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Features leveraged by Cornerstone Agency Services