Xanatek in The Press
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Rough Notes
June 2008
Quietly Gaining Market Share
By Nancy Doucette
Insurance Management Solutions
Brent Sheppard was an agent in a highly automated agency in the early ’90s. As the agency began to develop its own document imaging software, Sheppard discovered he preferred working in the technology field to selling insurance. By 1994, he’d established Xanatek, Inc., his own technology consulting company, and was marketing the document imaging solution his company had created.
Building on the document imaging solution, Sheppard rolled out Insurance Management Solutions (IMS) that same year. Among its features are client/prospect management (including campaign management); secure storage of sensitive human resource information, tax and accounting records, and agency agreements; e-mail and in-house instant messaging, a multi-user scheduler (calendar and to-do list) that can be synchronized to a Palm Pilot™, access to ACORD forms, download, and reports. The accounting module includes a complete account current and is integrated with QuickBooks.
Taking into consideration the features that IMS offers, he believes the product has two specialties: document imaging and an add-on capability—a telephony product dubbed the Call Center.
“Because we started out as a document imaging system,” Sheppard says, “we’re able to store millions of pieces of paper for long-term, legal storage. The documents are stored under the customer record in an encrypted proprietary format. The images can’t be modified.”
Users can purchase the Call Center for an additional amount that is computed based on the number of incoming phone lines. The Call Center will track all the agency’s incoming and outgoing telephone calls using caller ID. He explains if a caller’s phone number matches one that’s in the client database, the Call Center will pull up the customer record and open the client’s note section on the user’s computer screen so the details of the call can be documented.
Sheppard says agencies own the copy of IMS which they house on their server. “It’s not a lease,” he emphasizes. “So if the agency decides to discontinue paying for IMS, they still have access to their data. It is their data, after all. They won’t, however, have access to support or updates.”
“We use everything Xanatek offers,” proclaims Mike Peterson, CIC. He heads up Peterson Insurance Agency, Inc., in South Bend, Indiana. He was attracted to the IMS product more than 10 years ago because of the imaging component. “We were tired of hunting for files,” he recalls. “And the more you use technology, the better your profit margin becomes.”
Peterson appreciates the “cool tools” that are part of IMS. One time saver is the system’s ability take a client’s address directly into MapQuest or Google Maps without rekeying. He also likes the Boolean search feature which will search all notes and images for a particular subject. Additionally, he relies on the in-house instant messaging function. During our phone interview, he said a message box opened on his computer. It read: “Client wants to reduce his limits. Would you like to talk to him?”
In terms of security, he values the ability to block access to certain portions of the system. “You can set different levels of security to designate which users can see what. Best of all, you don’t have to be a computer guru to do that,” Peterson concludes.
Inside Indiana Business
January 7, 2001
"INside Technology Report"
By Barb Lewis
Indianapolis based talk show.
Brent Sheppard, President of Xanatek was recently interviewed on Inside Indiana Business.
Document Imaging Report
September 1, 2000
"Compression Is Strength Of Low-End Imaging Package"
By Ralph Gammon
Pg(s) 6
"A software developer out of South Bend, IN, has released an image archiving program aimed at 15-to 50-employee departments and small-sized businesses. Xanatek is offering its Image Archiver software for $395 for a single seat version and $1,295 for a network client/server version. "We are targeted above the retail document imaging market served by products like Pagis Pro and PageKeeper," said Brent Sheppard, president of Xanatek. "And, we are targeted below full-scale document management systems by vendors like Fi1eNET. Our system is built to manage up to 40,000 new documents per month. If a business is scanning more documents than that, it should probably be using a larger system."
Sheppard said Image Archiver is different from retail imaging products because of Xanatek’s proprietary compression technology. "Retail imaging products don’t use enough compression to address long-term storage concerns," said Sheppard. "In addition to saving storage space, our compression technology ensures the legality of documents. Once documents are stored in Image Archiver, they can’t be modified. They can only be viewed, faxed, or printed."
Image Archiver stores documents in a proprietary format. Documents in various formats such as TIF, JPEG, Microsoft Word, etc., can be converted to Image Archiver documents. Image Archiver documents can also be exported into various formats; but, as long as documents remain in Image Archiver, they can’t be altered.
Xanatek was founded in 1993, as a general IT consulting shop. In 1995, the company developed an imaging system targeted primarily at independent insurance agents. Image Archiver was introduced last year. "We’ve retooled, sold off the other portions of our business, and repositioned ourselves as a software vendor," said Sheppard.
Xanatek currently has three employees and is seeking investment capital. Sheppard is negotiating to set up channels for Image Archiver. He plans to use distributors like Ingram Micro and Tech Data."
Associated Press Business Writer / South Bend Tribune
Sunday, July 12, 1998
"The Paper Chase"
By Maggie Jackson
Pg(s) B1-B
"Some companies are drawing the line, trying to replace paper with electronic methods of communication. Since Great Lakes Insurance Associates invested a year and $100,000 into going paperless, insurance agents from six states have made pilgrimages to the small Erie, Pa., agency to see how it's done. The files of Great Lakes' 10,000 clients are now computerized, allowing employees to stop trekking to file cabinets to handle calls. Each customer service staffer now handles $2 million in client business annually, double the amount prior to conversion.
South Bend Tribune
Friday, May 22, 1998
"Working toward a paperless office." By Aaron O. Hall
Pg(s) C11
"People are going to want to have that paper," Sheppard said. "It's no different than a Xerox. It's digital image just like a photocopy. The hard thing is getting people to understand that paper is a document and so is imaging."
Small Business Computing & Communications
April, 1998
"Pulp Fiction: Separating the myths from the realities of the 'paperless office'"
Pg(s) 80-84
"Image Management Systems (IMS), a small firm in South Bend, Ind., is providing a customized paperless office system to small insurance agencies. 'We've already got them paperless,' says IMS president Brent Sheppard, about Erie, Pa.-based Great Lakes Insurance. Great Lakes, a $12 million firm, has just 13 employees. 'If you go to their office, they do not have a file cabinet.'"
"'Of course, you will still have paper in the office, because it comes in the door,' says IMS's Sheppard. 'But the goal is to convert it to paperless as soon as it comes in.'"
Agent Exchange
May-June 1996
"Dynamic Duo"
Regarding Ted C. Parker Jr. & Pete Zaphiris from Great Lakes
Insurance Associates in Erie, Pennsylvania
"Both now are 'proud parents' of an IMS system and software that was tailor-made for insurance business by former ERIE Agent Brent Sheppard of Sheppard Consulting in South Bend, IN." "The system allows Great Lakes Insurance Associates to scan both client files and agency information- into the computer- and out of file cabinets and precious office space. They're not only computerizing new information-including hand written notes, weekly production reports, ERIE's new auto classification, and daily stacks of mail some six inches deep- but are also scanning 20 to 25 existing client files a day into the system."
"Instead of investing in a mortgage and fancy building, we decided to make a major investment in an automated system."
Agent Exchange
May-June 1996
"A Technological Rescue"
Regarding IMS-Paperless Office Software & Great Lakes Insurance Associates
"'It's not a difficult system to use,' said Pete (Zaphiris). 'There are color-coded classifications for claims, documents, renewals and endorsements.'"
"Last year they began looking for yet a larger place (to house their offices), but the IMS saved them from that expense. They've replaced massive paper files with desks for new producers and moved customer service representatives nearby 'Plus, we're on three floors here (said Pete). ' We don't have to hunt upstairs and down for a file.'"
South Bend Tribune
Saturday, March 23, 1996
" Paperless office wave of future, consultant says" by Paul Dodson
Pg(s) B 10
"There is growing interest in the paperless office, according to (Brent) Sheppard, because of the growing cost of maintaining papers in file cabinets. 'We take the file cabinet and throw it away,' he said." "One of the main reasons companies adopt the paperless office is to make it easy to move shared information on a networked computer system. 'The minute I put this piece of paper in the scanner, it is available to everyone on the network,' said Sheppard."