If you think the tools you are currently using for your business is not keeping pace with your growth, then it’s probably because it’s not generating real-time information. And if it comes to a point where the business operation is already suffering because of the lack of insight, then the best thing to do is to replace it with a more capable software.
So if your agency is planning to migrate to a new management system soon, we invite you to read further as we are going to share some of the main things to consider when choosing the best agency management software for your business in today’s blog post.
Let’s begin
1. Identify The Goals Why You Need To Use A New Agency Management Software (AMS)
Most agencies want to switch to a new AMS because of the following reasons:
- The current AMS system is not supporting the growth of the business.
- The current AMS lacks certain essential features that allow the staff to perform day-to-day duties efficiently.
- The current system doesn’t have a policy and contract tracking feature.
- It’s not suitable for the industry where your agency belongs into.
- It doesn’t allow you (the business owner) and the employees to track individual and group businesses using the same platform.
- The processing of commissions is not possible or manageable.
Therefore, it is important to identify the business goals why you need to transition to an even better AMS in order to get a platform that works for your agency.
2. You Also Need To Define Your Needs
After determining your goals, you have to set up a meeting with your managers and come up with a list of work-related wants and needs. You can use an agency management software (AMS) vs. customer relationship management (CRM) checklist to figure out the things you need to cover.
And to know your agency’s ‘needs’ and ‘wants’, allow us to define these terms in relation to your current business operation:
Needs – These are the features of the AMS that are integral for the day-to-day business process. Some examples of these are bank-grade encryption, commissions processing, email marketing, etc. In short, these are “must-haves” to have an efficient daily operation.
Wants – On the other hand, these are the customize features that you would like to have in this new AMS system. To be specific, these are the features that you can utilize to make the business operations easier like remote accessibility, cloud storage, projected commission revenue, and integrated business analytics.
As an added tip, the needs and wants that you are looking for must coincide with the goals you have previously set. If not, then it would be hard for you to accomplish your goals within your designated timeframe.
3. The AMS Must Be Customizable To Suit The Established Workflow
Different companies have various needs in terms of a system’s functionality. Hence, a “one size fits all” approach is not applicable. Yes, you may standardize and templatize things whenever you can, but you also have to leave some room for customization so you can provide the best customer service possible to your clients and make them feel valued while doing business with you.
This is the reason why you need to choose the best agency management software that is flexible and adaptable enough to accommodate your staff’s processes no matter how diversified it is from the so-called “usual process”. Having a management software with fixed features and functionalities will only leave you looking for workarounds. So use an AMS that works for your agency to maximize your business operations.
4. Make A Research About The Different AMS Vendors
In order to get the best AMS system, you also need to understand the basic definition of this tool.
Basically, an AMS system works like a CRM but more since it offers other features to optimize your business operations. In a sense, this tool can be customized to fit a specific niche. And it also includes these specific aspects to help run your operations efficiently:
- AMS is an industry-specific tool.
- It is designed to handle core business processes.
- It is developed to allow employees to be 44% more productive in terms of handling operations on a daily basis.
And while an AMS tool has these basic functionalities like client tracking, prospect tracking, group tracking, agent tracking, data backup, and the likes you have to understand that they are not built alike. So it’s important to do some research on the different AMS vendors to find the one that works for your agency.
5. Security Features
Of course, you need to ensure you are investing in secured software. So you also need to consider these questions when choosing the right AMS tool for your agency:
- What is the level of encryption provided?
- Will your data be protected in-transit and at-rest?
- How is your data protected in the event of disasters?
- Is the system cloud-based? If so, who is hosting it?
- Can you restrict users from accessing certain data?
- How often is the backup performed?
- What are your up-times and downtimes?
- How can you do the updates?
Knowing the answers to these questions will give you a better scope of the security features you want to have on your AMS system.
6. How Is The Migration Process Done?
And finally, you also have to know how is the migration process done when switching to a new agency management software.
To be honest, the process depends on many factors like the number of notes or attachments you want to migrate as well as the amount of data to be transferred into the new system.
Also, the other element that will dictate the migration process is the current status of your data. If you have a uniformed data, then the migration will be simpler. However, a more extensive process is required if your data needs to be reformatted.