By Steve Anderson

An important part of a producer's job is to be out of the office and face-to-face with clients and prospects. However, when producers spend more time out of the office, they require the tools to stay connected.

Staying in touch with the office used to be a cumbersome and difficult process. Today, however, new tools are available that make it easier than ever for producers to stay in touch.

As the technology that allows for remote communications continues to improve, and as producers and other employees opt to work more from home and spend less time commuting to the office, agency owners and managers must consider how to allow "remote" employees to access agency information. Remote access allows employees to retrieve information from anywhere and at anytime. "Anywhere" can mean their home, the car, a client's office, a local retail store equipped with wireless Internet access, or anywhere else they might happen to be at any given time.

Below are some of the technology tools that are available to help employees with remote connections.

Wireless networks are fast becoming a preferred way for remote employees to connect. Wireless networks allow connection to the resources on the agency network with a radio signal between an antenna in a laptop (or handheld device like a PDA) and the Internet. This means a producer can come into the office and be connected to the agency network without plugging in any cables. This connection acts just like a regular connection so the producer has full access to Internet, e-mail, files, and printers connected to the network.

High-speed, wireless Internet connections are becoming more and more common. Airports as well as retail stores such as Starbucks, Borders, and Kinko's now provide these services. Recently, when I was at the Grand Rapids, Michigan, airport, I was able to access a wireless Internet service for no charge. Many hotels now provide wired and wireless access, with some like Marriott Courtyards not charging for it.

The current Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) protocols require a user to be within about 300 feet of an antenna. But a new protocol on the horizon--the 802.16 standard--will expand this range to about 30 miles. When cell phone service providers begin to merge with Wi-Fi networks (a natural progression, in my view), every cell phone tower in America will also be providing wireless, high-speed Internet access.

The new BroadbandAccess from Verizon Wireless offers a fast, fully mobile wireless Internet data solution. This service boasts typical speeds of 300-500 Kbps and is capable of reaching speeds up to 2 Mbps. Testing of the service was recently completed in Washington, D.C., and San Diego, California. The service area will likely be expanded to other major cities by the end of this year and across most of the company's service area by the end of 2005. Estimated price will be $80 per month for unlimited data access.

These new services will blur the lines between cell phone voice and data services. Imagine being able to have e-mail access anywhere you also have cell phone service.

ASPs Almost every vendor has some type of application service provider (ASP) solution which helps create the infrastructure necessary to support remote connections into the agency database. An ASP version of a system allows you to connect to the agency database from anywhere where you have an Internet connection. This means that a CSR or producer can connect to the office from home, or a remote office, or a client's office.

Laptops and PDAs Many producers now carry laptops with them out into the field. We suggest that employees who are out of the office most of the time move their computing platform to a laptop. When they come into the office, they can slide the laptop into a docking station to gain access to a full keyboard and monitor. Trying to synchronize data between a laptop and desktop machine just isn't worth the hassle anymore.

A personal digital assistant (PDA) is also a good tool for the mobile employee. These smaller devices are a help for keeping calendar, contact, task, and basic e-mail information available to you in a device that fits into your pocket or purse.

Salesforce.com is online customer management software. This is a Web-based application that provides producers with prospecting tools to help manage their relationships with their prospects and clients.

GotomyPC.com This Web site functions a lot like the pcAnywhere remote connection software. What makes GotomyPC.com different is that access is through an Internet connection. You can connect to and take over your office desktop using any PC with an Internet connection. Full security is built into the application. Cost is based on a monthly fee.

One major consideration with all of this remote access is security. For example, recently a division of GMAC Financial Services quietly informed about 200,000 of its customers that their personal data might have been compromised because of the theft of two laptop computers from an employee's car at a regional office near Atlanta. Data on the stolen laptops was being used for a market research project. The data was password-protected but not encrypted.

In a letter to the affected customers, GMAC Insurance informed them that the stolen laptops contained customers' names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, credit scores, marital status, and gender. GMAC recommended that the customers place a fraud alert on their credit file.

Your agency needs to create security policies in light of this incident. Consider what client information is on existing laptops and what steps you should take to protect that information from falling into the wrong hands. GMAC Insurance now prohibits employees from transporting "certain types of information" on laptops and is evaluating new encryption technologies, among other approaches.

Staying connected allows staff members to do their job anytime and from anywhere. Begin experimenting with the tools that will make you more connected. *

The author

Steve Anderson has been a licensed insurance agent for more than 20 years. He is president of steveanderson.com, Inc., which provides products and services that help agents maximize profits using commonsense technology. He can be reached at (615) 599-0085. For more information visit his Web site (www.steveanderson.com).