Beginning early next year, insurance brokers will be able to access quotes, check on the status of cases and edit quotes wirelessly from Palm Inc.’s personal digital assistants and software provided by BenefitMall.com, an online exchange for small business employee group benefits.
The plan calls for BenefitMall.com, which currently manages $750 million in annualized premiums and is selling more than $1 million per business day in new premiums, to provide select brokers with wireless Internet-enabled Palm VII PDA’s loaded with its interface for the Palm OS platform.
“With the Palm VII handheld, a broker can obtain quotes, check cast status and edit an earlier quote wirelessly anytime, from anywhere they can access the Palm.Net service,” explained Bernard DiFiore, president and chief executive officer of BenefitMall.com. “Wireless access will allow brokers to act immediately when a business opportunity presents itself, regardless of where the broker is.”
BenefitMall.com was originally founded in 1979 as West Coast Insurance Marketing Corp., and expanded regionally to become Centerstone Insurance and Financial Services in 1994.
After being acquired by Employer’s Health Insurance in 1994, which was acquired by Humana the following year, the company launched its first online quoting engine for small group insurance and provided a complete extranet for their brokers. By 1999, the company was spun off from Humana, receiving its current name.
BenefitMall.com said its services benefit both insurance carriers, by providing an e-business solution to serve the small business market, and brokers by providing real-time access to its comprehensive Internet portfolio of group benefit products for small businesses.
Perhaps the biggest benefit the company’s wireless initiative will offer is the speed in which proposals can be set up. BenefitMall.com claims customized proposals that used to take up to 45 days to produce, can be completed in less than one hour.
