First 360-Degree Producer View for Optimal Distribution Management Helps
Producers Do Business with Carriers and Supports Agent Retention
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Callidus Software
Inc. (Nasdaq: CALD), the leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM),
today unveiled Callidus TrueProducer(TM), the first producer and
distribution management software solution specifically designed for the
insurance industry. TrueProducer is a 100% web-based application engineered
for large and mid-size insurance carriers with extensive independent
distribution channels, or large numbers of captive or non-captive agents.
Today, insurance carriers face many barriers to providing the best
service to their producers. Common challenges include long on-boarding
times, an inability for producers to make sure their demographic
information is current in a simple and timely manner, lengthy contract
maintenance that prevents even the best producers from getting paid on
schedule. "Taking care of your producers is critical in order to be
competitive in today's insurance marketplace," said Robert Youngjohns,
president and CEO at Callidus Software. "This is especially true for
independent agents who make a conscious decision every day which product to
sell to their customers." In many cases, producers have no reliable
self-service or web portals to access their information. In addition,
administrators have no way to trace and reliably check credentials in order
to conform to industry regulations.
In December 2006, Gartner gave Callidus Software a 'positive' rating in
its "MarketScope for North American Insurance Incentive Compensation
Management Applications, 2006" report.
According to Todd Eyler, vice president of research at Gartner and
author of the report, "North American insurance companies are showing
renewed interest in upgrading producer compensation systems to better
manage and service their producers.
Moreover, "Profitability concerns, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other
regulatory requirements will force life insurers to manage distributor
compensation more actively, because this is their single-largest
controllable expense."
Callidus TrueProducer software decreases the cost of servicing
distribution channels and streamlines producer administration in order to
improve agent retention and provide producers with the best service
possible. Callidus TrueProducer(TM) is the only producer administration
solution that delivers a 360-degree view of producer information to ensure
the maximum service level to producers. This set of information includes
data such as appointments, demographics, contracts, continued education,
credentials, licenses and payment schedules.
"Callidus TrueProducer gives insurance carriers a serious competitive
edge in a tough market - it shows Callidus insurance customers our
commitment and ability to tackle the complexities involved in making it
easier for producers to do business with them," Youngjohns continued. "Our
solution ensures producers get paid on time and that they have constant
access to critical, accurate and timely information related to the work
they do. In order to grow product and service market share and retain
productive producers, insurance carriers must provide the absolute best
service to their producers -- Callidus helps them do that."
TrueProducer Enables Administrators to Provide Best Service to
Producers "Many carriers are focusing on ease of doing business and
frictionless interaction with their producers as the basis for sustainable
competitive advantage and profitable growth. Historically, common processes
such as producer on-boarding have been handled with manual and home-grown
systems that were often inefficient, inaccurate, repetitive and often
resulted in less than positive interactions with insurers," said Mark
Gorman, strategic research advisor with TowerGroup. "With the help of new
software solutions in this space, insurers will be better able to tie all
of their needed producer data in one easily managed 360 degree view. This
will help them not only manage the processes, but also provide the
visibility and transparency so vital to enriched, seamless and timely
communications with their producers. Early adopters will re-set the bar for
enhanced carrier/producer relations and mutually beneficial business models
that will be more positive for all the parties involved."
Callidus' solutions were designed to help increase the loyalty of
independent and captive producers by improving services at all levels of
producer administration. For administrators, Callidus TrueProducer replaces
the process of having to look into multiple systems to find information
about a producer. The solution allows an administrator to manage all
information about a producer in one location and have that data exported to
other systems as necessary. In addition, its rules based business process
engine allows carriers to set up business processes around adding,
terminating, or updating producer information.
TrueProducer Enables IT to Provide Best Service to Producers
On the IT administration side, challenges with current systems and
processes include finding the best way to update multiple legacy systems
with each new contract and producer. Callidus TrueProducer ensures there
are no data inaccuracies, wasted resources or slowed responses. A common
occurrence in the insurance industry is a duplication of data and/or effort
which leads to multiple versions of truths, difficulties updating
information, reduction in business agility, and there is often no tracking
of submissions to government agencies which puts companies at compliance
risk.
Benefits of Callidus TrueProducer(TM)
-- "Effective dated objects," allow for updates at any time
-- Automated notification of expired licenses, appointments, continuing
education, and contracts
-- Decreased cost of servicing distribution channel with centralized
producer information
-- Data integrity by enforcing data validation and providing audit trail
-- Streamlined business process for signing on new producers
Callidus TrueProducer is easy to deploy across an entire insurance
enterprise and offers solutions for carriers interested in an on-demand or
on- premise solution. Callidus TrueProducer is a result of Callidus'
extensive experience with customers in the financial services and insurance
industries, where five of the 11 largest U.S. insurance carriers and six of
the ten largest U.S. banks are customers of Callidus Software.
Callidus' latest insurance market offering provides seamless
integration with Callidus TrueComp(R) software and other third party
enterprise applications, including access to compensation, dispute
resolution, analytics, and reporting data. Users can find
insurance-specific reports and dashboards for TrueInformation(R) and
Callidus TrueAnalytics(TM) software modules which extends TrueComp data
mart and offers pre-built reports for producers and internal staff and
dashboards with insurance KPIs and alerts.
More information is available at
http://callidussoftware.com/products/trueproducer.jsp.
About Callidus Software(R)
Callidus Software (http://www.callidussoftware.com, Nasdaq: CALD) is a leading
provider of on-premise and on-demand Sales Performance Management (SPM)
solutions to global companies across multiple industries. Callidus'
products allow enterprises to strategically manage incentive compensation,
establish quota targets, and align territories, resulting in improved sales
and distribution performance. Customers/Partners include 7-Eleven,
Accenture, CUNA Mutual, HP, IBM, Philips Medical Systems, Sun Microsystems
and Wachovia.
The MarketScope is copyrighted 2006 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with
permission. The MarketScope is an evaluation of a marketplace at and for a
specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors
measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the
MarketScope, and does not advise technology users to select only those
vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express
or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
(C) 2007 Callidus Software Inc. All rights reserved. Callidus Software,
the Callidus Software logo, Callidus TrueAnalytics, TrueChannel, TrueComp,
TrueComp Datamart, TrueFoundation, TrueQuota, TrueComp Grid, TrueComp
Manager, TrueInformation, TrueIntegration, TruePerformance, TrueReferral,
TrueResolution, TrueService and TrueSupport are trademarks of Callidus
Software Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand,
service or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective companies or owners.
SOURCE Callidus Software Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.callidussoftware.com
CONTACT:
Jock Breitwieser for Callidus Software Inc.,
+1-408-975-6683, pr@callidussoftware.com
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