Microsoft Partners with Vertafore to Extend Dynamics CRM to Insurance Industry

Vertafore, a provider of software for the insurance industry, today announced a partnership with Microsoft that gives insurance agents access to the capabilities of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform.

The partnership is designed to improve customer-facing interactions and arm agents with valuable data that can be seamlessly accessed from anywhere, anytime. The capabilities, which will be integrated into the Vertafore Agency Platform and mobile offerings, will extend to Dynamics CRM pipeline management, prospect and opportunity tracking, email campaign management, and other CRM capabilities.

 The deal with Vertafore allows agency customers to leverage the Dynamics platform to build out a feature-rich sales force automation application that is seamlessly integrated with the Vertafore Agency Platform. This gives agents a complete view into the policy lifecycle and allows them to track prospects and use this extended information to increase customer conversion rates.

"Positive customer engagements are the cornerstone for all customer-facing organizations," said Bob Stutz, corporate vice president for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, in a statement. "Insurance has long been a high touch point industry, and it's now more important than ever that insurance professionals invest in solutions that help them win and retain customers. Microsoft Dynamics CRM together with Vertafore will put the power of customer data in the hands of agents, enabling engagements that are more personalized, proactive, and predictive."

The Dynamics announcement comes on the heels of last week's announcement that Microsoft will offer special discounts to Vertafore customers on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, HP, and Toshiba tablets. A recent survey by Channel Harvest Research, found that over the next two years, insurance agents expect a significant increase in tablet-based applications over smart phone apps, especially for display-oriented tasks like sales presentations and training. A quarter of agents (25 percent) expect tablet use to increase for sales purposes and 22 percent expect tablet use to increase for accessing training tools.

"Our newly announced Dynamics CRM relationship, coupled with access to Surface tablets will further extend the power of Vertafore's agency platform and transform the way insurance agents and carriers interact and manage customer relationships," said Theo Beack, chief technology officer at Vertafore, in a statement. "Moving forward, we'll continue collaborating with Microsoft to innovate legacy processes and identify more efficient ways to bring cutting-edge enterprise technology to the insurance industry."

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