Foresters and imason attract and retain more independent sales agents through an improved Sharepoint intranet. Read this case study and Q&A with Foresters Director of Business Operations, to fi..

1. Foresters
Case Study
Foresters and imason improve intranet to attract and retain more
independent sales agents. Read this case study and Q&A with Foresters
Director of Business Operations, to find out how!
PREPARED BY IMASON INC.
APRIL 2010
imason Customer Profile Foresters 1
www.imason.com 416.597.3256

2. Solution Profile
Challenge
When Foresters, one of Canada’s largest life insurance providers, began selling through
independent agents instead of a captive sales force, it needed to make doing business together
straightforward. “We needed to make it as easy as possible for agents to work with us, and to
minimize the costs of supporting them,” said Peter Wilson, Director of Business Operations at
Foresters. “So we had to make navigation simple in order for agents to find the information they
needed.”
Solution
imason built a SharePoint solution for Foresters that presents both agents and administrators with
a unified and customizable view of their sales data. The intuitive online system gives agents access
to every detail of their sales data regarding submitted, decisioned, pending and outstanding
business with Foresters, helping to prevent business that might slip through the cracks and
speeding up commission payments.
Result
The new Foresters system had 73,000 visits in its first year, twice as many as agents made to its
online revenue centre. Imason has developed a solution that makes doing business with Foresters
as seamless as possible for agents, which increases trust and credibility—and improving both the
top line, and bottom line. “It has helped us to write more business with partners and to keep
support costs down, especially by reducing calls to the contact centre. Bringing together all the
information that agents need makes it easier for them to do their jobs. It has also helped us
streamline our processes, because agents can see how quickly we act on the business that they
bring us.”
imason Customer Profile Foresters 2
www.imason.com 416.597.3256

3. Q&A Summary
How do you quickly create preference among independent agents after a history of in-house
sales? If you are Foresters, one of Canada’s largest life insurance providers that champions the
well being of families, you get imason to design a SharePoint solution that makes doing business
easier. We talked to Peter Wilson, Director of Business Operations Support at Foresters, to find
out more about this project.
Keystone: Peter, what did you want to achieve when you developed this agent-reporting
tool?
PW: We needed to make it as easy as possible for agents to work with us, and to minimize the
costs of supporting them. So we had to make navigation simple in order for agents to find the
information they needed.
Keystone: Can you tell us how reporting works?
PW: Agents can sign onto the system and see all of their sales data as well as that of those
downstream from them. So if I’m an office manager, I can see every detail regarding submitted,
decisioned, pending and outstanding business. It’s a one-stop shop for both agents and
administrators.
Keystone: What are some of the top features?
PW: For us it’s the way that agents and administrators can see the status of all Foresters business
in one view. They can also massage the data in many ways. For example, an administrator can
quickly produce an organization-wide outstanding delivery report for zero-to-five days old, more
than 30 days, and so on. This is an important feature in our industry, because business that’s left
outstanding too long often doesn’t get written.
Keystone: Any partner-facing tool needs to cast your brand in a favourable light. How has
this reporting tool helped Foresters reputation?
PW: It delivers on our promise to make things as seamless as possible for agents. That increases
trust and credibility. And because it works so well, agents continue to write business with us.
Keystone: How have agents responded to the SharePoint solution?
PW: Very favourably, especially the administrators, who like the visibility it gives them over all
Foresters business. To give you some idea, we had 73,000 visits the year after the solution was
implemented, which is twice as many as we had to our online revenue centre.
imason Customer Profile Foresters 3
www.imason.com 416.597.3256

4. Keystone: The solution was built to yield detailed and granular analytics of many kinds. How
is Foresters using that information to make good decisions?
PW: In a lot of ways. For example in our industry a piece of business can’t be outstanding past a
best-before date, or applicants may be under the impression that they are insured, when they’re
not. This system helps us avoid this kind of situation by identifying business that has slipped
through the cracks. We didn’t have an efficient way of doing that beforehand.
Keystone: What part did the imason solution play in the success of Talk To
your products with independent brokers?
For questions regarding this
PW: It has helped us to write more business with partners and to keep case study, or to find out how
support costs down, especially by reducing calls to the contact centre. imason can help you solve your
Bringing together all the information that agents need makes it easier business problems, talk to:
for them to do their jobs. It has also helped us streamline our
processes, because agents can see how quickly we act on the business Kevin Clement
that they bring us. Managing Director
kevin.clement@imason.com
ForestersTM is a trademark of The Independent Order of Foresters, 416.619.1121
a fraternal benefit society, Toronto, Canada M3C 1T9. www.imason.com
imason Customer Profile Foresters 4
www.imason.com 416.597.3256