Bowen, Miclette & Britt of Houston is the 80th largest broker in the United States. To stay competitive, they've got to keep their customer service in top condition, and continually look for ways to increase their efficiency. According to Donna Wilson, senior vice president at this 150-person agency, that's only the beginning of what CSR24 has helped them accomplish.

"We were one of CSR24's first clients about 2 1/2 years ago" said Ms. Wilson. "At the time, they were the only certificate issue vendor that enabled you to FAX the certificates, as well as e-mail - that was very important to us." Bowen, Miclette & Britt issues between 70,000 and 80,000 certificates every year, so they didn't want to take chances.

"We thought it made sense to do a test pilot with a small number of our customers, so we could work out any problems before we offered it across the board," Ms. Wilson remarked. "We asked a few of our clients to be our guinea pigs, and spent four to five months only offering the service to them."

When the agency was ready to roll out the service to all of its customers, the first step was to talk to their producers, many of whom were skeptical at first. "Now, the producers are calling me," said Ms. Wilson. "The customers really embrace this product. In 2002 alone, 21,000 certificates were issued by the agency's policyholders themselves." When you calculate the fact that each certificate costs between $3.50 and $7.00 for an agency to produce, it's easy to see how CSR24 brings a meaningful, significant ROI. But, according to Ms. Wilson, this cost savings is secondary to how it has improved the service levels.

"I actually timed it out," she said, "our customers can issue their own certificates in exactly one minute. That is the best part of this product. Our clients like it. They know that we, as an agency, are working to make their lives easier. That gives us a clear competitive advantage, along with the ROI."

Although Bowen Miclette & Britt does not use the call center portion of CSR24, this service still enabled them to keep moving during times of crisis. "We were struck by the NIMBDA virus after 9/11, and couldn't access our system for three days," said Ms. Wilson. "But clients could still get certificates from CSR24. In fact, our contact at the company helped us set up additional clients to accommodate us - and them - until we were back up and running."

It's quite evident that Donna Wilson is sold on CSR24. But, she's also sold on having a strategic rollout of the product. "I suggest that agents dedicate resources to this service, and roll it out to a few select customers first," she said. "Then, get your producers on board and make sure everyone who gets a client on the phone offers to set them up with this service. The rest is a no-brainer. This service is terrific in every way."