Distribution Management In Detail

Inefficient management of P&C distribution channels can be expensive and time-consuming. Entering ever-changing producer data in multiple systems and keeping track of licensing, commissions, regional regulations, and background checks can be difficult to track – and makes estimating nearly impossible. Duck Creek’s Distribution Management solution automates most sales channel activities, letting carriers customize processes and make changes on the fly with simple configurations. This solution covers three functional areas:

Compensation – at a glance:
  • Commission Schedules: Tracking and updating the myriad, complex aspects of commission schedules can be easily handled by your internal business users with Duck Creek’s intuitive configuration tools. Schedules can be applied at multiple levels, and can be attached to specific transactions such as new business, renewals, or endorsements. And they can be made effective retroactively or at any point in the future.
  • Incentive Schedules: Bonuses and profit-sharing can be configured for any time period, marketing campaign, or profit-sharing program. These can be based on standard criteria or defined on any custom basis desired, can be applied monthly or annually, and can be modified and recalculated at any point the term of a contract. Your producers can monitor their progress, measure themselves against their peers, and eliminate guesswork or confusion with clearly-defined goals.
  • Payment Processing: Duck Creek Distribution Management can interface with the payment systems of your choice on pre-defined schedules, letting you make payments via ACH and deposit them directly into producers’ accounts. Bank account information is kept secure under stringent protocols, and only users with appropriate permissions can access it.
  • Performance Analysis: The impact of commission changes can easily be evaluated – and unintended consequences avoided – using “what-if” modeling. Plus, you can monitor your producers’ progress on a variety of criteria – including comparing planned written premium against actual production – letting you manage your producers more effectively and prevent surprises for all parties.
  • 360-Degree Data View: Duck Creek Distribution Management gathers all needed producer data in real time or on whatever schedule you set. When commission and bonus payments are due, Duck Creek Distribution Management automatically gathers necessary data from across the Duck Creek Suite (and can do so from third-party systems as well) and generates all required output – commission statements, checks and ACH deposits, and reports.
Compliance – at a glance:
  • Licensing: Duck Creek Distribution Management automates verification and renewal of producer licenses and reconciles your producers’ records with state-specific renewal appointments. Its compliance lifecycle dashboard shows you all you need to ensure that your organization remains compliant with corporate, state, and federal regulations.
  • Training Requirements: Duck Creek Distribution Management’s training tools are intuitive and completely secure. They reduce the time your organization’s licensing representatives spend getting up to speed on corporate policies and procedures, helping your producers hit the ground running rapidly and easily.
  • Background Investigations: Duck Creek Distribution Management is integrated with leading third-party screening providers to check the backgrounds of agency principals, producers, and other license applicants for credit issues, criminal offenses, and OFAC irregularities; this includes integration with the industry-standard Regulatory Information Retrieval System (RIRS).
  • Education Tracking: Duck Creek Distribution Management lists and tracks your producers’ continuing education requirements and the completion of their various programs, courses, and certifications – aligning them with corporate, state, and federal requirements to expedite and maintain compliance.
  • E&O Coverage Tracking: Verification of Errors and Omissions coverage is fully automated – including the appropriate liability limits of those coverages – in alignment with your organization’s business rules. Renewal dates are automatically tracked to identify expiring policies and send alerts to keep your producers’ coverage constant.
Performance Management – at a glance
  • Proactive Management: Duck Creek Distribution Management offers the tools and insights necessary to proactively manage your distribution channel, including the ability to segment your sales channel to selectively communicate important information and view actual versus planned results.
  • Dashboards: Easily see, at a glance, the status and history of interactions with any of your producers. Selection options include an interactive map that displays the territories you manage and producers within each. Any related documents can be stored for later reference or follow-up, and any data captured can be included for further analysis.
  • Scorecards: Real-time scorecards let you monitor your producers’ progress toward commission and incentives goals, providing month-to-date, year-to-date, and calendar year information on a variety of data points. Snapshots of results are shown with built-in pie charts, bar charts, and line or scatter graphs – allowing you to easily see who your top performers and underperformers are and take whatever action you feel is appropriate.
  • Forecasting: Duck Creek Distribution Management contains forecasting tools that show results based on current and historical data. At the highest level, forecasting can be filtered by company, branch, territory, and producer. Critically, these tools define what producers need to generate in order to meet their incentive targets.
  • Reporting: Duck Creek Distribution Management includes many standard online reports developed through extensive experience and collaboration with insurance carriers themselves. Results can be focused on specific areas through the extensive use of filters, such as lines of business and products, letting you highlight only those areas of special interest to you.
Learn more about the Duck Creek Platform >
Learn more about SaaS delivery via Duck Creek OnDemand >
Get Started Today

Whether you are starting from scratch, switching providers, or want to configure your products, Duck Creek Technologies’ team of experts can help you get there.

Contact Us