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Serving a global client base for over 40 years

Hugh Wood Canada Limited is a privately held independent brokerage that is part of the HW International (HWI) organization. Hugh Wood, the founder of the business, was committed to seeing customers in person wherever they were. President Kyle Nichols said, “Hugh Wood started this brokerage in the eighties, meeting his clients where they wanted to be met, and that's how we've continued to roll out our business. Let's meet our clients where they want to be met.” They have continued to digitize to extend their value proposition to their global customer base in their preferred form of contact.

 
Moving to Applied Epic allowed us to have top-notch tools at our fingertips, enabling us to compete with brokers ten times our size.

Kyle Nichols

President
 
 

Becoming digital to access information across multiple channels

As a global organization, the ability to be fully connected was one of the main reasons Hugh Wood Canada decided to upgrade to a modern management system. Kyle Nichols said, “When we were working in TAM®, we discovered a lot of limitations around reporting, how we capture data and what we could do with the limited data available to us. “By migrating to Applied Epic®, they can now support customer lifecycle management across all lines of business, regardless of unique data differences, and maintain a single view of the customer.

Because Hugh Wood Canada does business across multiple time zones, their staff needed the freedom to work from anywhere, anytime, while keeping in sync with information back at the office. Kyle Nicols said, “When we look at changing consumer demands, we focus on employee shifts. To be a digital broker means seamless access to information. “Implementing Applied Mobile® allowed them to keep customer and prospect information current, synchronized, and safe between the app and Applied Epic. He said, “Applied Mobile allows producers immediate access to all the documentation they have back at the office on their cell phones or tablets. If they receive a call while they're on the road, they can pull over or sit in a coffee shop and have access to their entire book of business.”

 
 

Tackling the change management process

When the decision was made to move to Applied Epic, Hugh Wood’s management team formulated a solid rollout plan to help staff manage change. Executive VP of Finance & Administration John Aschwanden said, “When introducing change to staff, it's critical to explain why you're doing it and the benefits they're going to see. Emphasize how it will help them with their work instead of what they’ll have to do. “He also said, “Keeping staff in the loop with our progress and why they were doing tasks like cleaning up TAM helped. Also, it was important to keep them engaged during the entire migration process instead of things just happening behind the scenes.”

Senior Vice President, Cyber Insurance Practice Lead Tendai Moyo said, “We have several people like me that have been using TAM for years, and people resist change. But with technology, it's not optional. It's a necessity to improve the client experience.” She also said, “We gave everyone time to prepare. We just kept talking about the benefits of a new system, and they were finally on board and understood why change was taking place.”

Hollie MacDonald, Risk Placement Practice Manager, said, "Our partnership with Applied is good, and the support team has been excellent. If we have an issue, we can call or email; someone always gets back to us. They always have a solution. And if the person on the line can't answer our question, they find someone who can.” She also said, "My department is mostly young people; they are comfortable with tech, so they’re excited. But for some staff, it's scary. Applied Epic will be different; things will change, but they’ll get used to it and love it."

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