Applied Systems Announces 2015 Pinnacle Award Winners

University Park, Ill. (PRWEB) October 20, 2015

Applied Systems today announced the presentation of its annual Pinnacle Awards to a select group at Applied Net 2015, the largest independent insurance agency and brokerage technology conference, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. As the company's highest customer honor, the Pinnacle Award recognizes partnership with Applied Systems and innovative usage of the company's technology in making significant contributions to the recipient's business and the insurance industry.

The 2015 Pinnacle Award winners are Drayden Insurance Ltd., Liberty Mutual Insurance, VANTREO, Van Zandt, Emrich & Cary, and Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. Award recipients were selected based on their embodiment of the spirit of the Pinnacle Award, including innovation in product deployment, the power of partnership, and the ability to deliver tangible business results to their organizations and the insurance industry.

"Technology continues to present opportunities for growth and increased profitability for insurance businesses worldwide, and this year's Pinnacle Award winners are truly outstanding examples of how leveraging innovative software can deliver successful business results and take our industry further ahead into the digital future," said Reid French, chief executive officer, Applied Systems. "We are proud to partner with these outstanding businesses to continue driving success and a more connected insurance ecosystem, and I congratulate them on the example they set for the industry."

2015 Pinnacle Award Winners

Drayden Insurance Ltd.
Drayden Insurance Ltd. is an independent insurance brokerage with eight branches in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and the surrounding area. Drayden is owned by Albertans and employs more than 170 people who handle the insurance and registry requirements of approximately 35,000 customers. As an Applied customer for more than 20 years, Drayden leverages Applied Epic to increase revenue through organic growth with workflows that ensure consistent operations across all offices. Drayden is a champion of automation best practices, leveraging Direct Bill Import and Policy Download to increase automation at the brokerage to improve results through productivity. With a dedication to exceptional change management practices, Drayden recently achieved its highest individual sales month in their 50 years of business while migrating to Applied Epic.

Liberty Mutual Insurance
Liberty Mutual Insurance is the third-largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. and currently ranks 78th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2014 revenue. Liberty Mutual has worked closely with Applied IVANS to drive agent adoption of download and now has 15,000 agents downloading from Liberty Mutual every month. IVANS eDocs and Commercial Lines download enable Liberty Mutual to simplify document delivery and reduce its printed material requests, saving time and resources to reduce operating costs. The company has seen a 146 percent growth of eDocs download transactions and 50 percent growth of Commercial Lines download transactions annually through Applied IVANS. With 15 million download transactions annually, the company remains an industry leader and proponent of leveraging download for the benefit of its agency partners.

VANTREO Insurance Brokerage
VANTREO is a full service brokerage, headquartered in California, offering a range of property and casualty, employee benefits, financial services, personal, and risk management solutions to national and international clients. Applied EpicOnline has enabled the brokerage to standardize operations across multiple locations and empower its large remote workforce. VANTREO has seen exponential productivity increases and an average 20 percent annual growth, doubling in size over the last five years with Applied EpicOnline. As an advocate of technology solutions for the industry, VANTREO also offers its service platform and online client solutions on an outsourced basis to insurance agencies across the country.

Van Zandt, Emrich & Cary, Inc.
Van Zandt, Emrich & Cary, Inc. is a premier, full-service independent insurance agency based in Louisville, KY and is recognized as one of the state's most established and comprehensive agencies. Applied technology is a central component of Van Zandt's aggressive growth strategy and TOTAL (Taking Ourselves to Another Level) corporate vision to drive growth and profitability. Leveraging customized Applied EpicOnline workflows, Van Zandt has implemented team processes that have led to increased productivity across the agency. In addition, Van Zandt leverages Applied CSR24 as a prospect tool, building out a personalized client portal for prospects to demonstrate their agency's potential customer experience.

Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.
Woodruff-Sawyer & Co. is one of the largest independent insurance brokerage firms in the nation with a 97-year history of delivering outstanding service to clients. Headquartered in San Francisco, Woodruff-Sawyer has offices throughout California and in Oregon, Colorado, Hawaii and Washington. Woodruff-Sawyer has relied on the scalability and open architecture of Applied Epic to manage rapid organic growth and quickly integrate acquired businesses and custom applications. More recently, Woodruff-Sawyer migrated to Applied's cloud infrastructure with Applied EpicOnline to further enable agility throughout their organization as the agency continues to scale. Applied technology enables the brokerage to serve their niche technology clientele and deliver the technology experience they demand.

Applied Net 2015 includes more than 3,000 agents, brokers, carrier executives and other insurance professionals convened to discuss technology innovations, strategies, and industry best practices. As the flagship conference for users of Applied software, Applied Net 2015 includes more than 200 education sessions and networking events to ensure users gain the greatest value from their Applied Systems investment, making agency and brokerage businesses more valuable and productive. Visit appliednet.com for conference developments. Join the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #AppliedNet.

About Applied Systems
Applied Systems is a leading provider of software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and data exchange between brokerages, insurers and their clients, Applied is the world's largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems. Automating the insurance lifecycle for more than 13,000 agencies and brokerages and 450 insurers worldwide, Applied enables millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.

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