The Diversity Of Toshiba

There was little consistency in hardware and the technical capability of agents. Technology would not take a high priority unless Prudential would help agents make it one.

In May 2006, Prudential embarked on the road to change. It began a pilot with 15 agents and managers that eventually grew to almost 500. At Prudential's expense, all received Toshiba laptop models and substantial training on how to use them. As part of an accompanying upgrade in infrastructure to accommodate the changes, Prudential installed local area networks, file servers and computer telephony and uniform voice mail systems.

After six months, Prudential had sufficient results to begin rolling out the project to the rest of its agents and managers. This included a study showing that agents participating in the pilot increased life net first year commission credits by 153% and more than doubled the number of net paid-for life policies they sold. The study also showed that the turnaround time for new business applications dropped from weeks to days.

However, Prudential doesn't expect that the program will sustain all these types of increases in productivity because new product offerings as well as other factors also contributed to the increases. "We don't want to set unrealistic expectations," President of prudential says. "If we can raise productivity 10% or 15%, that would be terrific."

The technology should also help Prudential retain agents because of the increased education they are receiving and their ability to do their job better, she adds. In initiating the program, Prudential wants to provide more than new equipment and technology solutions to agents. The vice- president of prudential says initial and follow-up training for agents is crucial for the program to succeed.

Anyone receiving a Toshiba laptop models gets two days of training. Prudential also assigned temporary onsite technical staff at agencies to make sure that if there is a glitch in the technology agents won't become discouraged when something goes wrong. Agents receive additional training after six weeks and Prudential is creating a help desk for agents that will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Prudential is working closely with Toshiba in developing and rolling out the initiative, and Toshiba is providing most of the training. At least 30 trainers are involved in the project and by mid-June more than 200 individuals had taken part in the overall project.

In addition to Toshiba laptop models, Prudential is supplying, at no cost to agents and field representatives, Lotus Notes, a type of group collaborative software and Sybase Inc.'s Client Data System database so agents can track client data and sales activities. Agents also have free access to the Toshiba Global Network, which is Toshiba's proprietary IP network. As of June, Prudential had distributed 4,000 laptops. The insurer expects to have the full 12,000 in use by next spring.