Imperial Life Financial has announced the launch of WEBI, a fully mobile, virtual office and resource system. WEBI is designed specifically to empower the company’s sales representatives to continuously upgrade the speed, efficiency and accuracy of service to their clients.

Guy Richard, Imperial Life’s Executive Vice President, says the installation of WEBI represents a significant investment. *”Not only is WEBI a major capital investment in business development, it also is an investment in our sales force,”* he said. Mr. Richard further pointed out that this investment demonstrates the company’s confidence in the abilities of that sales force, and that Imperial Life believes the technology will reap significant returns for them, the company and ultimately clients.

According to Mr. Richard, consumer demand for convenience is a driving factor in the emergence of e-business, and this demand will increase as the pace of life and competition increase under new global and regional trade arrangements such as FTAA. *”If we are to remain competitive in this new climate, all businesses will have to become cutting edge in the way they operate,”* he continued.

A study carried out in the US earlier this year showed that 90 percent of the life insurance companies surveyed have an extranet and 56 percent have the intention of investing between five percent to 25 percent more in 2003, as compared to 2002.

The strength of WEBI lies in its ability to reduce the time agents take to write new business. Imperial Life agents will now be able to improve the overall turn around time for policy issue and providing other key services to customers as they will have at their fingertips, information, forms and applications in a readily accessible format. WEBI will simply make it easier for the agent and company to do business.

*”Imperial Life already is a leader in the industry and with this technology we will increase the distance between us and our competitors,”* said Keith Major, Vice President, Insurance Division at Imperial Life. He said further that WEBI represents a significant information platform for Imperial Life Financial that will revolutionise the way the company exchanges information with its team members, using state-of-the-art technology. Agents will have fast and direct access to client portfolios in a secure manner that protects client interests.