Jericho, NY, October 2008 - Allied North America, the leading independent insurance and surety brokerage serving the construction industry, has been named a 2008 INNovators Award winner and one of three finalists in the A.M. Best E-Fusion 2008 Awards for the development of "mySocrates". The first system of its kind in construction insurance, the powerful online collaborative platform provides clients with the tools they need to more easily access, manage and share information about their insurance and surety programs.
"mySocrates" earned 2nd place - and a Top-20 spot mention - in the 2008 INNovators Award program sponsored by Insurance Networking News, making Allied the only broker to be awarded this distinction. The award recognizes companies for technological innovations that have contributed to the insurance industry and made a business, as well as technical, impact. The company also is vying for top spot at the E-Fusion 2008 Awards sponsored by A.M. Best Company, a worldwide credit rating organization specializing in financial services. The E-Fusion Award recognizes the innovative use of technology, as applied to the business of insurance.
"'mySocrates' has clearly become our differentiator," says Ira M. Schwartz, SVP & Chief Information Officer at Allied. "Because of it, we're now easier to do business with, easier to track." Offering true transparency, "mySocrates" provides an "open items" function that enables clients to see activity status, communicate about open issues as well as track the target dates for their resolution. The system also offers real-time, around the clock access to information about policies and claims, as well as powerful dashboards that enable clients to better analyze risk and control losses.
"Our clients are raving about 'mySocrates'. We've streamlined virtually all our external and internal processes and improved the communication and collaboration throughout the Allied offices around the country, with our partners - and most importantly, with our customers," Schwartz says.