Sword Insurance Launches ACORD Form Conversion Solution for the Cloud

Copyright:	Copyright Business Wire 2011
Source:	Business Wire, Inc.
Wordcount:	533

Turnstile Significantly Expedites Processing Time for Carriers Receiving Submissions from Independent Agents; Reduces Costs and Errors versus Manually Processing Forms

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sword Insurance (soon to be AgencyPort Software), a leading global provider of software and services to the global insurance and reinsurance industries, today announced general availability of Turnstile, a standards-based PDF conversion solution for the cloud. Available to insurance carriers, MGAs and insurance technology vendors, the innovative service immediately converts ACORD PDF forms to ACORD XML for point of sale, rating or policy administration systems.

For most carriers today, a considerable amount of time is spent manually rekeying data found within a PDF email attachment. Turnstile is a versatile offering that converts this information automatically, allowing carriers to handle more submissions, more quickly thereby providing a better experience for their independent agents and allowing carriers to do so at lower cost. Additionally, carriers can rely on Sword Insurance to update Turnstile as new ACORD forms and new form editions are published.

“Let’s face it, the faster carriers can deliver a quote to a customer, the better their chance of signing them,” said Allan Egbert, Chief Technology Officer for Sword Insurance. “Where most agency interfaces come up short today, either because technology solutions aren’t in place or independent agents don’t use the solutions, Turnstile fills an important gap for carriers in their ease of doing business initiatives. Importantly, agents don’t have to change their behavior, learn a new system, or be issued with another password.”

Turnstile is a highly secure service for any agent portal and interface that shortens intake time and reduces processing costs, thereby eliminating lost sales opportunities, which is hosted by Rackspace ® Hosting, the service leader in cloud computing.

“Insurers consider agent "ease of doing business" a top priority in 2011, and technology vendors are responding by providing more agency interface options with better support for varied business processes,” said Martina Conlon, a principal in Novarica's insurance practice focused on the P&C and healthcare markets. “We encourage insurers to regularly assess their business processes and consider product options that address agent's needs and eliminate manual re-keying of data. Streamlining application submission can deliver big wins in efficiency and customer satisfaction.” Turnstile can be integrated into a carrier’s front-end solution or carriers can work with the Sword Insurance professional services team to complete the integration. The web service can be adapted to either modern or legacy architecture.

The pay-per-use service is available as a standalone solution or as an add-on for existing AgencyPortal and BookSmart customers. Unlike other PDF transformation solutions, Turnstile requires no software downloads or confusing middleman websites, significantly simplifying the process.

Sword Insurance launched Turnstile at the ACORD Implementation ForumNovember 1-4, 2011 in Ft Lauderdale.

About Sword Insurance:

Sword Insurance (soon to be Agencyport Softwarewww.sword-insurance.com) delivers software solutions that help companies around the world sell their products and service their clients throughout the customer lifecycle. We offer the world's leading web-based distribution technologies, global policy administration solutions and robust business intelligence tools—a powerful mix that makes the complex business of insurance easier and smarter, and helps our customers seize opportunities and gain a competitive edge quickly.