(Image source: Hawksoft.)
HawkSoft, a Canby, Ore.-based insurance distribution technology provider, has introduced HawkLink for Google Chrome, a tool to eliminate double-entry on the Internet. The tool addresses the time insurance professionals often waste and the increased risk E&O exposure resulting from the manual re-entry of client and policy information from their agency management system into carrier portals or other insurance websites.
As an extension for the most popular web browser in the world, HawkLink for Google Chrome enables agency staff to effortlessly auto-fill agency, client, and policy data from their HawkSoft management system into most websites compatible with the Chrome browser, according to the vendor. HawkLink passes data from the HawkSoft management system into websites for quoting, policy servicing, digital payment processing, and premium finance. The intelligent tool adapts as it memorizes where data is flooded to on specific insurance websites. Agents can share their field mappings back to HawkSoft to add to crowd-sourced database of mappings already available to all agencies.
The first iteration of HawkLink was introduced in 2003 as a toolbar on the then-dominant Internet Explorer browser.
“There was so much rich data in our management system that we wanted to make available to use on company websites,” recalls Paul Hawkins, CEO and co-founder of HawkSoft.
Hawksoft reports that the original toolbar and later dedicated browser version of HawkLink have saved its agency clients thousands of hours over the years. With the browser popularity shifting from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome, the vendor says the original toolbar’s efficacy needed a rethinking.
“We knew it was time to give HawkLink some love,” comments Hawkins, “This was an opportunity to re-invent HawkLink with ideas that have come up over the years but that the old toolbar could no longer support.”
Sean Hawkins, VP of Development and co-founder of HawkSoft, took on the challenge of redesigning HawkLink as a browser extension to Google Chrome. He reports that HawkSoft’s Product and Development teams’ progress in moving their agency management to the cloud that it expanded innovation opportunities for HawkLink. That resulted in enhancements such as making HawkLink an extension for Google Chrome, leveraging easier data accessibility through HawkSoft Cloud to increase the amount of available data, and making mapping websites a crowd-sourced and community-driven initiative.
“Crowd-sourced mappings was our Holy Grail for this version of HawkLink,” comments Sean Hawkins. “With it, HawkLink for Google Chrome gets better every time a HawkSoft agency uses it to map a new website.”
Crowd-Sourced Mappings
HawkLink for Google Chrome has over 50 common and regional insurance carriers, financial services and government websites pre-mapped for auto-fill thanks to crowd-sourcing efforts by agencies and direct collaboration with the website owners. Dozens of new websites are being added every month.
HawkSoft says that HawkLink for Google Chrome is cutting down the time it takes for its agency clients to navigate and use their company websites. HawkLink can launch multiple company websites at once, a powerful time-saver for agents, according to HawkSoft.
“My staff and I generally know the three or four companies we might place a new client with, which is why we haven’t felt the need to invest in a comparative rater,: comments Kelly Endicott Manager, John Dawson Associates (Columbus, Ohio). “With HawkLink, I can launch those websites in one go and make it through each quote process in a matter of minutes.”
For agents that understand where to place a risk, Endicott adds, “HawkLink is the fastest way to get an accurate and bindable quote from a company.”
HawkLink for Google Chrome is available with the latest release of HawkSoft, currently available for all customers at no additional cost.
HawkSoft Adds Commercial Lines Quoting Solution through Integration with Semsee