Syntrio product designed to educate employees,
reduce loss exposure and mitigate damages
By Dennis H. Pillsbury
Jann M. McCully, chief information officer and senior vice president at ABD Insurance and Financial Services, and Douglas Page, vice president of business development at Syntrio, Inc., with a page from CyberSure University displayed in the background.
As agencies continue to look for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition, value-added services that enhance their relationship with their clients become critical. And in today's environment, the Internet is playing an increasing role in delivering these services in response to client demands for 24/7 service. It's no longer: "You'll have it by the end of the week." Now, it's: "You'll have it by the time we hang up," or, "It's available to you anytime you need it."
Not surprisingly, ABD Insurance and Financial Services, Redwood City, California, a leading broker to the technology industry and the 17th largest U.S. broker, according to the July 22, 2002, Business Insurance, was one of the first to offer Web-based services to its clients when it launched its CyberSure® Web site in May 1998. ABD is a wholly owned subsidiary of Greater Bay Bancorp, which acquired the agency in March 2002. It has revenues of $110 million and employs just under 600 people.
In its initial release, CyberSure, among other things, allowed clients to report claims, order certificates of insurance and request program changes. Later versions offered views of schedules of insurance and other program documents, and complete online applications to renew or add coverage. It also included a number of human resources and risk management tools, including a library of state and federal employee benefits compliance documents, and information on emerging exposures and on new products and services.
Four years later in May 2002, ABD in conjunction with Syntrio, San Francisco, a provider of online training products, launched CyberSure University which, at that time, was the insurance industry's first Web-based risk management training program. CyberSure University provides access to Syntrio's learning management systems and risk management library.
Jann McCully, chief information officer and senior vice president at ABD, says: "CyberSure University responded to a client need to train employees more efficiently, especially in these difficult economic times. HR managers and safety managers can't travel to facilities and train employees. Learning online is more cost effective and also has the advantage of being less intimidating. Employees can take the tests at their desks and don't have to worry about being embarrassed about getting a question wrong. The computer will tell them why they are wrong and gives them an opportunity to try again.
"We decided to make the Syntrio product available to our clients because of the large variety of modules available. They have more than 1,000 different topics and the modules can be customized. It also tracks and documents each employee's progress. The employer can find out which employees did or did not pass which test. This is very helpful in identifying areas within the company where there may be emerging problems."
Douglas Page, vice president-business development with Syntrio, points out: "There is a real value proposition in delivering the product to insureds. OSHA training and employment law compliance training help them reduce on-the-job injuries and also are very useful in the event of employment-related actions. Companies that have training can use that as an affirmative defense in such cases."
For example, if Joe Supervisor were to make an inappropriate remark to Mary Employee, the end result might very well be a sexual harassment suit against Joe and the employer. If the employer had a record showing that Joe had taken and passed a training course that made it clear his action was inappropriate, that could be used by the employer to mitigate punitive damages.
"CyberSure University responded to a client need to train employees more efficiently, especially in these difficult economic times ... Learning online is more cost-effective and also has the advantage of being less intimidating."
--Jann M. McCully,
CIO and Senior Vice President
ABD Insurance and Financial Services
Gail Cohan, director of client marketing, says that another advantage of the Syntrio product is "all our courses have dynamic variables or customized content. We will work with each client to make changes, at no cost to the client, so the content is personalized for the company involved. Our modules are built to allow that. That's part of my job. I work with each company to help build and customize each module to best suit their purposes. The use of dynamic variables also allows us to account for differences in state laws."
Jann McCully continues: "We really like the fact that the Syntrio system tracks the progress of each employee. We had a huge demand from our client base for help with establishing an affirmative defense under Title VII, for example, and had to find a way to provide that. This system has been a big help in mitigating sexual harassment problems. Another area that is a hot topic is ergonomics. The Syntrio ergonomic modules are broken down by industry type."
She explains that ABD's loss control department was being kept very busy with routine questions. "This gives those clients the answers to their questions on a 24/7 basis and frees up the [engineers] in loss control to work on the more complex issues that arise.
"We also liked the way employees were able to interact with the Syntrio product. The test[s] combine audio and video in an easy-to-understand, non-threatening manner. An employee will be asked questions up front, receive information, then [be] asked again. There's continuous affirmation."
McCully notes that CyberSure University has been "received well. We know that a large number of our clients are looking at the demos and a number of them have taken out contracts with Syntrio, including a [contractor] client with multiple location transportation sites. That client [They were] was very interested in the DOT information and training that is part of the product.
"It's been a real win-win situation for us," McCully concludes. "We get strong content for our Web site and our clients get a deeply discounted price for the training when they go through CyberSure." *
For more information:
ABD Insurance & Financial Services
Contact: Jann McCully, chief information officer, director of e-commerce
305 Walnut Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 839-6000
Web site: www.cybersure.com
Syntrio, Inc.
Contact: Douglas Page
244 Jackson Street, Ste. 200
San Francisco, CA 94111
Phone: (415) 951-7913
Web site: www.syntrio.com