Because Empire’s sales channel was so complex, Bell decided that Empire couldn’t go with an off-the-shelf application. And he quickly saw the value of moving the process to the Web. Bell and Klepper hired Firepond of Waltham, Mass., to customize its proposal configurator and develop a quote engine and group enrollment process for Empire. Because Empire lacked in-house experience and resources for handling an enterprisewide application ("Mostly, we knew about mainframes," says Klepper), they kept the IT department close to the project so that staffers could learn from the experience. The department also had to integrate the application with Empire’s legacy mainframes, a process that was tedious but critical, according to Bell.

Empowered Brokers

Empire’s Broker Services Application, which includes the quote engine and proposal configurator and enables online group enrollment, went live in October 2000. The browser-based quote engine frees brokers from having to call Empire to crunch numbers every time they need a quote. Instead, they can now enter the relevant customer data themselves online, and an automated formula generates a quote in a matter of seconds. The proposal configurator lets the brokers go online to create custom proposals according to each customer’s requirements, pull together current information about all the plan options and riders, and print all the relevant, up-to-date information based on the customer’s specifications.

If the client isn’t satisfied with a particular quote, the broker can go back online and change the specifications. Upon making a sale, a broker no longer has to wade through piles and piles of paper, but can go online to enroll a new account. The password-protected system also lets agents maintain customer information online, where it’s accessible around the clock.

Because Bell and his team drafted a panel of computer-savvy brokers and solicited their input throughout the application development process, they wound up with a system that has made life easier for the brokers. By Oct. 31, 2001, all of Empire’s 1,800 independent brokers had registered on the site, Bell says. When the site went live, Empire aimed for getting 15 percent of the brokers to use its self-service functionality. As of October, more than 45 percent were regularly generating their own quotes online.

Empire agents using the site now handle an average of 45 percent more quotes; Vazoulas says that while he used to process 20 quotes a day, he now handles 50. Most important, the enrollment process that once dragged out over 27 days now takes just two to three days to complete online. (Brokers sticking with the paper-based system, however, still have to deal with the time lag.)