Patent Application Titled “Systems And Methods For Insurance Agency Planning And Management” Published Online (USPTO 20210295444): Patent Application

2021 OCT 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventors Cooper, Tiffany Lynn (Washington, IL, US); English, Lawrence Paul (Bloomington, IL, US); Escobar, Sebastian (Chicago, IL, US); Hossley, Erick (Johns Creek, GA, US); Keith, Barbara Denise (Gold Canyon, AZ, US); Pankey, Ryan (Bloomington, IL, US); Wittman, Andrew J. (Bloomington, IL, US), filed on June 14, 2019, was made available online on September 23, 2021.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “In the insurance industry, the concept of agency or the use of agents is well established. An insurance agent is an individual authorized by an insurance company to act on behalf of the insurance company. Typically, the insurance company provides information and service regarding insurance policies to the insurance agent who in turn sells the insurance policies directly to consumers. Examples of such insurance policies include vehicle insurance, home insurance, life insurance, health insurance, long-term care insurance, and other like products. In this regard, the insurance agent works with the consumers to procure the insurance policies that are of interest to the consumers.

“To help generate and maintain business, insurance agents are often concerned with developing business goals, and then identifying necessary activities (e.g., marketing, compensation, retention, etc.) to accomplish those goals. However, many known systems and methods fail to provide an integrated approach in the planning and management of business goals set out by the insurance agents. For example, the insurance agents are often compelled to create different spreadsheets and documents or rely on the use of various standalone software tools to track, monitor and analyze their business goals. As a result, the abilities of the insurance agents to oversee their business can become fraught with inefficiency and ineffectiveness.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The features and advantages described in this summary and the following detailed description are not all-inclusive. Many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims hereof. Additionally, other embodiments may omit one or more (or all) of the features and advantages described in this summary.

“A computer-implemented method for insurance agency planning and management may include receiving, by one or more processors executing a processor-implemented instruction module, a business goal from an insurance agent. The method may also automatically identify, by the processor-implemented instruction module, one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal. Further, the method may track, by the processor-implemented instruction module, actions performed by the insurance agent on each of the one or more activities. Based on the actions performed, the method may determine, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a performance trend that indicates whether the business goal can be achieved. If the performance trend indicates that the business goal cannot be achieved, the method may send, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a message to notify the insurance agent.

“A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may include computer-readable instructions to be executed on one or more processors of a system for insurance agency planning and management. The instructions when executed, may cause the one or more processors to receive, by a processor-implemented instruction module, a business goal from an insurance agent. The instructions when executed, may also cause the one or more processors to automatically identify, by the processor-implemented instruction module, one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal. Further, the instructions when execute d, may cause the one or more processors to track, by the processor-implemented instruction module, actions performed by the insurance agent on each of the one or more activities. Based on the actions performed, the instructions when execute d, may cause the one or more processors to determine, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a performance trend that indicates whether the business goal can be achieved. If the performance trend indicates that the business goal cannot be achieved, the instructions when executed, may cause the one or more processors to send, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a message to notify the insurance agent.

“A computer system for insurance agency planning and management, the system may comprise a database and a server that includes a memory having instructions for execution on one or more processors. The instructions when executed by the one or more processors may cause the server to receive, via a network connection, a business goal from an insurance agent. The instructions when executed by the one or more processors may also cause the server to automatically identify, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal. Further, the instructions when executed by the one or more processors may cause the server to store the one or more identified activities in the database. Still further, the instructions when executed by the one or more processors may cause the server to track, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, actions performed by the insurance agent on each of the one or more activities. Based on the actions performed, the instructions when executed by the one or more processors may cause the server to determine, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, a performance trend that indicates whether the business goal can be achieved. If the performance trend indicates that the business goal cannot be achieved, the instructions when executed by the one or more processors may cause the server to send, via a network connection, a message to notify the insurance agent.

“The figures depict a preferred embodiment of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for insurance agency planning and management, the method comprising: receiving, by one or more processors executing a processor-implemented instruction module, a business goal from an insurance agent; querying a database to automatically identify, by the processor-implemented instruction module, one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal; tracking, by the processor-implemented instruction module, actions performed by the insurance agent on each of the one or more activities; based on the actions performed, determining, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a performance trend that indicates whether the business goal can be achieved by determining whether the actions performed include actions needed to achieve the one or more activities; when the performance trend indicates that the business goal cannot be achieved, sending, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a message to notify the insurance agent that the business goal cannot be achieved; determining, by the processor-implemented instruction module, effectiveness of the one or more actions towards achieving the business goal; and updating, by the processor-implemented instruction module, activities necessary to achieve business goals stored in the database based upon the effectiveness.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the processor-implemented instruction module, one or more business goals from other users associated with the insurance agent; and incorporating, by the processor-implemented instruction module, the one or more business goals received from the other users with the business goal received from the insurance agent.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the business goal received from the insurance agent includes one or more goals defined by the insurance agent for other users associated with the insurance agent.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein automatically identifying the one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal includes automatically identifying activities for the other users to perform.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising tracking, by the processor-implemented instruction module, actions performed by the other users on the activities identified for the other users to perform.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more activities include one or more of marketing activities, sales activities, networking activities, customer service activities, or administrative activities.

“7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instructions to be executed on one or more processors of a system for insurance agency planning and management, the instructions when executed causing the one or more processors to: receive, by a processor-implemented instruction module, a business goal from an insurance agent; automatically identify, by the processor-implemented instruction module, one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal; track, by the processor-implemented instruction module, actions performed by the insurance agent on each of the one or more activities; based on the actions performed, determine, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a performance trend that indicates whether the business goal can be achieved by determining whether the actions performed include actions needed to achieve the one or more activities; when the performance trend indicates that the business goal cannot be achieved, send, by the processor-implemented instruction module, a message to notify the insurance agent that the business goal cannot be achieved; determine, by the processor-implemented instruction module, effectiveness of the one or more actions towards achieving the business goal; and update, by the processor-implemented instruction module, activities necessary to achieve business goals stored in the database based upon the effectiveness.

“8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to: receive, by the processor-implemented instruction module, one or more business goals from other users associated with the insurance agent; and incorporate, by the processor-implemented instruction module, the one or more business goals received from the other users with the business goal received from the insurance agent.

“9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the business goal received from the insurance agent includes one or more goals defined by the insurance agent for other users associated with the insurance agent.

“10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions to automatically identify the one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal include automatically identifying activities for the other users to perform.

“11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to track, by the processor-implemented instruction module, actions performed by the other users on the activities identified for the other users to perform.

“12. A computer system for insurance agency planning and management, the system comprising: a database; and a server, including a memory having instructions for execution on one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the server to: receive, via a network connection, a business goal from an insurance agent; automatically identify, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal; store the one or more identified activities in the database; track, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, actions performed by the insurance agent on each of the one or more activities; based on the actions performed, determine, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, a performance trend that indicates whether the business goal can be achieved by determining whether the actions performed include actions needed to achieve the one or more activities; when the performance trend indicates that the business goal cannot be achieved, send, via a network connection, a message to notify the insurance agent that the business goal cannot be achieved; determine, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, effectiveness of the one or more actions towards achieving the business goal; and update activities necessary to achieve business goals stored in the database based upon the effectiveness.

“13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the instructions of the server, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the server to: receive, via a network connection, one or more business goals from other users associated with the insurance agent; and incorporate, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, the one or more business goals received from the other users with the business goal received from the insurance agent.

“14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the business goal received from the insurance agent includes one or more goals defined by the insurance agent for other users associated with the insurance agent.

“15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the instructions of the server, when executed by the one or more processors to automatically identify the one or more activities necessary to achieve the business goal include instructions to automatically identify activities for the other users to perform.

“16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the instructions of the server, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the server to track, by the one or more processors executing one or more processor-implemented instruction modules, actions performed by the other users on the activities identified for the other users to perform.

“17. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the one or more activities include one or more of marketing activities, sales activities, networking activities, customer service activities, or administrative activities.”

For more information, see this patent application: Cooper, Tiffany Lynn; English, Lawrence Paul; Escobar, Sebastian; Hossley, Erick; Keith, Barbara Denise; Pankey, Ryan; Wittman, Andrew J. Systems And Methods For Insurance Agency Planning And Management. Filed June 14, 2019 and posted September 23, 2021. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220210295444%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210295444&RS=DN/20210295444

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)