Page 132 - The UnCaptive Agent

TOOLS YOU’LL NEED AND WHEN YOU’LL NEED THEM 105

January 1, 2020. The CCPA requires that businesses
help consumers understand what information they collect
and how it’s used. There are other significant obligations
under the act, and if you do business in California, you
should have your attorney fully brief you on how to
remain compliant.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners
(NAIC) has written model legislation that establishes
data security standards for regulators and insurers. You
can be certain that the standards insurance companies
are required to meet under the law will be passed on to
you by contract. As of this writing, the NAIC model
law has been passed by eight states and will likely be
uniformly adopted in all fifty states by 2021. Regardless
of where you operate, you should ask your attorney to
assist you with staying compliant.

Start with an Automated Agency

The most critical equipment decision you will make in
your agency at the beginning is the selection of an agency
management system. Management systems are one of the
largest initial expenses, as well as a significant ongoing
expense for every cash-strapped agency founder. As I men-
tioned earlier, many are tempted to begin their businesses
without a management system, but there is simply no
way to adequately track prospect and client policy infor-
mation, billing information, expiration dates, and other
critical information without a management system. As I
mentioned, those agencies that attempt to begin without
a management system inevitably break. They pay a much
greater price within one to three years of founding than
those who begin with an automation system.
Today, there are a number of excellent independent
agency management systems in the marketplace, and