Yesterday morning I had the honor of participating as a panelist in a webinar hosted by ACORD about cultivating ACORD implementation talent within an organization. In addition to ACORD leadership, the panel consisted of Jim Rogers from The Hartford, Suzanne Brazeal from Ebix Consulting (a solution provider to life insurance carriers), Enrico Alessandri from Swiss RE, and myself. We were all chosen because of the respective accomplishments of our organizations in the ACORD and ACE communities.
We discussed effective ways to promote ACE within our organization. I gave props to our Director of Training, Lisa Gilgan, who has taken the ACE Boot Camp she originally created for Agencyport employees to a new level, where it is now offered to customers and the general public. We also do informal ACE test prep activities such as lunch and learn sessions to review chapters and topics and take practice exams in a friendly, competitive setting (where the goal is to help us all figure out where we might need to study more).
CEO Curt Stevenson accepts five awards on behalf of Agencyport
In terms of how the different panel members motivate our respective teams to become ACEs, one of my co-panelists mentioned that employees have a written annual performance goal to become an ACE. Another suggested that the new electronic badging kicked off by ACORD this year has motivated more people. At Agencyport, we derive pride in having more ACEs than any other solution provider.
The most prevalent and important theme throughout the webinar was the overall value and importance of having ACEs on staff—it simply makes good business sense. Keeping customers satisfied in this complex, highly specialized space requires extreme expertise – and the more expertise, the better. The ACE program helps us achieve that and provide it to our customers. And while an ACE designation alone doesn’t guarantee success on an implementation or product team, it does demonstrate to the outside world (customers, prospects, co-workers, potential future employers) a tested level of insurance and ACORD know-how.
Thank you, Beth Grossman, Elizabeth Cossa Gallagher, and ACORD for inviting me to participate in this event. If you missed the ACE Webinar: Cultivating ACORD Implementation Talent check out the recording here.
