Author:
Dave Willis, CPIA
Several years ago, Joyce Sigler, CPIW, CISR, CPIA, NcAM, NcIA, NcSA, considered moving her agency from local desktops to virtual machines. “The software alone to do that was nearly the same as one employee’s wages,” recalls Sigler, who serves as vice president for administration at Jones & Wenner Insurance Agency in Fairlawn, Ohio. “Add to that the cost to buy a server big enough and powerful enough to run our operation, and it just wasn’t feasible.” So they leased newer equipment and moved on.
Fast forward to late last year. “Our desktop computers were on a 24-month lease, and in advance of that lease expiring, we re-explored the idea of going virtual,” Sigler explains. She liked what she saw. “Taking everything to the cloud would cost less than our desktop machine leases,” she says.
There were other considerations, too. “I looked at the hours I spend managing IT, licensure available in the cloud that we wouldn’t need to pay for, products we wouldn’t need to buy and, perhaps most importantly, the effect on carrier interface,” Sigler recalls. “It was thumbs up to all.” She talked to seven different agencies that already made the switch; each said they wish they’d done it sooner.
The move to “Desktop as a Service” (DaaS) or “zero client” meant each user’s PC was replaced with a small device that contains no storage that’s connected to an offsite, cloud-based server. Also referred to as an “ultrathin client,” it differs from the earlier generation “thin client” setup, where the operating system and user configurations reside in flash memory.
“Today, an Internet-connected box sits on each desk and has ports for monitors, mice, keyboards and speakers,” she explains. “Our employees’ workspace is in the cloud, not at their desk.”
Jones & Wenner contracted with Amazon, which has a relationship with Vertafore, the agency’s management system provider, to host and manage the server. “Amazon has a great reputation and a lot of experience,” Sigler notes. “They add a level of expertise agencies don’t have.”
Agency Benefits
The agency started realizing benefits right away. “When we went on the cloud, we decided to go with a Windows 8 configuration,” Sigler explains. “When I’m ready to go to Windows 10, I submit a ticket that says ‘update my PC to Windows 10, update someone else’s at this time,’ and so on. No longer must I deal with updating individual workstations, licensing, updates or other such issues myself. It’s all rolled into their service.”
Amazon also brings an added level of security. “They’re far ahead of local agencies in terms of their security,” Sigler notes. “I simply need to let them know who has permission to do what, what levels of access people have, and they handle it from there. It lets us as insurance professionals deal with the business we’re in.”
Mobility is another benefit. “I could be in Alaska or at a coffee shop down the street and pull up my workspace on my iPad, my laptop, even my phone,” she explains. “Because you’re not tied to a building, disaster recovery looks different. If the building loses electricity, the monitors go dark. We just go home and log in, and we’re right where we were when the power died. There’s no fear of losing data.”
A producer can go to a client’s office with an iPad or laptop, and nothing needs to be on it. “You literally log into the cloud, so the encryption piece and the need to carry data are gone,” she explains.
Sigler also cites device and system flexibility. “My operating system becomes irrelevant, because I’m working in a space that’s compliant for everything I’m running,” she explains. “I can run this on my Mac, even though my management system product or a carrier product isn’t Mac-compatible. My operating system doesn’t matter.”
Hosting and managing workspaces in the cloud drives enhanced consistency. “Without workstations, users can’t change things locally that could cause problems,” she explains. “Workarounds are a thing of the past. No longer can a user, for instance, save something to his or her desktop to address or use later.”
Culture Shift
When they flipped the DaaS switch—the end of a process Sigler says was much easier than she expected—there was a culture change. But that’s not all bad. “Now I don’t have to worry about settings and license keys, because Amazon handles all of that,” Sigler explains. “If I want to install something on a workspace, I can ask Amazon to do it, or I can.” She says the move did make the agency look at security and who had access and why and make some decisions around that.
Employee response was varied but generally positive. “There are always people who can get their minds around things more quickly than others,” Sigler notes. “Some people like to tweak things, and that, of course, is a challenge with workspaces; they really stand out.”
Sigler recalls a situation with one distraught user. “She was questioning her ability to adapt,” she explains. “I encouraged her to give it a whirl. She did, and now she’s as comfortable as could be with it. Using it and sharing the vision is critically important to ensuring success, and I’m happy to report that, after a very short time, everyone is working fine.”
Sigler points out that the move reaffirms for employees that the agency is moving forward. “People are excited about the new infrastructure, the new technology and the fact that we’re getting them training,” she says.
“Desktop as a Service is a different way of thinking,” Sigler concludes, “but I think it’s the eventual evolution of all of us in the industry.”
Joyce Sigler, CPIW, CISR, CPIA, NcAM, NcIA, NcSA, is Vice President at Jones & Wenner Insurance. She is also a long-time technology improvement advocate in our industry, contributing her passion to ACT (also currently serving on the ACT Committee), AUGIE, NetVU, and an automation committee member for several insurance carriers.
Dave Willis, CPIA, is a long-time Aartrijk associate and recently was named editor-in-chief of Rough Notes magazine.