Core Insurance
PR Newswire | October 25, 2023
Higginbotham, the largest independent insurance, financial and HR services firm headquartered in Texas and one of the top firms in the country, has joined forces with Bourg Insurance, a long-term family business with deep ties to the South Louisiana community.
As Higginbotham celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, Chairman and CEO Rusty Reid credits careful, strategic growth for the company's long-term success. Under Reid's guidance, the company seeks partners with sterling reputations in their local markets and strong cultural affinities.
At Higginbotham, we place tremendous importance on family — which is how we view our team — and on service to our community, Reid said. If you're looking around for a similar family- and community-oriented business partner, you have to be looking at the Bourg family in South Louisiana.
Bourg Insurance President Brad Bourg, who runs the business alongside his brother Brennan Bourg, brother-in-law Chuck Leblanc — and third brother Bert Bourg, who has long been an important part of the business but is now taking a well-earned retirement — elaborated, "Our father, Claude 'Toby' Bourg, Jr., started this company back in 1958, and our flagship office is still located in our family hometown of Donaldsonville, Louisiana. It's a matter of real pride to us that so many of our clients come from word of mouth, because they know who we are."
"They know we believe in community involvement and that we're service-oriented, which are two things that really work together," Brennan Bourg, who serves as vice president, agreed. "When you're locally conscious and active in your community, you know how to provide the personalized service that your clients deserve."
"Of course, that's what drew us to Higginbotham," said Chuck Leblanc, who also serves as vice president while running the commercial lines department and managing the Donaldsonville office. "It's that family and community culture. We were approached by plenty of other firms, but in the end, we unanimously agreed that Higginbotham was most closely aligned with our way of doing business."
The Bourg brothers — Brad, Brennan and brother-in-law Chuck — also pointed out that they are looking forward to the opportunities the collaboration with Higginbotham will provide to their clients, as well as to their team, who will be eligible to take part in a top-tier employee ownership plan.
"We've been a small business for years," Brad explained. "With Higginbotham, we'll have technology and support to move that forward, providing the same services but on a larger scale."
"Access to markets, scalability, professionalism — and of course, a great brand," Brennan agreed. "Higginbotham brings so much to the table, and we're thrilled to be adding their name alongside ours."
For Higginbotham, the partnership with Bourg Insurance fortifies our existing footprint within Louisiana and provides significant opportunity for continued growth.
"Our company has deep ties in this area, being here as long as we have," Brad explained. "With this alliance, Higginbotham gets a nice footprint throughout South Louisiana."
"And they get us," Chuck concluded. "We're not retiring! Quite the opposite. We're looking forward to the future with Higginbotham, serving our clients just as this business has for the past 65 years."
About Bourg Insurance
Founded in 1958 by Claude 'Toby' Bourg, Jr. and his wife Edith, Bourg Insurance is a personal and commercial property and casualty, life and health insurance agency located in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, with additional offices in Prairieville, Chauvin and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Now a Higginbotham partner agency, Bourg Insurance is run by Toby and Edith's sons, Brad and Brennan, and son-in-law Chuck Leblanc, as a family- and community-oriented business with a strong emphasis on personal lines and small to middle market companies in the real estate, restaurant and construction sectors, among others. As an agency built on relationships and personal service, Bourg Insurance has won numerous Distinguished Agency awards.
About Higginbotham
Employee owned and customer inspired, Higginbotham is a single source solution for insurance, financial and HR services. The firm was established in 1948 and ranks by revenue as the nation's 21st largest independent insurance firm. Serving thousands of businesses and individuals through locations coast-to-coast, Higginbotham's approach to finding insurance, employee benefit and risk management solutions is more individual and less institutional. By understanding customer priorities, eliminating inefficiencies and committing to transparency, Higginbotham is a place that leads with values so value leads.
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Core Insurance
GlobeNewswire | September 26, 2023
Applied Systems® today announced that Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc. has selected Applied Pay to make their business units more efficient across all workflows and simplify the payment process for their customers. The agency is taking advantage of Applied Pay’s integration with Applied Epic to automate payment collection, processing, and reconciliation, while providing an effortless, modern checkout experience that internet-savvy clients have come to expect.
“We’ve used other payment solutions in the past but didn’t get the buy-in we expected because the process was too cumbersome for our customers,” said Tiffany Johnston, Senior Vice President, Technology Operations Manager, Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc. “We’ve been long-time customers of Applied, so migrating to Applied Pay was the obvious choice. Not only do we get that ease of client payment through a link, but our accounting staff can streamline their back-end processes, a benefit that really made Applied Pay stand out.”
Applied Pay is a cloud-based electronic payments hub that enables agents and brokers to provide their clients with a secure, online way to pay new and recurring premiums. Directly integrated into Applied Epic®, Applied CSR24® and EZLynx Client Center, Applied Pay provides intuitive, branded checkout pages where policyholders can pay premiums via credit card or ACH. It automatically handles payment authorization and tokenizes sensitive information to increase security and ensure compliance. The solution also reconciles receivables at the account level, reducing manual workflows and improving the accuracy and timeliness needed to reconcile payments.
“In today’s e-commerce climate, consumers can make a purchase with just the click of a button, and paying for an insurance premium shouldn’t be any different,” said Chase Petrey, president of Applied Pay, Applied Systems. “It’s always a win-win when one solution can simplify processes for both customers and staff at once, something Applied Pay will allow Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc. to do by offering their customers an intuitive payment hub that models the modern online shopping cart experience while providing a speedy and secure reconciliation process for their accounting staff.”
About Applied Systems
Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and the innovation leader, Applied is the world’s largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applied’s people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.
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Insurance Technology
PR Newswire | October 19, 2023
Acturis, the leading technology provider to the general insurance industry, has partnered with Customer Lifecycle Intelligence platform FullCircl to integrate its SmartBroker solution into the platform in order to deliver a rich, contextualised, and connected data solution for brokers, insurers, and MGAs. The SmartBroker API integration will provide next generation data enrichment to Acturis users proven to drive growth, improve decisioning, and enhance compliance.
Recent research has highlighted a persistent level of doubt when it comes to broker and insurer trust in data. This has significant knock-on impacts when tackling many of the biggest challenges facing the industry - onboarding speeds, underwriting accuracy, underinsurance, personalised customer journeys, risk and fraud reduction, and meeting compliance duties. By integrating FullCircl SmartBroker into the Acturis platform brokers and insurers can:
Efficiently identify and win new customers
Save time and pre-populate forms in Acturis with validated data
Run screening and onboarding checks
Enrich customer data to save time and improve underwriting submissions
Improve in-life monitoring for personalised experiences, elevated renewal rates, and expanded upsell opportunities
Improve customer outcomes and comply with the Consumer Duty
Speaking about the partnership Tony Goddard, CEO of Acturis commented: We're always looking for new ways to enhance how our customers write more business and ensure the trading experience is accurate, efficient, and effective. Integrating with FullCircl is another opportunity for us to elevate our platform and connect the insights brokers need, when it matters most.
Andrew Yates, CEO and Co-Founder at FullCircl said: "This integration has been driven by demand from our shared customer base. We've worked together to provide users with a connected solution that will provide meaningful opportunities to drive growth. We believe brokers, insurers and MGAs are better with data, and this integration makes data enrichment more accessible. We're delighted to announce this partnership so quickly after the launch of our SmartBroker solution and exclusive facility for BIBA members. It's an exciting time for us, and for our customers in the insurance sector."
Phil Barton CEO at Partners&, collaborators in the integration, expressed his excitement at the launch commenting: "I am delighted to see the integration of Acturis and FullCircl being announced. As a partner of both firms, and a business committed to intelligent use of technology, we could see the natural synergy in this integration, and the potential added value for our business. I am pleased to have played a role in influencing the development of this valuable proposition for the broking community."
About FullCircl
FullCircl is a Customer Lifecycle Intelligence (CLI) platform that connects the insight you need, when it matters most.
Its software, delivered through a platform, API, and suite of applications, is used to identify and acquire customers, verify entities and assess risk to accelerate onboarding, and retain and grow customers by delivering proactive account management.
FullCircl identifies millions of actionable insights daily on entities from 160 countries, providing a near real-time record of companies, their officers and shareholders, and the relationships between them. FullCircl improves commercial effectiveness while empowering businesses to satisfy regulatory requirements and make informed decisions about their customers.
FullCircl was formed following the merger of Artesian Solutions and DueDil and is backed by top tier investors including Octopus Investments, Notion Capital and Augmentum Fintech. In 2023, FullCircl acquired W2 Global Data Solutions, strengthening its KYC, AML and identity verification capabilities. Today, it serves 700+ customers, 15,000+ users, processes over 300 million onboarding and monitoring transactions per month and facilitates the onboarding of 200,000+ customers annually.
About Acturis
Acturis is the leading, award winning Software-as-a-Service provider to the insurance industry.
Founded in 2000, we have grown exponentially over the past 20 years. To date, more than 100,000 individuals, in over 40 countries, use Acturis solutions to power their business. We drive innovation in both personal and commercial lines by working closely with brokers, insurers, and MGAs. Our work has helped create and shape the insurance market of today.
The Acturis Group includes Acturis SaaS, Nordic Insurance Software (NIS), ICE InsureTech, Broker Buddha, Acturis Deutschland, Acturis France and Acturis Canada.
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