Author: ACT News Team
Cindy Hower, president of Kellerman Insurance in Holton, Kan., began her career at her family-owned agency, which was founded in 1964. She eventually bought out her father's partner and took over ownership of the agency. She shares her knowledge and experience through various industry activities, most recently as part of the InVEST Board and, now, on the ACT Committee.
Cindy's experience will be very valuable to the ACT Committee as it considers what to pursue for ACT members.
“I'm not necessarily the tech how-to person," Cindy says. “I embrace technology and appreciate it, but I'm not a techie. I will be bringing the agency perspective to ACT. I expect I will be able to contribute from the agency side what is a little more or less valuable for ACT to set as a priority."
That is an extraordinarily valuable contribution, says Ron Berg, executive director of ACT. “There are a lot of technologies being developed, and we want to focus on those that will best serve our members. Getting the agency perspective in our core planning is crucial to our mission."
Cindy says she has seen a lot of changes over her years at Kellerman Insurance—some positive, some frustrating.
“The inconsistencies from carrier to carrier and trying to make those fit into our operations are probably the primary workflow challenges we face," she says. “We work with some smaller carriers. Some have been slow to adopt technologies. One just adopted download, for example. That means we sometimes have to make decisions whether we will continue to do business with a carrier or not.
“If we want to quote multiple carriers, every one of them has some little question different from the others to do a quote. These 'little' added items can impact discounts and affect competitiveness if we don't get the information. Our worksheet to gather quote information has gotten so long it takes forever when interviewing our prospects. T his is one of the blessings and curses of being an independent agent.
“Carriers are adopting technology at different levels at different speeds. So even if Kellerman is ready to go [with a certain technology], a carrier partner might not be. In many cases, we are shoe-horning paper processes into tech practices."
Single sign-on tops the list of short-term accomplishments Cindy hopes to see.
“Password solutions would be great," she says. “We don't have any companies that have adopted SignOn Once, for example. Additionally carriers process their data through different exchanges; not all use IVANS, so technologies which should be standard like eDocs are not even available yet."
The Agents Council for Technology brings agents, carriers and vendors—along with other industry stakeholders—together to discuss and work out solutions for the needs of agencies. Cindy notes that she actively solicits input from her staff that may be very helpful to ACT.
“We meet weekly in our agency, and our discussion includes workflows with carriers and how those impact what we do. We have an in-house staff person, even in our small agency, who helps us keep up to date on technology and another staff member who serves on the IVANS user group. They give us a wider perspective of what's new and on the horizon."
Cindy notes that ACT welcomes participants in its different work groups—segment-specific teams that look deeply at certain topics and how technology plays a role. There is an interplay between the ACT Committee and the work groups that drives information collection and sharing, and Cindy looks forward to helping weave together seemingly disparate topics into a meaningful analysis that helps agencies and carriers serve the customer better.
“The ACT Committee puts information together that goes out to the membership. There are work groups that do a lot of granular stuff, and we incorporate that information so it is connected and digestible. We work to identify what's most important."
An avid runner, Cindy points to goal setting as the first step in personal and professional success.
“I would say daily planning is a central practice for me. If you don't know where you want to go, you can't get to the place you should be," Cindy says. “Sometimes you have to regroup, but being proactive puts you ahead of the curve in most cases and eliminates a lot of mistakes.
“By being proactive you can head off problems with insureds so they are not blindsided if things aren't going as they might expect. It can defuse a situation, and it's a lot easier to play offense than defense."
The same process allows Cindy to enjoy life outside of work.
“I love fitness. My husband and I ride Rails-to-Trails bike paths and make weekend trips out of it. I also love to run. I'm not fast, but I love to do it. We out-eat and drink our fitness sometimes but totally enjoy the social aspect of trying new places. I also make time to volunteer. It's important to me, so I make the time for it. My husband has been extremely supportive and understands the time I need to devote because he's the same kind of volunteer on the real estate side of our business. We also have super people who have been here a long time. There's huge trust and a great relationship. They make it possible for us to step outside and do a little more for the industry as a whole."